THEGAYUK

Tag: UK

  • There’s been nearly 1500 gay marriages in two month – since it became legal

    Nearly 1500 same-sex couples get married in the two months after it became legal in England Wales.

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today released provisional statistics showing that there were 1409 same-sex marriages since 29th March 2014 and 30th June 2014.

    However, the uptake of marriage between gay couples was lower than Civil Partnerships when they were introduced in 2004.

    Same-sex marriage was made legal in England and Wales in March 2014. Scotland is to follow with the first gay marriages to take place sometime before the end of the year.

    56% of marriages were to females, whilst 44% were male on male marriages.

    According to the ONS ‘The majority of men and women marrying had never been married or in a civil partnership before (91% of males and 79% of females). Women were more likely than men to have previously been in a civil partnership or marriage that ended in dissolution or divorce (9% of men, 20% of women). A very small percentage of marriages took place for men and women whose previous marriage or civil partnership had ended with the death of their partner (0.5% of men and 0.9% of women).’

  • GIG REVIEW | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    ★★★★ | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    On a warm summer evening, Doncaster Racecourse presented the closing concert of James Blunt’s Moon Landing tour. Without the need for flashy pyrotechnics, elaborate sets or backing dancers James Blunt kept the crowd entertained for his 90 minute set with just his voice, his guitar and a four piece backing band.

    Blunt rattled through some of his singles and a number of fan favourites from his four multi-million selling albums. He quite rightly concentrated on the more up-tempo songs with only a few of his slower songs nestled neatly between the upbeat numbers. Blunt casually chatted with the audience and encouraged them to join in with a number of the songs. The crowd absolutely relished in singing along to “You’re Beautiful”, “Carry You Home” and his closing numbers “Bonfire Heart” and “1973”. But there were very few songs where the audience couldn’t help singing along, mainly encouraged by Blunt, which led to the crowd feeling part of the experience as opposed to detached observers.

    “High”, “Wisemen”, “Goodbye My Lover”, “Stay the Night”, “I’ll Be Your Man”, “Satellites” and “Same Mistake” were amongst some of the songs performed over the course of the show. Blunt defied the media persona that has been created around him by coming across as charismatic, enthusiastic and as someone who clearly loved every minute of being on stage. His band was fairly note perfect and the mixture of sound between the vocals and the instruments was perfectly balanced, meaning each instrument could be easily heard. The stage and lighting were functional, with a simple presentation enhanced only by a few projected backdrops. But, to be fair, the show was more about music than spectacular presentation and the straight forward staging served to allow focus on the musicians and song writing, rather than being style over substance.

    It is unfortunate that James Blunt is really a victim of his own success. Having the biggest selling album of the last decade, selling 20 million singles and 17 million albums is no mean feat, but for some reason, the media and the public have seemed to taken a dislike to him. However that does not necessarily detract from the quality of his music, the surprisingly good live performer that he is and how much the huge crowd genuinely enjoyed the show.

    James Blunt was the final concert in Doncaster Racecourses Music Live events, which has also seen the Kaiser Chiefs playing earlier this year. Having never been to a concert with a dress code before, the whole day was incredibly enjoyable with 7 flat races presented over the course of the afternoon followed by the concert. There was the opportunity of being able to enjoy dressing up for the occasion, mixing with the smartly dressed crowd and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the day at the recently refurbished venue; even without any knowledge of horse racing or a desire to have a flutter.

    James blunt is touring the UK later in the year and details can be found on his website at http://www.jamesblunt.com/home.htm?force=show

    Doncaster Racecourse hold a number of racing events throughout the year, the next one being on the 24th august to raise money for breast cancer charities. Details can be found at http://www.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk/

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    ★★★★ | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    San Francisco 1963 is the setting for this powerful musical, receiving its European premiere at The Southwark Playhouse. A bunch of marines are on their final night of shore leave before heading off to fight in Vietnam and decide to play a cruel and misogynistic game. They each pool their money; pick up the plainest girls that they can find and compete for who can pull the worst of the bunch and gain the prize money.

    Based on the 1991 movie of the same name starring River Phoenix, Dogfight premièred Off-Broadway in 2012, when it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and was nominated for 5 Outer Critics Circle and 2 Drama Desk Awards.

