In a week that also saw him meet Michelle Visage after watching her as Miss Hedge in the wonderful musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the LGBT History Month patron, journalist, novelist and former editor-in-chief of Attitude takes time to chat with Sam Bennett Firstly, very importantly, you just met Michelle Visage. [Laughs] Brilliant, I […]
Archive | Leisure
Matt Cain: Pop, Persecution and Politics
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Our Hidden Histories
2015 marked the tenth anniversary of LGBT History Month in the UK. Playwright in residence for LGBT HM, Stephen M Hornby, explains how in the years following its 2005 introduction, the initiative “bubbled along nicely as a sort of grassroots happening.” The charity spearheading things, Schools OUT, would “set a theme, tie it in with […]
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Jinkx Monsoon: From Catholicism to Conversation
The RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Five winner talks Ab Fab, witches and narcolepsy… The name Monsoon was inspired by Absolutely Fabulous – one of our favourite shows of all time. It’s definitely one of my favourite shows too. I don’t know what age I started watching it, probably nine or ten years old. My mum […]
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Leave to Remain
A new play with songs by Matt Jones and Kele Okereke “When I first read the script, I was so fucking eager to get this part. It was just so familiar to my life. That’s what I think is really powerful about it. It’s the familiarity that’s so impactful for me as a reader, let […]
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Improving the Much-loved Marlborough
For the past ten years, the Marlborough Pub & Theatre in Brighton has put on “work which is at the forefront of LGBTQ+ culture”, says Ema Boswood, programme coordinator. “We’re really fortunate to operate in Brighton where there’s such a vibrant queer community and so many people excited by the work we’re programming.” The sort […]
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Speaking Out: Gareth Thomas
The openly gay ex-rugby player talks homophobia, bullying, and his upcoming Beauty and the Beast panto gig. Since retiring from playing rugby you’ve proven yourself an able and natural interviewer – how hard was it to adapt to that aspect of your career? I don’t think it’s been that hard. I like spending time with […]
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A Homotopian Rent Party
Sam Bennett During the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, poor African Americans – paid low wages yet asked for disproportionately high rent – would host house parties and collect money from guests in order to keep a roof over their heads. These bashes, which have inspired the Darren Pritchard-directed Rent Party, would see the likes of jazz […]
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“If I Sound Angry…”
Linda Bellos OBE talks racism, Thatcher and trans with Sam Bennett “My growing-up years were spent as a socialist and not-very-good musician,” Linda Bellos tells me. Though “very much into classical music”, she realised by the end of the sixties she wasn’t going to make it as a professional clarinettist. “It was a rational recognition […]
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A relationship with Grindr…
Sam Bennett My first attempt to get through to Erik Ransom takes me to his answerphone, which concludes with him advising callers to “have a decadent day” – hands down the best sign-off I’ve ever heard. I tell him so when he rings back shortly after, and that I wish we’d arranged the interview for […]
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Review: Careys Manor and Spa
Amidst the daily humdrum and routine mediocrity of life, there are occasional flashes of excellence that make one feel as though all is as it should be. In the preposterously beautiful village of Brockenhurst, embraced on all sides by the New Forest, sits the sort of Victorian manor house that makes one seek synonyms in […]
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