Category: Queer

What a whirlwind!

I hardly know where to start. Life has been a magnificent whirlwind! 

You know you yawn at other people’s holiday snaps so I will get that out of the way first.

My wife and I took a five-week odyssey round the NC500 in a camper van. The Scottish Highlands are too beautiful to be captured in a photo, and my phone pictures don’t do them justice. Spectacular white sand beaches, mountains, harbours, and lochs so beautiful they took my breath away. We had one very scary night thanks to Storm Betty, involving a tree blown down and serious risk of injury and I never saw a single eagle, osprey, red squirrel, or deer. Unfortunately, MS means I cannot do walks, climbs and such, which is a great loss, but nevertheless, it was a completely magical trip.

Just before leaving for Scotland, I had the wonderful privilege of being one of the team which made ‘Love Stories’ with Arcade. Love Stories is a mapped digital audio trail to be found in Scarborough’s lovely South Cliff Gardens. One of my stories ‘Between the Esplanade and Seashore’ is in the audio trail and it is a piece of work I am immensely proud of. Contributors worked alongside Arcade who just rock at community art events. We also had the joy of working with composer Jackie Walduck, voice and choir genius Rebecca Denniff and incredible musicians from the Scarborough Spa Orchestra and Sinfonia Viva. It was very exciting to record with such a talented lot. Matthew from MSC Photography took a whole stack of wonderful photos of the event.

I had also committed to writing a theatre monologue. The marvellous Barrel Organ Theatre had offered me the opportunity to be one of the participants in their Scarborough Live! evening at the Stephen Joseph Theatre once I was back. It meant I would be writing or thinking about writing (especially when I was failing at osprey spotting and not erm, actually writing) which is not ideal on a much longed for extended adventure. However, Barrel organ are such a special company, empowering underrepresented groups and individuals to tell new and fresh stories, I would have been mad not to take part.

The evening was utterly magnificent. Michelle Dee performed her ‘Don’t kiss me’ – a performance piece about regaining autonomy through acts of resistance, drawing on the work of Claude Cahun/Lucy Schwob to tell her story. JJ Cruickshank wrote an evocative, poetic script which they performed alongside their extraordinarily beautiful film, to tell the story ‘Where the skin meets the land’ of a trans selkie, stepping onto the land shedding her girlish seal skin, and standing for the first time as a man. It was a glorious fresh folklore story. Lowercase Theatre performed an excerpt from a work in progress ‘is it dead out?’ which centred on young people getting ready for a night out between Grimsby and ‘Clee’ (Cleethorpes to the uninitiated). It was super bouncy with energy and very very funny. I can’t wait to see the final script performed.

The evening was really special. My personal thanks must go to Ali Pidsley  and Frazer Flintham for all their help and because it is hard to imagine there are any nicer human than them on the planet.

Shortly before I came home, I had an unexpected and lovely email from Alexandra Mathie who had performed one of my scripts in Manchester at the Lowry. She was in rehearsal in Alan Ayckborn’s ‘Constant Companions’ – his 89th play (!) at the SJT and wondered if I fancied meeting up for coffee. Did I! She was compelling and magnificent when playing ‘Chris’ in Kray to Crone at the Lowry and I was so overcome with it that I barely had a chance to properly thank her for turning my script into something so special. I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to put that right. So, we met up and I felt as if I had known her for years. Such a lovely, friendly, interesting woman and I was chuffed to bits to be able to say a proper thank you. I had expected her to have a northern accent – as she did on stage at the Lowry, but she doesn’t!

The photo is Alexandra and Georgia Burnell in reahearsal – courtesy of SJT.

The cast of Constant Companions came over to wish the Barrel Organ cast luck when we were all backstage in the green room before we all went on. Constant Companions was on at the same time but we each had different stages. All of the Barrel Organ team were struck by the generosity and kindness (and if truth be told, a little star struck).

Obviously I have booked to go and see Constant Companions at the SJT – reviews have been cracking. I can’t wait!

I have also had the wonderful opportunity to be one of the community team putting on ‘Always Been Here’, a show at the Scarborough Art Gallery which pieces together the voices and artefacts of Scarborough’s queer heritage. Local people who identify as queer were invited to collaborate in the show. We were involved in the design of the exhibition, the choice of Gallery owned art works and encouraged to bring in our own artifacts. It is a really special show and I encourage you all to go and see it if you can.

Phot courtesy of Scarborough Museums and Gallery Trust.

One of the items my wife and I loaned to the exhibition.

