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  • THEATRE REVIEW | Love Your Soldiers, Crucible Theatre Studio, Sheffield

    ★★★★ | Love Your Soldiers

    In Helmand Province, two young soldiers have bonded like brothers in the midst of war, but when one of them is seriously injured, their relationship is tested even further when he is returned home and continues his affair with his best friend’s girlfriend.

    Ken is a soldier and is a fun loving guy who takes his girlfriend for granted. When his best friend, Roly, covers Ken’s patrol, he steps on a landmine, and loses both of his legs. Roly is returned to a rehabilitation centre in England. But unbeknown to Ken, his girlfriend, Gemma, and Roly have been having an affair and she is torn between the two of them. When Gemma announces that she is pregnant, she remains ambiguous about the father of the child and matters come to a head when Ken returns home on leave to both spend time with the woman he loves and to confront his guilt for allowing Roly to take his place on the patrol which led to his injuries.

    Love, betrayal, friendship, honesty and revenge are the themes of this touching, poignant and well produced and directed play. The first thing that strikes you as you enter the theatre is the set which envelopes the seating area and places the audience in the middle of the set itself. The production uses a number of interesting and well utilised video and audio effects, using giant screens and projectors to replicate the webcam exchanges of the central characters (which are acted out live on stage) and as background settings to the various scenes and locations. The use of smoke, lighting and loud exchanges of gunfire and explosions proved an assault on the senses, particularly in the battle scenes, invoking a genuine tension in the audience. There is very little to fault this play on in terms of its staging and direction and the director, Richard Wilson, has to be commended for such an excellent job.

    The story is one which is well written and is tender and touching, exploring the relationships between the soldiers, those left “at home” and those around them on the front line. There is some discussion around homosexuality and homophobia, although this is not the central theme of the play, instead, it focusses more on the impact of the situation of the three central characters on each other and on those around them.

    In a small cast, Chris Leask gave the standout performance as Ken and Jordan Bright as Roly performed well in his first professional role; with the rest of the cast giving competent support. But where the play comes into its on is in the story and the drawing in of the audience. The feeling you get when watching the play falls into two distinct categories. The scenes set in Afghanistan makes you feel, at times, like you are in the middle of an action film. The scenes set in England make you feel like you are in the middle of a high quality BBC drama. This was a thought provoking play and one which, with Remembrance Day approaching, is a timely reminder of the sacrifices made by those in the armed forces and their family and friends and is certainly one where the circumstances, themes and issues in the story stay with you long after the performance.

    Love Your Soldiers is currently showing at the Crucible Theatre and runs until the 23rd November 2013. For further information and to book tickets, visit

  • THEATRE REVIEW | WTF! With Helen Lederer

    THEATRE REVIEW | WTF! With Helen Lederer

    We must point out that Helen Lederer is amazing. There you go. End of review.

    We’re sitting in the packed out studio theatre in Victoria, London, when the, zesty, energetic, self-effacing Lederer walks out to rapturous applause, looking amazing we must add.

    Her new show WTF! is a hilarious – part stand-up part chat show, where she delves into the nooks and crannies of celebrity’s lives.

    Sitting with Lederer this evening in the first half is the gorgeous Kimberley Walsh, 1/5 of the super girl group Girls Aloud, who is probed and prodded, by a genuinely interested Lederer, who has clearly done her research. Walsh quips, ‘Gosh you’ve really read the book, I’ve never had an interview this good…’

    In the second half she is joined by columnist heavyweights Yasmin Alibhai Brown and Suzanne Moore. Who equally shine in their roles as interviewees, particularly Alibhai-Brown who throws herself into Lederer’s wonderful format.

    If you’re looking for a Paxman or Frost type interrogation, you’re probably in the wrong theatre, but if you’re looking for a relaxed, irreverent, very Channel 4 and slightly odd cross examination and dissemination of a celeb then WTF! Is the show for you.

    Helen Lederer returns to the studio theatre at St. James’s Theatre in Victoria on the 28th November.

  • Olympic hottie Chris Mears gets an MRI

    Olympic demi god Chris Mears has been to hospital for an MRI scan on the ankle he injured at the gym.

    Olympic diver Chris Mears has tweeted that he’s been to the hospital to get an MRI on his ankle which he twisted on the 29th October.