    Eddie (Jamie Muscato) meets waitress Rose (the talented and powerful newcomer Laura Jane Matthewson) and what starts as a slightly brash testosterone fuelled piece evolves into something much more tender and touching between the two leads. The supporting cast is excellent too, giving sterling performances. Peter Duchan’s book is well written and the music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are a perfect bend of humour, pathos and warmth. There’s a wordy Sondheim-like quality to some of the numbers that work well within the context. The choreography is good (if slightly restricted by the smallish space) and the almost bare stage is cleverly used to recreate various scenes.

    Southwark Playhouse has really picked out a gem in this award-winning premiere. There’s a moving and enthralling story, superb acting and singing and the piece delivers everything it promises and more (including a lot of hot young marines in their underwear, I couldn’t not mention that one).

  • Man dies after vibrator gets stuck in his rectum for five days

    A man has died after a vibrator was stuck in his anus for five days, after being too embarrassed to seek advice from doctors.

    The fifty-year-old carer from Forest Hill, London, was rushed into hospital on New Year’s Eve after telling a friend that he had been ‘lying on the sofa for five days feeling dizzy and weak’, the Evening Standard reports.

    The man went into septic shock and was rushed into emergency surgery at Lewisham Hospital to remove the vibrator from his anus, Southwark Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday. He died over a month later on 7th February.

    The autopsy revealed that the man died of multiple organ failure, sepsis (a condition that is triggered by an infection) and a punctured bowel.

    If sepsis is not treated quickly multiple organ failures may result.

    The coroner ruled that the man ‘died as a result of an accident.’

  • Section 28 supporter tops up Scotland’s YES VOTE campaign by £1 MILLION

    Sir Brian Souter, who famously supported keeping a section 28 clause installed in the Scottish legal system, has reportedly topped up the Yes Campaign with £1 Million.

    In 2000 when the Scottish Government were planning to repeal the Section 28 laws, which forbade the promotion of homosexuality to minors, by education staff, and local authorities, Souter became the leader of the Keep The Clause campaign. In Scotland, the clause was known as Clause 2A. A spokesperson at the time said that the transport tycoon was not undertaking the campaign for ‘personal glory’ but was fighting the ‘battle because he is a father and committed Christian’

    At the time gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell stated that ‘Brian Souter’s support for Section 28 is the moral equivalent of the business-funded campaign to maintain racial segregation in the Deep South of the USA in the 1950s.’

    HeraldScotland.com is reporting that Souter has now donated £1m to the SNP, as a ‘gift’ for Yes vote’.

    A spokesperson for the SNP said, ‘It’s a fantastic sign of confidence that Brian and others the length and breadth of Scotland are stepping up to the plate to do what they can so that we have the resources to take on the Westminster establishment and win the Yes vote.’

    In Feb 2013, Souter talked about the issue of same-sex marriage on Question Time. In 2011 he was nominated as Bigot Of Year by Stonewall.

    The people of Scotland will vote on whether they stay part of the UK or leave on 18th September 2014.

  • Appeal For Information After Homophobic Attack On London Train

    A man was assaulted and verbally abused on a train between Charing Cross and Bexleyheath in July.

    British Transport Police (BTP) officers are appealing for information after a man suffered homophobic abuse and was assaulted on Tuesday, 15 July on a train between Charing Cross and Bexleyheath.

    PC Michael Willoughby is investigating. He said: ‘The victim boarded the train at Charing Cross around 5.30am. During the journey a man sat opposite him and began making homophobic comments to him and began taking pictures of the victim on his phone.

    ‘The victim challenged the man, but was punched and kicked in return’

    The suspect is described as a Chinese man, aged around 35, wearing a casual dark grey shirt, black trousers and black shoes. He is thought to be of proportional build and around 5’9.

    Officers are appealing to anyone who was on the service at the time and who may have information about what took place.

    PC Willoughby continued: ‘Anti-social or violent behaviour has no place on the railway and passengers should feel able to use the network without fear of becoming a victim of crime.

    ‘Anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has any information about what took place, should get in touch.’

    Anyone with information should contact British Transport Police by calling 0800 40 50 40 or texting 61016 quoting SSUB/B6 of 7/8/14. Alternatively contact the independent charity, Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111 anonymously.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Picture Of John Gray, The Old Red Lion Theatre, London

    ★★★★ | The Picture Of John Gray, The Old Red Lion Theatre, London

    ‘We all hide – the only choice is where.’

    Based on a true story, C.J. Wilmann’s play is an unconventional love story about secrecy, denial and compromise.