Quick Edit: Also go and see Garth Gratrix’s ‘Cheeky Felicia’ a multi-media installation responding to William Etty’s ‘Man Lying Face Down’. It is fabulous.

It has been a very busy time and my energy ‘spoons’ are exceptionally depleted. I need to take time to recover after which … I need to get on with my next book: ‘A work in progress’ but in all honesty, hasn’t progressed that much at all….

Being a writer (2)

A while ago I wrote a post about identity and ‘coming out’ as a writer – of confidently owning the label. I think the universe is telling me it is OK to feel confident because, as a writer, things are going really well. I am thrilled to have several exciting projects on the go at the moment with more in the pipeline.

Hive North

I am honoured and grateful to announce that my play ‘Kray to Crone’, after a short-listing process involving over 150 scripts, has been chosen to be in the final 10 scripts to be showcased by Hive North Theatre Company.

A professional cast will perform the ten plays chosen at the Lowry Theatre Salford Quays, Manchester 14th and 15th July 2023. Tickets are available at this link.

The showcase is an important platform for LGBTQ+ voices and the selection ‘covers a multifaceted portrayal of the LGBTQ+ experience’. My play is in absolutely astounding company – Rav Bansal, KT Miles, Mitesh Soni, Izzy Campbell, Saskia Pay, Connor Cooper, Roo Pilkington , Rian Craske , and Luke Elliot. I feel thrilled to be among such an awesomely talented group. I can’t wait to see the production.

Scarborough Love Stories

Arcade Arts, a charitable community producing company, was commissioned by Scarborough Borough Council to create a piece of work celebrating the beautiful South Cliff Gardens. Arcade has worked with local communities gathering true love stories inspired by the gardens. They had over 100 submissions. The production draws together the stories into five chapters told by storytellers and an ensemble cast, accompanied by orchestral music created by Orchestras Live and Sinfonia Viva. I am one of the story writers and tellers. Rehearsals are going strong at the time of writing this blog and it is clear the digital audio trail is going to be utterly magical. The final recording will be available as a digital stream to experience in the Gardens from 24th July and will run to the end of August.

Book Launch for ‘Everyday Wendy’

Are we still blaming the pandemic for stuff? I think we are. The book launch for my novel ‘Everyday Wendy’ didn’t happen because the pandemic threw everything into chaos for such a long time that book launches, in all honesty, were not a priority. My book is selling well despite that but Pen to Print recently contacted me and suggested we go ahead with an official launch. Why not!  So, it will be an online event and if anyone wants to be sent a link, please get in touch. I would love for you to be there! Jacqueline Gabbitas, wonderful author and poet will chair the event that Pen to Print will host. The on-line launch for “Everyday Wendy’ will be on 13th July 2023.

Finally.. for now at least…

I am being interviewed by the rather marvellous, multi-talented Wolfy O’Hare for radio in a few days, which will be fun. I will post the date for that to be broadcast as soon as I have it. 

My Queer Spaces video

I am immensely proud of this contribution to Queer Spaces – a production produced by @Rootstouring. It is well written and I am no performer but I wanted to give it a go. I didn’t do bad all things considered. Mostly though, I am proud of making a small contribution to a dyke history archive which is, of course, a part of the LGBTQIA history archive. We were there, we were queer and we weren’t going shopping 🙂

Queer Spaces Revisited

In a previous blog post I pondered on what ‘queer spaces’ are

My contribution to the Roots Touring production of ‘Queer Spaces Live!’ was a reflective piece on, specifically, dyke bars I frequented in my younger days. I spoke about how the UK community/communities of queers fought so hard for the right for any and all spaces to be inclusive but we hadn’t, arguably, considered what we might lose once they are.

Thanks to the amazing Tyler Whiting for the photo!

Almost all of the spaces I came out into and grew up in have gone.  Some we are well rid of (Wednesday evening community centre women’s discos, bring your own booze, finished at 10:00, dodge the mean feral youths who waited for us on the way out) but other spaces were places of growth and love and fun and adventure.  They were places to meet and belong.  They were uniquely lesbian and gay spaces – The Alex, Vox and Sill in Hull, The Marlborough, the Candy Bar and Revenge in Brighton. Four of those venues are closed.  One is no longer a dyke bar but advertises as ‘everyone is welcome’. Only one specifically identifies as a specifically gay venue. 

Does it matter?  Should we lament the loss of so many distinctly queer spaces or celebrate that everywhere is potentially our space now?