    In his tweet he wrote:

    ‘So I just had an MRI on my ankle and get the results tomorrow! Hope all is well! Eeek’

    He tweeted a picture of his very sore looking foot on the 29th October.

    Chris is also gracing the cover of Coitus Magazine this month

  • Cher showcases new hair do

    She’s at it again, Cher, gay icon extraordinaire has showcase a new hairpiece on Twitter which is made entirely of feathers.

    The songstress Cher posed with the massive feather headdress for her Twitter fans.

    Cher was recently in the UK promoting her brand new album, (her 26th studio album no less), Closer To The Truth.

    It reached number 4 in the UK, while fairing slightly better in the US reaching number 3 on the billboard chart.

  • Marcus Collins Puts On Weight

    A rather dishy Marcus Collins has just tweeted this rather hornilcious picture of himself.

    (more…)

  • COMMENT | Bullying: My Experience

    Bullying is a bit of a sore subject for me. At the age of 29 I sometimes still find myself haunted by past experiences. I have been on numerous medications, had therapy, and even a stint in a rehab facility in an attempt to ‘get over’ the bullying I endured in my youth. It’s been a long and rocky road, and I still haven’t reached the end.

    My experience of bullying began when I was at primary school. I was five years old when a boy in my street started to pick on me. I was quite a weedy child so guess I was an easy target. The bullying began as name calling but as the years went by it became more physical.

    I was hit, kicked, and spat at. My mother would try to talk to his about what was happening but only came up against shouting and swearing. The bullying took a turn for the worse when I was ten years old. One day the boy picked up a pair of hedge scissors and tried to cut my head off. I almost laugh when I recall that because it seems ridiculous, but I was terrified at the time. He may not have succeeded in cutting my head off, but he could have easily caused serious injury had I not ran away.

    On another occasion, the same boy, along with a group of his friends, managed to pin me up against a fence in a corn field and tie me to it. They then urinated on me and tried to set fire to me. Luckily my sister came along at just the right time and distracted the gang. They chased after her and I managed to free myself. By the age of ten, I was experiencing serious mental trauma. By then the bullying wasn’t just occurring at home.

    From around the age of eight, the bullying had also begun at school. What started as general name calling became racist bullying when the other kids realised that my Dad is white and my Mum is black (or half-caste as some people call it). I was called a mongrel and the other kids would say that I don’t know if I am black or white. Just before leaving primary school the bullying changed focus again. Some of the kids in my class had noticed that all of my friends were girls and that I did not hang around with the boys. A word started to get thrown at me; a word that I had not really heard before. That word was ‘gay’.

    Moving up to secondary school should have been an exciting time. However, I was dreading it. I was aware that most of the kids from my primary school were going to the same school. I was scared that the bullying would continue. That fear became a reality when rumours began to spread that I was gay. This was based purely on the fact I hung around with girls and none of the boys. Of course their assumption that I am homosexual turned out to be correct, but for five years I was persecuted for it. Taunts during classes and at break times were frequent. The mental abuse became a daily occurrence. I was called all of the usual homophobic slurs and sometimes I would be physically attacked. Appealing to the teachers never achieved anything and I was often told to be quiet and stop making a drama. As time went on I became more introverted and eventually fell into a depression. At the age of fifteen that depression deteriorated into bulimia.

    Controlling my food intake and having the power to make myself sick afterwards seemed to be the only thing that I had control over at that time. The situation became worse, the bullying more intense, and the self-harm continued. At sixteen I had my first experience of antidepressant medication and mental health services after a friend realised my mental stability was crumbling and took me to see my GP. Something else also happened when I was sixteen; something surprising. The bullying came to an end.

    The day came when I could no longer handle the bullying. It was a case of fight or flight, the flight being to end my life. In a moment of pure anger I chose to fight. Someone who had previously been relatively nice to me started calling me homophobic names so I decided to confront him. When I did that, the boy kicked me and called me a f**king poof. That was the moment that I lost it. I punched the boy and knocked him off his chair. I ended up getting suspended as a consequence of my actions. When called into a meeting with my head of year I explained that I was being homophobically bullied. The year head brushed it off and said he was “not interested in that kind of thing”. I was then suspended. The boy who kicked me and was homophobic received no punishment.