    In the summer of 1889, Oscar Wilde began a love affair with a young working class poet whose beauty seemed to defy Time itself. Months later, he would use this man’s surname for his most infamous creation. Immortalised in The Picture of Dorian Gray but soon ditched by its author, John Gray is left to grow up and become his own man.

    Meanwhile Oscar is playing out his own downfall on the most public of stages. He is imprisoned for acts of ‘Gross Indecency’ with other men, and the community of poets and artists he had mixed with is fractured as a hunt for Sodomites sweeps London. As around him the most resilient of relationships are pushed near breaking point, John must choose sanctuary in the purity of his faith or the dangerous arms of a man who offers him love.

    I’ve always been ambivalent about Oscar Wilde, finding his works amusing and sparkling with genius but also annoyingly pompous and at times grating. I had a little trepidation about this play but I was quickly proved wrong. This is a very well written and staged play with a strong storyline and a moving and emotive theme. The five young actors portray the circle of Victorian gay men with convincing panache and although there are Wilde-like moments in the banter within the script, this is so much more than a story about the effect of Oscar Wilde but more a depiction of what must have been a terrifying time to be gay.

    The two leads, Patrick Walshe McBride and Christopher Tester, are outstanding in their performances and are ably supported by the rest of the cast on a stark stage set with a backdrop of an oversized fragment of a painting of a young man. Tester’s powerful performance (as Gray’s lover. Andre Raffalovich) moved me close to tears and Walshe McBride subtly takes the viewer through Gray’s evolution from foppish young poet through to a wiser, more measured man. These are definitely actors to watch out for.

    This is a play that is well worth seeing, with major themes that are still relevant today but equally as important, it’s an entertaining, moving and often comedic play. Whether you love, loath or are indifferent to Wilde is irrelevant. This is a great piece of theatre.

    The Picture of John Gray runs until the 30th of August 2014
    There are also various post show events:

    Post-show talk with Martin Bowley QC, legal barrister and prominent gay rights campaigner, Tuesday 12th August
    Post-show Q&A with the cast and crew, Wednesday 13th August

    Post-show open discussion on Oscar Wilde with CJ Wilmann and special guest Neil McKenna (author of The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde), Friday 15th August

    Buy tickets here: http://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/the-picture-of-john-gray.htm

  • THEATRE REVIEW | My Night With Reg

    ★★★★★ | My Night With Reg

    Kevin Elyot’s witty, warm and poignant 1994 play introduces six gay men in 1980s London over the course of three meetings. Shy and nervous Guy is hosting a flat warming and, as he prepares for the evening, John; the flashily handsome man he has spent over fifteen years nursing a crush on, arrives early.

    Bickering couple Bernie (a finicky bore) plus his testosterone fuelled bus driver partner Benny and joyously flamboyant Daniel make up the group of friends. Naïve young Birmingham painter and decorator Eric sits on the peripheries.

    Binding the men is Daniel’s lover, Reg, a mysterious and never seen figure who is never seen on stage but who the men have a surprising amount in common with, namely their night or nights with him. The script is hilarious, tightly written and very ably performed by this superb cast. The themes are writ large but always subtly played. The spectre of AIDS is a constant presence yet is never named explicitly. Unrequited love, betrayal, anxiety and loneliness are all heavily featured yet in such a way that they aren’t oppressive or laboured. It’s a testament to the late Elyot’s writing that this play is so tightly scripted and at 1 hour 50 minutes with no intervals, passes in a whir, never dragging.

    The cast are excellent and the characters are portrayed as well rounded and three-dimensional which is quite some feat in a play that has such comedic power also. There isn’t a weak link in the cast and special mention has to go to the very handsome Julian Ovenden’s prolonged moment of nudity (I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an image that has stuck in my mind).

    Sadly, Elyot died before he could see this magnificent revival of a play that deserves not to be forgotten. Tickets are selling out very quickly so clamour online, queue for day returns, beg and scramble for one. This is a performance not to be missed.

    My Night With Reg runs until 27th of September 2014 at the Donmar Warehouse, London.

    Tickets available here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Epstein – The Man Who Made The Beatles

    ★★★★ | Epstein – The Man Who Made The Beatles

    Brian Epstein was, as the title suggests, the man who made the Beatles. After seeing them play a lunchtime gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961, he persuaded them to let him act as their manager (in spite of no previous experience in this role) and helped find them the record deal that would shoot them to stardom.

    In spite of his pivotal role in changing the face of British music he was often overlooked and missed out on recognition and credit for his behind the scenes influence.

