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Tag: Above The Stag

Above The Stag is the UK’s only dedicated theatre space for LGBT theatre productions. Based in Vauxhall south of the river in London.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Buyer & Cellar – Above the Stag Theatre – Barbra Streisand’s shopping mall!

    THEATRE REVIEW | Buyer & Cellar – Above the Stag Theatre – Barbra Streisand’s shopping mall!

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Take a tour through Barbra Streisand’s underground shopping centre – in her home – in the new play Buyer & Cellar.

    Is the shopping centre real? That’s for you to decide, but in this brilliant production, you’ll get a bit of insight into the woman who is the most talented, respected and perhaps loneliest biggest celebrity in the world.

    Now playing at the Above the Stag Theatre (until November 8th) in a show that never had it’s premiere as it was scheduled to open in mid-March, Buyer & Cellar is nowhere and it’s your chance to go see it in a socially distanced theatre which is perhaps one of the cleanest around!

    And Aaron Sidwell is brilliant as Alex More, an out of work actor who gets hired for a mysterious job, it’s a job that no one knew ever existed – to run the shops beneath Barbra Streisand’s Malibu home, shops that are full of her memorabilia. But when Alex encounters La Streisand when she enters the basement, he treats her like any other customer in shops where there will be only one customer – HER. And when she wants to buy a doll, Sidwell cleverly and quickly jumps inter her character, and he effortlessly does her throughout the show. Eventually, Alex feels like he and Streisand are forming a bond each time she comes to the shops, and he yearns to know whether she sees him as a friend or just another employee. As the lines get blurred Alex maintains his composure until he’s invited upstairs to see the house, and he’s hoping this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

    In this 100 minutes plus show, Sidwell who holds your attention and masters the dialogue, and draws us into his world – and Barbra’s basement shopping mall. It’s a one-man show – with a larger than life celebrity at its centre, but Sidwell getting the applause.

    Tickets available at AboveTheStag.co.uk

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Spy Plays, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Spy Plays, London

    ★★★★★ | Spy Plays, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    Intrigue. Attraction. Mystery. Lust. Sex. Murder. These are the themes surrounding two plays rolled into one and called ‘Spy Plays’ now at the Above the Stag Theatre.

    David Thame’s ‘Kompromat‘ and ‘London/Budapest‘ are shown together for the first time, and both based on true life events where the same actors play different characters in both, 60 years apart.

    ‘Kompromat’ which in Russian culture is short for “compromising material”, and which has been previously performed at the Vaults, tells the chilling story of Gareth Williams, the presumedly gay man who worked for a government agency and who was found dead inside a sportsbag in the bathtub in his Pimlico flat in 2010. The show takes the story further by surmising that he picked up a man at a gay bar on that night and took him back to his flat. Guy Warren-Thomas plays Gareth, shy yet brilliant, while Max Rinehart plays Zac, the young mysterious Hungarian who seduces Gareth and perhaps had something to do with his death. In ‘London/Budapest’ it’s 1955 and Author Adam de Hegedus (Warren-Thomas), has just met a young man (Rinehart again, at his most seductive) at the Jermyn Street Baths, and takes him back to his Pimlico flat. But who is this young man? Is he who he says he is?

    And did de Hegedus actually commit suicide or was he murdered?

    So what links these two men? A Pimlico flat, and that both dead had connections to the spy world. And Director Peter Darney beautifully, with the help of the production team, brings it all to life on one of the stages at Above the Stag. In ‘London/Budapest‘ we are whisked to a appropriate era set with a comfy lounge chair while in ‘Kompromat‘ it’s a modern bachelor flat where death will rear its ugly head. And the acting couldn’t be better. While Rinehart has the most dialogue and delivers it with passion, Warren-Thomas Is just perfect in his duel roles and is also absolutely breathtaking when he enters the stage in ‘Kompromat’ in an outfit that’s unexpected yet very, very sexy.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Four Play, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Four Play, London

    ★★★★| Four Play, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    The seven (and a half) year itch rears its ugly head for one gay couple in the new play ‘Four Play’.

    Now playing at the Above the Stag theatre until February 22, 2020 – Rafe (Ashley Byam) and Pete (Keeran Blessie) have been together for most of their adult lives, and unfortunately have not had much experience with anyone else. Yet they feel like their sexual relationship is starting to become mundane, lacking a bit of spark. So they enlist their frIend Michael (Declan Spaine) to spice things up. They then agree a deal among them: Michael will have sex with them separately, while Michael is not allowed to tell his boyfriend Andrew (Marc Mackinnon). But Michael does tell Andrew, and while he and Michael did have an open relationship, Andrew wonders out loud why the couple chose Michael over him.