I don’t know 

What was fascinating about the Queer Spaces Live! production was that each of the performers spoke of claiming space in one way or the other, but a thread throughout each was that the spaces needed to be claimed. Whilst people were radically empowered to take the spaces there was a centrality to the essential nature of the spaces as queer; as distinct; as vulnerable.

The performances within Queer Spaces Live! Suggested to me that Queer Space is still, on the one hand contested for its challenge and, on the other hand, a place for forming identity. Queer spaces are still places of resistance. Do they need to be distinctly queer spaces to offer this?

I don’t know – but I think so

The Roots Touring Company created a queer space.  It is what it does.  For me there was an exciting circularity to the space being created and what the performers did with it – and that it felt like a space of bold activism as well as the creation of beautiful art.

I must give a shout out to the people involved.  Oh. My. Days.  My colleague performers were extraordinarily talented – and generously supportive of my own lack of performing talent (note: I am now a BAFTA level talent on acting ‘milling about’ thanks to their teaching – I owe you guys 🙂 ).

• Phoenix Andrews
• Emma Bates
• Joy Cruickshank
• Erin Enfys
• Arden Fitzroy
• Max Percy
• Ela Portnoy
• Eliza Beth Stevens

presented stories of growth and love and challenge and joy and each were MAGNIFICENT.  Keep an eye out for these names because they are uniquely and breathtakingly talented and they are going to take over the whole world.  I can hardly believe I had the privilege and joy of sharing a stage with them.

None were forced to be involved in the performance.  Like me, they chose to be in it – to invest their time and energy and share their powerful, compelling stories and lay themselves open to critique. It seems fairly safe to presume that also like me, they thought this was an important space to create.  Were we individually and collectively invested in the creation of a specifically queer space?

(Eliza and Ela at Portal Bookshop in York. An inspiration for Eliza’s monologue)

I think so

I have to also give a shout out to the team that made Queer Spaces Live! happen. Producer Steven Atkinson, Director Ali Pidsley and Dramaturg Frazer Flintham. Despite the fact that I am literally old enough to be their mother and we play for different teams, I have a bit of a crush on all of them. A magician once told me that magic only looks convincingly effortless with hours and hours of work and commitment to being the best. These three created magic. They held the making of the performance so carefully and safely they enabled us all to grow. I am a better human being, more confident, and proud of myself because of their talent and I will literally never forget them for enabling me to perform

(Steven, Frazer and me after rehearsals).

Queer spaces provide us with places we can be ourselves and lower our defences.  They give us a place for celebration and being together – and also places where we can value each other.

Queer spaces are where we are but not everywhere we might be, is a queer space

Until we can be confident about inclusivity, queer spaces have a crucial role in resistance to oppression.

Thanks to Roots Theatre Touring Company for creating one.  

Queer Spaces

I’ve been lucky enough to be chosen as one of the writers contributing to the ‘Queer Spaces Live!’ project.  Developed by Roots – the queer Yorkshire touring theatre company and support funded by Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund – the project aims to make collaborative work about ‘queer spaces’. The stories created will be shared at two live performances at the Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough and the York Theatre Royal in March 2022. 

I don’t struggle to make stories. I have far more stories than I have time to either write or craft. I know exactly which story I want to tell and contribute but the notion of queer spaces is so loaded with history and politics and pain and joy it feels incredibly important to me to tell it right and to tell it well.

I’ve been pondering on what exactly a queer space is

Is it about the environment – ‘in-space’ and ‘out space’? Certainly back when I came out there were very definite places where one could be reasonably safely out, and other spaces such as work where it was critical to be ‘in’ (teacher in 80s Thatcher Clause 28 Britain for example). As I write this I am mindful that there are many places in the world where ‘in-space’ is still the only safe space.

Is it about architecture? Dance floors in clubs, sites of sanctuary and refuge and the unlearning of shame, closets which concealed but also protected us.

I think of queer effort and energy put into constructing alternatives to heteronormative spaces and how over history they have changed from the dodgy, poppers smelling dens of debauchery of my youth to the out-and-fucking-well-proud-get-over-it-girlfriend cruises and high-end apartment complexes.  We queers changed space.

I think about how the personal is political and how we inhabited and embodied space, strutted like peacocks affirming ourselves and others and how in the taking of space we didn’t always take enough care about who was taking what from whom.

I think about queer history and experiences of queer spaces back in the day and contemporarily being different for each of us for a myriad of complicated and politically loaded reasons.

And I wonder if I can do justice to all these stories.

Gratitude to Sand Crain for the flag on building and Juliette F for the dancing queens images – via Unsplash. Appreciate your work guys. Thank you. xx