    Jewish, gay in a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence and experiencing an early death aged 32 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills; what more do we know about Brian’s life? Andrew Sherlock’s well written two-hander delves into the psyche of Epstein by imagining a night just before his death where he brings back a young man (known only as This Boy) to his swanky Belgravia apartment. The writing is tight and witty and cranks up dramatic tension, let down only slightly by the overuse of puns relating to The Beatles and the odd cheesy line and too knowing comment about the sixties. There’s plenty of absurdity in Epstein’s preening and posturing and his fragile vanity but also pathos as he reveals himself as a man who has spent his life fighting his own corner in a bullying and disapproving world for a young Jewish gay man.

    Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street, The Bill) is excellent as Epstein, even managing to look spookily like the man himself. He portrays him with skill as a well-nuanced character with endearing vulnerabilities as well as touches of monstrosity and simpering pomposity. He inhabits the stage, a convincing and versatile sixties interior, with a real presence and is entirely believable. Lancel is clearly an experienced actor at the peak of his powers and is a sight well worth seeing. Newcomer Will Finlason, as This Boy, is also extremely talented and his character acts as part narrator and partly as an excellent foil that illuminates the character of Epstein.

    The set is perfect with stylish back projections and gorgeously stylish animations that work really well to enhance the piece and create period style. The beautifully restored underground gem of the Leicester Square Theatre is an ideal venue for the show as it was dubbed the Cavern in the Town back in the 1960s due to its hosting of music acts. It’s got air conditioning too if you need to escape an oppressively hot evening for a few hours too.
    This isn’t a perfect play but it’s a good play and well worth seeing for an entertaining couple of hours.
    The play runs until the 6th of September 2014
    Buy tickets here: http://epsteintheplay.com

  • Man Punched Unconscious In Homophobic Attack At Brighton Pride

    Three men who attended Brighton Pride were verbally abused and physically attacked, which left one of the men unconscious in Preston Park during Brighton Pride.

    A police investigation has been mounted and an appeal for witnesses has been launched after one man was left unconscious during Brighton Pride this past weekend.

    The incident took place after two men started to urinate near to where the victims were sitting. When they asked that the men use the toilets, the attackers became violent.

    A single blow to the face knocked one of the victims, a 44-year-old man out. The two other men chased the suspects but were attacked themselves. St John Ambulance staff treated all three of the victims.

    Detective constable Chris Bishop said: ‘The two suspects are described as being white men in their 20s or 30s with Irish accents. One of them was topless and had tattoos on his body and the other was wearing a blue vest top.

    ‘This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and we are appealing to anyone with information or saw what happened to speak to us on 101 or email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk quoting 1901 of 2/8.’

    Information of the attack comes just a day after residents in Hanover received homophobic leaflets posted through their doors.

  • Brighton Gay Scene Targeted By Anti-Gay Leaflet Campaign

    Hateful leaflets, which condemned “homosexualism”, were posted through the letterboxes of Brighton households ahead of Brighton’s Pride event.

    An investigation is underway in Brighton today after a number of leaflets condemning homosexuality were posted through the letterboxes of residents in the Hanover area before Brighton’s pride which took part this past weekend.

    The leaflet in parts states, ‘The practice of homosexuality is both blasphemy against God and rebellion against nature.

    ‘It [is] abundantly evident that a penis is made for a vagina, and not for an anus. An anus is in fact designed solely for defecation.

    ‘Homosexuality, as well as being a sin and a vice, is essentially a neurosis, a pathological condition, the result of several factors including childhood experiences.

    ‘Homosexualism has become a cult, and by the indoctrination of school children and regular propaganda through the media, it seeks converts.

    ‘The general acceptance of homosexuality(…) will only lead to a continuing degeneration and corruption of morals, and the disintegration of family life. There is no such thing, and never can be any such thing as ‘gay marriage’.

    ‘If the practice of homosexuality is acceptable, then in time any form of sexual deviation, perversion and experimentation will be acceptable, including the progressive lowering of the age of consent, taking it below the age of puberty, and thus legalizing paedophilia.’

    A number of people in the area said that they had seen a ‘sinister looking monk’ delivering the leaflets.

    A spokesperson from Brighton’s police force said,

    ‘Police received reports on Wednesday, July 30 that homophobic leaflets had been delivered in the Hanover area of Brighton.

    ‘The PCSO for the area made contact with those who had reported the leaflets and the LGBT team at Brighton police station were made aware.’