    Meanwhile, Rafe and Pete are enjoying the friends with benefits with Michael, but is temporary gratification going to save their dulling relationship? And what will become of Michael and Andrew’s relationship now that Andrew knows what is going on behind his back? 

    Through sharp dialogue (Jake Brunger), good acting and good directing (Matthew Iliffe), and with an excellent set (a kitchen complete with a Madonna magnet on the refrigerator), Four Play is game, set, love and match.

    And at 85 minutes, it’s a winner.

    Book tickets here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Now And Then, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Now And Then, London

    ★★★★ | Now & Then, Above the Stag Theatre

    Above the Stag’s current show has lots of great songs with very good performances and a plot that is so unique and different.

    Now & Then tells the story of a gay couple through three different times in their lives. And in order to do this, they need six different actors to play these six parts, and every one of them is wonderful in their own way.

    We get Daniel 1 and Greg 1 (Dylan Wynford and Freddie Woodyatt) are when the couple first meet, at a young and tender age – where both are smitten with each other. Then in middle age, we see Taylor Rettke and Rhys Taylor, while Richard Costello and Leo Andrew play them in their older age.

    Greg was always the sensible one, while Daniel was the dreamer – he’s a country and western singer (a very good one at that) who actually never really made it big.

    So, as the title reflects, it’s ‘Now & Then’ – time to reflect on the past and to accept the present. Of course, regrets linger as the couple gets older, and Daniel’s drinking problem nearly causes them to break up, but it’s their true love for each other that gets them to older age and still a couple. Without singling any of the actors out, kudos go to Costello as the older Daniel- he sings beautifully, and when he sings at the end with the song ’Solitary Man’ he is just as perfect as it gets.

    Go see Now & Then – not just for the unique storyline but also for the very good songs, all in harmony with each other, with the show, and the actors. It’s just beautiful.

    Book tickets to see Now & Then at Above The Stag

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Fanny and Stella, Above The Stag

    THEATRE REVIEW | Fanny and Stella, Above The Stag

    ★★★★☆ | Fanny and Stella

    A

    Life Through the Looking-Glass?, Lady Sasha reviews Fanny and Stella, the historic drag exposé at London’s Above the Stag Theatre.

    Has drag always been a drag? Not until now! Frankly, any queen living must be pig-sick of an endless tsunami of Ru Paul wannabees, with drag fiercely embraced as a personal salvation on par with the second coming of Christ! Oh, don’t get your kitty claws and dagger out just now, readers – the last thing you could possibly accuse Lady Sasha of is being anti-trans! My god, you could raise an entire battery-farm of female breasts from the oceans of oestrogen pills I’ve shovelled down, in my ceaseless quest to piss in the collective face of the binary idiocy dividing humanity!

    Still, enough with the rants, but – sexy Satan on a chaise-lounge!- sometimes, a girl just has to justify her out-there, trans-everything status to avoid web crucifixion by media trolls! So – without further ado – let’s excavate the Fanny and Stella back-story, and mercifully, it’s nothing like the fluffy puppy, musical-theatre abortions infesting the West End.

    So, way back in 1870, two cocks in frocks – aka rent-boys en femme- were arrested in drag by a suspicious detective at the Strand Theatre. Shockingly, they were intimately examined at the police station for evidence of anal sex – stained panties and Vaseline, anyone? – then committed for trial.

    But – and it’s a very big butt – here’s where the case becomes surrealistically absurd. Though screamingly obvious the boys publicly dressed in drag to rinse and be treated to prestige events by their tranny-f*cker admirers, the judge – and jury – simply couldn’t conceive that fine, upstanding Englishmen would engage in sodomy with what were seen as pantomime dame entertainers. Why, the mere idea – in the strictest Orwellian sense – was literally unthinkable, a gorgeously naïve, conceptual blindness that we today, quite rightly, should regard as heart-warmingly innocent.

    It’s such a pity, then, that such sexual gullibility wasn’t present at the later, bleakly tragic trial of Oscar Wilde, but for Boulton and Park, the patron saint of homosexuality – the pierced, Ancient Roman martyr Sebastian – smiled on their blessed butt cheeks. In short, they were fully acquitted, and their whole, astounding story- including a townhouse crammed with their besotted fanbase’s gifts of drag and jewellery- is explored in depth in author Neil McKenna’s book Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England.