    Upon returning to school after my suspension I noticed that people were leaving me alone. The name calling and violence suddenly stopped. At break time a group of lads came up to me, but instead of being abused I had my hand shook and they said that I’m “actually not that bad”. I thought it was completely bizarre that it took me being violent and sticking up for myself for the bullying to stop, but at the same time wished I had done it years previously.

    I wasn’t bullied at school again after that. I was left to it and my educational experience became easier. The damage had been done though. For years after I was haunted by the experiences and used mental health services extensively. Now as a mental health professional I am turning my experiences into something positive. With Push Projects, the LGBTQ youth support charity I founded in 2011, I provide a source of support to young people that didn’t exist when I was younger. I have also since returned to my old secondary school to discuss my experiences and work with them on anti-homophobic bullying strategies. I’m absolutely on a crusade and want to save all LGBTQ youth from persecution, but even if just one person is helped then I’ve done what I set out to do.

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • MUSIC REVIEW | 12 Inches of Pure Pleasure, 12″ 80s Club Classics

    You never forget your first. The first time you have 12 inches of pure pleasure in your sweaty little hand, black and perfect, prone to warping, nice sleeve design and the closest thing to a remix we got back in the 80’s! Of course I’m talking about 12 inch discs.

    When the opportunity came along to re-live my lost youth by reviewing this CD collection, I grabbed it so fast, my response could probably be seen from space. I’m old enough to remember buying the New Order Blue Monday 12 inch – the original one! I can remember when they first started to appear in the shops, the novelty value, something that used to be 3 minutes long now lasted 10 minutes or longer.

    When I received this selection to review, I honestly expected a few good tunes and a lot of fillers – but not the case at all. This 3 CD selection is wall to wall classics, designed to get you shaking your butt or tapping your toe…

    The first CD contains such classics as “I Feel For You” by the fabulous Chaka Khan and “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. If you were out and about clubbing in the 80’s, you’ll remember these tracks. To finish off, the final track is “Just Be Good To Me” by the SOS Band – classic is an overused word, but not here. Take a listen and then list the tracks that have sampled it. It also contains classics from Gwen Guthrie and Teena Marie, before moving on.

    Soul II Soul (featuring Caron Wheeler) kick off CD 2 with the seminal “Back To Life”, one of those tracks that never dates, washes over you and makes you feel good. I remember being obsessed with Loose Ends, so was delighted to find “Hanging On A String (extended dance mix)” on here – I owned this track on vinyl and wore it out playing it, sexy, sultry and soulful. Other artists on this CD include Thelma Huston, Alexander O’Neal and Cameo – see what I mean about no fillers?

    The final CD moves it up a notch – if that’s even possible. Inner City, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Bomb The Bass and S’Express are the highlights for me. But as with everything, music is intensely personal and these are my favourites. I’ll admit that these had my shaking my not-so-little-bootie around the living room, re-living some memories (making out to Loose Ends for example) and loving that fact that these tracks have hardly dated, some more than others…

    Treat your feet, buy this set and enjoy…..

    Buy now on Amazon

  • COLUMN | Tis The Season

    It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not all that Christmas nonsense that’s looming, but autumn. I totally love autumn. It’s arrived with a bang in London, heralded by high winds and radical temperature drops but oh, is it beautiful. The leaves are magnificent, the smell of wood smoke is in the air and the weather today is crisp and sunny.

    Finally the weather suits my clothes (isn’t that a line from a song?). I’ve unearthed my wool suits, my tweed jackets and my original 1950s Tootal scarves and I’m ready to rock and stroll. Autumn is my favourite season to go walking: all those leaves to kick, cheeky squirrels to feed nuts to and bright vistas full of warm colours. No more having to expose my flesh in summer clothes that fail to hide the bulges in the wrong places and the puny bits. No more sweating so much that I look like I’ve melted and having to sport unseemly damp patches on the Tube.

    The food is good too. I’ve begun on an odyssey of soup consumption and stodgy cakes, wholesome stews and custard have re-appeared on the menu. The festivals are better too. Give me Halloween any day over your puny Christmas and Easter stuff. I don’t want a chocolate egg or sickly carol singing. I want blood, ghouls and the un-dead. I want rotting flesh, dismembered limbs and evocations of mean. They appeal to me so much more. Cruella de Vil is so much more me than a giant rabbit with a basket or a man in a red fur trimmed suit that entices children onto his lap.

