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STAGE
Choir boys The London Gay Men’s Chorus grows up Founded in 1991, the London Gay Men’s Chorus is Europe’s largest and best known gay chorus. With over 200 members it has performed across the UK and toured extensively overseas with a repertoire ranging from classical to jazz, R’n’B to show-tunes. The LGMC has worked with stars including Sir Elton John, Simon Callow and The Pet Shop Boys and made numerous TV and radio appearances including Top of the Pops, So Graham Norton and Comic Relief. As well as performances at Pride, the Gay Games in Sydney and the Settembre Musica festival in Turin, the chorus has released nine CDs and raised thousands of pounds over the years for a broad range of charities. In 2007 the chorus performed its Bad Boys show to venues in
Fine & Dandy Brighton-based choreographer Dandy Diwangkara’s dream Brighton-based choreographer Dandy Diwangkara’s dream of establishing a contemporary touring dance company in the city is a step closer to reality. His company, Fine & Dandy Dance, is to perform in the Brighton Fringe Festival on 14 May at the Old Market in a programme called Dance Mosaic. It will be a prelude to permanently establishing the company in Brighton, where he has lived for the last eight years after moving to the city from his native Indonesia. Trained at the world famous Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Diwangkara’s first professional outing as a choreographer last year was hailed as the best contemporary debut of 2007 in the influential magazine, Dance Europe. Commenting, Dandy Diwangkara said: “I am thrilled to be performing in the city and where my journey in dance first started. I am determined to make this fringe performance the first of many in the city that has given me so much.”
London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, before selling out the London Palladium with Accentuate The Positive, in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. Fresh from its sell out London Palladium show, Europe’s largest and best known gay chorus comes to Brighton with a spectacular show about the journey we all take from child to adulthood. Songs of Innocence and Experience is an entertaining, moving adventure in song including works by Aaron Copland, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Stephen Sondheim, and songs made famous by Kate Bush, the Doors, Frank Sinatra and Edith Piaf. With the unique sound of 120 gay men in full voice, the show looks at how experience alters our perception of love, friendship and relationships. Both contemporary and classical, the show speaks to the adult and the child in us all and reflects the London Gay Men’s Chorus at its very best. The LGMC takes the show to Brighton’s Theatre Royal on Sunday the 15 June. Tickets are on sale now; phone the theatre box office on 08700 606 650.
Apart from the founder’s own pieces, including a premiere, Fine & Dandy Dance follows the Rambert tradition by giving other young choreographers a platform. The other choreographers to feature in the Dance Mosaic programme will be Regina Wielingen, originally from the Netherlands; Georgiana Cavendish from the UK and Symeon Kyriakopoulos who is from Greece. There are two performances of Dance Mosaic at 7.45 pm and a matinee performance at 3pm. Tickets costing £12.50, £10 and £7.50 (matinee only) may be obtained from the Old Market box office, 01273 736222 (www.theoldmarket.co.uk) or the Fringe box office on 01273 709709 (www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk).
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Life’s a drag An extraordinary case of crossdressing from Theatre North A powerful new piece of gay theatre is about to premiere at the Brighton Fringe Festival. Yorkshire theatre company Theatre North have commissioned writer and director Martin Lewton to pen Lord Arthur’s Bed celebrating an extraordinary and little known chapter in gay history seen through the eyes of two young men. It is 2008 and city slickers Donald and Jim are toasting their civil partnership. Moving in to a new house they make a discovery that takes them back to 1868 and the lives of wealthy young cross dressers Ernest (Stella), son of a stockbroker and Fred (Fanny) son of a judge. Stella is celebrating her ‘marriage’ to Lord Arthur Clinton, Tory MP and son of the Duke of Newcastle, and her life with him as Lady Stella Clinton. Alerted to this outrageous behaviour by men of the upper class, the police are watching their many excursions out in full drag. Fanny and Stella are arrested in the ladies rest room at the Strand Theatre, and so begins a farcical trial to rival that of Oscar Wilde, 25 years later. Played out before the Lord Chief Justice at Westminster Hall, the charge is ‘committing a felony’ (sodomy) and a hilarious parade of witnesses is called. The laughter in court is offset by the pain of the ‘men in petticoats’ imprisonment and the forced denial of their sexuality. The play includes excerpts from the transcript of the trial: “When the language of passionate love is addressed by a man to another man it becomes the language of lust”. As Donald and Jim come to terms with the story they have unearthed they are forced to confront uncomfortable truths of their own which threaten to wreck their new life together. What begins as a piece of history becomes all too relevant to the lives of gay men today. Martin Lewton is excited by the prospect of bringing this story to light and at the issues of the visibility of gay men, and the guilt which many still feel which it throws up. Not to mention going about in drag. By its nature the play is sexually explicit and contains nudity. Theatre North is gaining a reputation for powerful productions. The British Theatre Guide described the acting in Blasted as “utterly convincing”. Martin adds “Our last show pulled no punches, which gave it much impact and we aim that this will be an evening that no one will forget, we are especially looking forward to opening in Brighton with its large gay community and vibrant artistic life”. Friends Meeting House, Brighton 14–16 May 7.30pm Tickets £8 (£6) concs 01273 709709 www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk Contains nudity, strong language and themes of an adult nature. Age 16+
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