    That’s the basis of Glenn Chandler’s Fanny & Stella @ the Stag, a bravura show brilliantly sprinkled with astute, vaudeville ditties. Tobias Charles (Fanny) and Kieran Parrott (Stella) give an incandescent sheen to an infectiously addictive show that hugely benefits from our current, across-the-board, societal embrace of non-diversity culture.

    Forget hackneyed, I Will Survive-style drag clichés and barnstorming; this is drag seamlessly explored as non-binary, gender fluidity, an exhilarating mash-up of male, female and in-between tropes that simply grips from moment one. Fiercely facilitated by producer Peter Bull – who’s constantly championed game-changing drama– this show deserves an immediate, West End transfer! See it now!

    *To June 15: abovethestagticketsolve.com/ , 0203-488-2815

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Holding the Man, Above the Stag Theatre London

    ★★★★★ | Holding the Man

    THEATRE REVIEW | Holding the Man, Above the Stag Theatre London

    Holding the Man is a show that will rip your heart out and reduce you to tears.

    Now playing at Above the Stag Theatre in Vauxhall, it’s true story of two Australian men, Timothy Conigrave and John Caleo, who fall in love in the late 1970’s, who have their ups and downs during the 1980’s, and who both are diagnosed with the HIV virus and must deal with not only death knocking on their door but also the shortened time they have to be together. The show is based on the 1995 book by Conigrave and was written by Tommy Murphy. Most of you might have already seen the excellent 2015 film, or previous London productions (including the 2010 production at Trafalgar Studios). The Above the Stage production is just as hard-hitting.

    It’s the storytelling and the extremely strong performances of the cast at the Above the Stag that rate this production five stars. Jamie Barnard is excellent as Conigrave while Ben Boskovic as Caleo eerily captures his quietness and reserve. Both actors bring to this production a strength and resolute to their roles that they are almost living out these characters lives right in front of us. From the beginning of the show, we can feel that these two men were meant to be together. But this being the early 80s, not much was known about HIV, so, unfortunately, and I’m not giving anything away here because it’s a well-known story, AIDS was to rear its ugly head directly at these two young, beautiful men.

    Holding the Man takes us on a heart-stopping and heartbreaking journey while we travel with them in their relationship with each other in life and in death. And it’s Barnard and Boskovic who take us on this remarkable journey. Joshua Cole as a best friend of the two men provide welcome comic relief in a show that’s very serious: he’s charming and has the best lines in the play. Faye Wilson adds some much-needed sparkle as another one of the boy’s friends, while Liam Burke, Annabel Pemberton, and Robert Thompson round out the ensemble in various roles as parents, friends and fellow students. One scene that includes the whole cast is a hilarious masturbation scene that’s cleverly done and something I’ve never seen on stage before.

    But’s is the relationship between these two men that is at the heart and soul of this show. Director Gene David Kirk keeps the drama up and running while designer David Shields provides an excellent minimalist backdrop so the audience can focus on the story, and acting unfolding right before our very eyes.

    Kudos to Above the Stag Theatre for producing a serious, dramatic and extremely well-acted show that’s a welcome relief from their previous camp and silly previous productions. Categorise Holding the Man as a must see!

    Holding The Man runs at the Above The Stag theatre until 21st October 2017

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | When Harry Met Barry, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    ★★★| When Harry Met Barry, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    It’s not When Harry met Sally but When Harry Met Barry at the Above the Stag Theatre in Vauxhall.

    Unfortunately there is no orgasm scene in sight, just a few catchy tunes and a few laughs in a show that is cute and lively and a fun night out.

    Harry (Brandon Gale) and Barry (Sam Peggs) had a ‘thing’ seven years ago, but now TV chef Harry is dating fashion designer Spencer (Austin Garrett) while junior lawyer Barry has hooked up with the quirky yet adorable Alice (Maddy Banks). Spencer and Alice are serious about their relationships with Barry and Harry, respectively, even to go so far as to discuss wedding plans! Gads! But when Harry and Barry accidentally bump into each other, their love and desire for each other is rekindled, enough so that it causes a whole heep of heartache and a breakdown in their current relationships. Set to trendy and memorable musical numbers – very modern and hummable with ‘Why Ask for the Moon’ one of the better songs – When Harry met Barry is a true musical romance with a love triangle that will set your heart aflutter. All adequately sung and acted by the very young cast, with Banks doing a particularly good job in her role as the jilted young woman. It’s got cute music, a goodlooking and energetic cast, and one all too brief scene of two of the sexy actors in their underwear. It looks like Above the Stag theatre has another hit on their hands.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Southern Baptist Sissies, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Southern Baptist Sissies, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    ★★★★★ | Southern Baptist Sissies, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    There’s something in the holy water at a Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas because all of the boys there are gay. And they’re not the only ones who have a story to tell. It all unravels in Southern Baptist Sissies, the new show at Above the Stage Theatre.