    Snuggling up with the heating on high, a good book and the curtains drawn against the outside world is my idea of heaven. The cold weather keeps people in their houses more so the streets are quieter and there’s less noise and bustle. On the down side: given the energy price hikes, I’ll be destitute come March but I’ve got two kidneys and the market must be good for selling one of those, right?

    With every Yin comes a Yang though. I have started the season of viral illnesses with a heavy cold. I’m drowning in my own mucous and living on a diet of Paracetamol and bad TV. Maybe I’ll give the leaf kicking a miss today and snuggling up will be more sweating and shivering. Oh autumn, how I loved you but like any lover you have some annoying habits and bringing with you these tiresome viruses has to be a deal breaker. I’m all about the spring now. Autumn: We’re through.

  • GARETH THOMAS: ‘What Tom Has Done Is Very Significant’

    Gareth Thomas: Tom Daley will inspire young gay people, Ex-rugby international hopes many take inspiration from Olympian’s honesty and future success.

     Writing in his blog at Sportlobster openly gay former rugby star Gareth Thomas shares his thoughts of Olympian, Tom Daley’s ‘coming out’ video.
    “Hopefully this will give other kids and adults the strength to be honest and take a lot of inspiration from his story,” says ex-Wales rugby international, Gareth Thomas, who announced he is gay in 2009, becoming one of the first openly homosexual male athletes in any major sports team.
    “I don’t think someone coming out is enough – I think it’s his story after coming out that will inspire others. If he goes to Rio and wins the gold medal and has a fantastic life after that it will show other athletes that being honest and open is a good thing to do. Hopefully he can re-focus now and concentrate on his sport and show that being a gay athlete doesn’t define who you are.
    “Tom now needs to be true to who he is and not be who anyone else wants him to be. He has a big responsibility as he is now potentially responsible for many people having the confidence to come out publically about their sexuality. His announcement will change people’s lives and make lives better. He is now a role model who has influence over thousands, maybe even millions of people so that’s a huge amount of responsibility, which I’m sure he’ll take seriously once he realises just how much influence he has.
    “I came out to my family and close friends, and then two years later I came out in a newspaper. Often people ask me why I felt I had to come out, as it’s not an issue for them. We’re now in an age dominated by social media and so many people are interested in celebrities and their lifestyles outside of what they do for a living, that you have to come out publicly if you want to walk down the street hand in hand or go to a pub and drink without people talking and spreading vicious rumours. I came out in a public way because I wanted to live my life in a way that I wanted to and not be judged by people.
    “I thought it was very personal the way Tom made the announcement – you’re watching on YouTube and it’s almost like he’s talking to you. I thought it was a very humbling and genuine way of doing it and I take my hat off to him. People might look at the life he is living and think it’s fantastic but he’s been through a lot. You could see in his eyes that all he really wants is to be Tom Daley the diver and not have lots of people questioning him for his sexuality.
    “What Tom has done is very significant in other ways, because he’s so young and he’s fairly near the start of his career – it’s a great positive message to the world. For him to do it at such a young age is not only testament to him but to society. When I was playing it just wouldn’t have been possible to come out at his age in the rugby world. It was very much a different place then and I wouldn’t have found the acceptance that I found when I eventually did do it.
    “Tom is a great diver and this is just a declaration of who he is sexually, not a declaration of who he is as a person. I’ve watched him in the Olympics and, like most of the nation, felt like I was standing on the edge of every diving board with him. I know he’s a hugely successful young lad with a great life ahead of him. I just hope that this announcement makes his life even better.
    “I was never under pressure to come out and I didn’t do it because I wanted to be some kind of flag-bearer, it was just a position that I was put in. The more people that come out as being gay, the better the world is.
    “The world is constantly changing and people get educated every single day. When I first started playing rugby, being openly gay and progressing at the sport wasn’t possible. Now it’s been proven that it can be done, not just in rugby but across all sports.”
    Work has begun on the movie of Gareth Thomas’ life story, with Oscar-nominated Mickey Rourke, who owns the rights to the film, playing his part.
    Read Gareth Thomas’ Sportlobster blog: https://sportlobster.com/news/20567/congratulations-tom-daley-why-your-announcement-is-great-for-sport.html

  • Christmas carol de gayed on “Fun” sweater

    One of the largest greeting card companies in the world, Hallmark, has landed itself in some mess after a photo of a Christmas jumper, with edited lyrics was discovered.