    Southern Baptist Sissies is actually two shows in one. Four boys live in a religious community where they spend their days praying and the rest of the time all they can think about are other boys! Then in a very hilarious, emotional and witty way, we see these boys grow up to become young men, full of passion, love and in one case, regret. Separately there are scenes set in a gay drag bar where two barflies have a conversation about their lives, their adventures and their regrets while the young men from the church segments portray other characters in the bar. It’s genius!!!

    Southern Baptist Sissies cleverly intertwines both stories while we get to know a bit about each character. Mark (Jason Kirk) does an outstanding job as the narrator who is also in love with the very sexy and muscular TJ (Daniel Klemens), whose other character is a sexy go go boy in the gay drag bar. James Phoon is a revelation as Benny, the most feminine of the boys, yet as alter ego Miss Iona Taylor, he’s the star of the show at the drag bar. The scene where’s he’s disrobing while pouring his heart out is absolutely stunning. And last but not least there is Andrew (Hugh O’Donnell), a sensitive young man who unfortunately has a very disapproving mother (Janet Prince). Don Cotter (as Preston) and Julie Ross (as Odette) are brilliant as the couple who exchange stories at the bar; two older people looking back at the past while contemplating what’s left of their future, with Preston always ogling the young men in the bar. It’s all fantastically put together in a fab script by Del Shores and superb direction by Gene David Kirk.

    After a few mediocre shows, Above the Stag has really upped their game with this show. It’s funny, relevant, emotional and at the end literally had the audience in tears. There are still tickets left for a few performances – BOOK THEM NOW – it’s a show you definitely don’t want to miss! If, and when, this show sells out, hopefully Above the Stag will be able to re-stage it when they move to a larger venue just down the road. More people really need to see this show.

    For tickets, please go to:

    http://www.abovethestag.com/shows/

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Bitches Ahoy!, Above The Stag

    THEATRE REVIEW | Bitches Ahoy!, Above The Stag

    ★★★★ | Bitches Ahoy! : Above The Stag

    Batten down the hatches, all hands on your AussieBums, and anchors – prudes advised to stay on dry land – aweigh.

    Bitches Ahoy review
    CREDIT: Above The Stag

    Gareth, Max and Fat Pam set sail for a new adventure on the Mediterranean awash with a couple of love interests in close-quarters.  This is up-and-coming Playwright Martin Blackburn’s second production – an all-at-sea sequel to Aright Bitches! – and in Blackburn’s previous style: pummelled with more innuendos than a Navy Officer in the engine room after six months at sea.

    Buoyant party-buoy Gareth (Ethan Chapples) is holibobing with new squeeze Drew (Chris Clynes), and giving monogamy a stern-go onboard a queer cruise with two thousand homo-hotties – will either walk the plank of infidelity?  Nothing’s ever plain-sailing on this ship.

    Max has embarked on a new career as a cabin boy with a firm eye in every porthole and a love/hate taste for his surroundings. Pam (Hannah Vesty) has harpooned the Moby of all Dicks and flaunts new French fiancé Patrice (Simon Burr) from port to starboard causing a splash with the whole crew’s rudders. Straight guy aboard a gay cruise – what could possibly come adrift?

    Blackburn clearly knows how to quill a boat-rocking quip, but on this voyage, some of the jokes were washed ashore unnoticed, mainly due to the delivery.

    Come aboard this vessel for cock-capers, tampon-tomfoolery and to catch a glimpse of Pam wet wiping her lady bits.  This is a camp factor 50 with the potent UVAs radiating from Vesty and Chapples  – giving you the Jolly Rogers and the January blues the heave-ho.