    Public outcry has ensued after people took to their Twitters and Facebooks to declare war on the company after it changed the lyrics of ‘Deck The Halls’ on a miniature jumper it plans to sell.

    Where the lyrics should have read ‘Don we now our gay apparel’ the red, yellow, green and blue sweater read, ‘Don we now our fun apparel’.

    Yahoo News reports that a statement released by the company said:

    ‘We’ve been surprised at the wide range of reactions expressed about the change of lyrics on this ornament, and we’re sorry to have caused so much concern,

    ‘We never intend to offend or make political statements with our products and in hindsight, we realize we shouldn’t have changed the lyrics on the ornament.’

    Oooo er.

    Our issue isn’t so much the lyric change, but that it looks to be made of polyester. Shudder.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Sheffield Lyceum and National Tour

    Three drag queens “unplug their curling wands and go bush” to travel across the outback en route to a show in a casino in Alice Springs. Along the way, they bitch, bicker and laugh their way across the dessert, and continuously ensure that they are looking their best whilst “dressing up in women’s clothing and mouthing the words to other people’s songs”.

    Tick (Noel Sullivan), Bernadette (Richard Grieve) and Adam (Graham Weaver) buy a budget Barbie camper; christen it Priscilla and head into the outback to perform a show at a casino run by Tick’s wife in Alice Springs. Stopping off along the way, the trio make friends, get themselves into trouble, fall in love, strengthen their friendship and following the bus breaking down, pick up mechanic Bill who leaves his wife (who has an extraordinary talent which she shows off in the local pub) as they head to the middle of nowhere for the show of their life.

    Based on the film of the same name, this stage musical was excellent fun. Following the story of the film fairly closely (albeit it with some minor changes) it was a show which is unashamedly flamboyant. The show uses a combination of camp disco classics, opening with “It’s Raining Men” and including “I Will Survive”, “I Love the Nightlife”, “Go West” and “Finally”, which meant that the whole audience were clapping, cheering and laughing from the moment the curtain went up.

    In terms of the cast, Noel Sullivan (who is perhaps best known for being a member of “Hear’say”) was functional as Tick, but played the part with a little bit too much camp, watering down the interplay between the straight laced Tick and outrageous Adam. Richard Grieve was much better than expected as Bernadette. But Graham Weaver stood out with an enjoyable performance as Adam/Felicia. The supporting cast were, as you would expect, ludicrously attractive and beautifully toned and threw themselves into the musical numbers with energy and gusto.

    The whole thing was colourful, exuberant and thoroughly entertaining with a cleverly designed set (with the bus on stage) and a sharp, funny script with all of the characters that you know and love from the film. But where the show really came into its own was in the musical numbers, taking some from the film and some new ones introduced for the show, the routines were over the top, bold, brassy and ballsy, with costumes to match. The enthusiasm of the cast was clear and it was abundantly obvious that they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience.

    The costumes in themselves are worthy of a mention. Some were recreated from the film (flip flop dress, anyone?) and the others just added to the campness of the proceedings. Everything from dancing paintbrushes to dancing birthday cakes, hicks, lizards, Marie Antoinette’s, Ostriches and scantily clad, leather wearing dancers were all on stage in a dazzling spectacular.

    The only downside of this production was that the music was a little loud over the vocals on the odd occasion, but these are very minor quibbles when the show was as much fun as it was.

    The show is one which is perhaps best seen on a Friday or Saturday evening. Its two hour running time quite literally flew by with the whole thing never really slows down. Overall, this was a really great, fun show and a piece of feel-good, uplifting and ultimately heart-warming theatre which has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek. It’s a real feast for the eyes, the ears, the heart, the soul and the funny bone.

    Priscilla Queen of the Desert is currently at Sheffield Lyceum theatre

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