     

    Bitches Ahoy is at Above The Stag Theatre until 26th February

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Beauty On The Piste

    THEATRE REVIEW | Beauty On The Piste

    ✭✭ | Beauty on the Piste

    Beauty on the piste
    CREDIT: Above The Stag

    It’s Panto season in case you’ve been hiding under a rock, and with that comes shows that are silly and campy, some good and more than a few not so good. But does it really matter?

    This year’s panto at Above the Stag is Beauty on the Piste, a reimagining of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and it’s exactly what you would expect, but perhaps a bit less.

    This is the plot, in a nutshell: Morag (David Moss) and her son Mac (an adorable Ross Tucker) own a tea house high up in the mountains in a town called Les De Nice (Les Dennis – cue laugh here).

    Passing by the tea house is the young lithe and blond boy Beau (Joshua Oakes-Rogers) and his father Gustav (Andrew Truluck). Beau is eternally horny and always on Grindr (we’re getting tired of Grindr being in almost every gay play nowadays). But nearby is where The Beast (Jamie Coles) lives, behind huge gates in an old mansion, and he’s hardly ever seen.

    One night Morag and Gustav decide to take a walk to get to know each other better, but they are kidnapped by The Beast, and it’s up to Morag and Beau to go looking for them. They find them in The Beast’s home, and Beau trades places with his father to let him free, and it’s only a matter of time before sparks fly between Beau and The Beast. But trouble lies on the horizon; the gay Sebastian St. Moritz (Simon Burr), who owns lots of the property in Les De Nice, wants to raise the rent of the tea house, so what’s the newly rescued Morag and her son going to do? Throw in Mabel the Fairy (a cute Briony Rawie), and The Beasts housekeeper – Heidi (Ellen Butler) – who keeps morphing into various items one finds in the house- and what you’ve got is a show, with a sing-a-long, that’s full of glitter and glee.

    Does it matter that the songs are awful? No!

    Does it matter that this production is not one of the Stag’s better shows? No!

    And does it matter that most (if not all) of the cast can’t sing? Of course not!

    Why?

    Because you’re not going to see Beauty on the Piste because it is sold out for the rest of it’s run! So perhaps console (or congratulate) yourself and buy a ticket to their next production – Bitches Ahoy – a show that bills itself as a “gay holiday hilarity” – hopefully it’s a return to the Stag’s better quality shows. Just one month to go until Panto season ends, whew!

    Just one month to go until Panto season ends, whew!

    Beauty On the Piste plays at Above The Stag until 14th January 2017

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Party

    THEATRE REVIEW | Party

    ★★★★ | Party at Above The Stag

    CREDIT: PBGStudios
    CREDIT: PBGStudios

    There’s a party going on in Vauxhall and you’re all invited!

    Party, a play at the Above the Stag theatre, is about seven gay men who get together one evening to hang out, chat, be together, and basically talk about sex, as gay men do! And what a party it is! It involves alcohol, lots of alcohol, where seven handsome and hunky guys pretty much up for anything, play a game called Fact or Fantasy, a bit like Truth or Date, which involves, of course, male nudity – all taking place in a cozy living room.

    Party, written by David Dillon in 1992, originally ran in Chicago before moving to New York, and has even been produced internationally.

    For this version, directed by Gene David Kirk, the party, and action, takes place in a British man’s living room, with references to British culture, news, and the requisite British accents! It’s the home of Kevin (Nic Kyle), who is letting out his extra bedroom to Peter (Stefan Gough). In attendance at the party are dancer Brian (Jamie Firth), teacher Ray (Ben Kavanagh), Philip (Lucas Livesy), James (Sam Goodchild) and young and innocent Andy (Tom Leach). They’re all friends, good friends, but when they decide to play Fact or Fiction, a game where one man is to tell the truth, lie, or act out someone else’s fantasy, secrets are revealed, as well as skin, lots of skin, in a game where being shy is not an option! And it’s Ray who steals the show with best lines – he actually berates Andy for not knowing who ‘Barbra’ is or how to tell the difference between a cast album and a soundtrack. Peter reveals, during the game, that he’s got a secret crush with one of the men, while Brian is sexy and he knows it, and is the first to strip off. It’s a party in this intimate theatre where the audience feels like they’re right in the middle.

    Party is 100 minutes of very funny jokes, lively atmosphere, and laugh out loud comedy. It’s play which celebrates gay men who enjoy the company of other gay men, sexual attraction or not. And all the actors deserve praise, and courage, for baring it all – it’s exciting and done in good taste. This is one party you definitely don’t want to miss.

    Party plays at Above The Stag until October 30th