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PREVIEW: TWINKLE Little Star @Queens Hotel

Jason Sutton aka the drag entertainer Miss Jason is to play the role of Harold Thropp in a new production of Philip Meeks’s TWINKLE Little Star.

The play started life many years ago as an Edinburgh Fringe show and has been seen in a number of theatres since, being performed by a list of dame-playing actors that would grace many a London Palladium pantomime.

Philip Meeks, writer and director of this production, once saw a poster for a pantomime in which the actor John Inman was playing second fiddle to a minor celebrity from Big Brother and TWINKLE – Harold Thropp’s 1950s ‘cottaging’ name was created.

Harold was once the most important name on the pantomime dame circuit and now he is finding it hard to come to terms with his massively reduced billing.

The demise of the traditional pantomime is also playing havoc with Harold’s own traditions. Men playing principle boys roles rather than the leggy ladies of the past and now even the dame is relegated to just a few scenes and taken off the ‘song sheet’ page.

Philip Meeks is no stranger to pantomime and as an actor has played dame in an ever increasing number of top billing pantomimes. He has learned every nuance and tradition of the British pantomime and poured it into this play along with bitter disappointment, the bare facts about ‘cottaging’ and sad reminders of the unfairness of life and death before the Civil Partnership Act.

Philip has also thrown in generous dollops of acerbic comedy, witty one-liners and the pure magic of the trade told by ancient raconteur Harold Thropp aka Widow Twankey, boys and girls!

Jason Sutton is no stranger to the traditional pantomime having played the same roles as his character Harold in pantomime and he will dash off after this production to play Nurse Nancy in the popular Bromley Churchill pantomime produced by the ever spectacular Qdos Entertainment company.

The Bromley production will be Jason’s ninth pantomime as dame. He has also played ‘straight’ roles in drama productions including Privates on Parade and Boys in the Band.

Jason is known on the UK gay scene as Miss Jason. Many bars from Brighton to Glasgow have rocked with laughter at his antics as he entertains drag-loving audiences.


Event: TWINKLE Little Star by Philip Meeks, starring Jason Sutton

Where: Queens Hotel 1-3 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 1NS

When: Friday, November 10 at 8pm – Saturday 11 at 5pm & 8pm

Cost: Tickets: £13.50/£12

To book tickets online, click here:

LETTER TO EDITOR: Thanks for helping us make Brighton safer for all LGBT+ people

Presenter Geoff Raw, CEO Brighton & Hove City Council
Presenter Geoff Raw, CEO Brighton & Hove City Council

On behalf of the service users, volunteers and working partners of the Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Trustees, Grants Panel and Fundraisers of the Rainbow Fund.

This vital grants we received at the Rainbow Awards at the Hilton Brighton Metropole on October 16 means that not only are most of our core cost covered but our work delivering outreach and support across the city can continue for another year.

The Brighton & Hove LGBT Safety Forum receives no statutory funding at all, is run entirely by volunteers and has a committee that is elected at an annual AGM. Of the eight incumbent Officers, four deliver frontline support amounting to 120 hours per week, although this doubles over Pride.

We deliver around the clock and are often there for people when statutory services are unable to assist or are closed. This includes during the night and at weekends.

If anyone has ever submitted a grant application before they will know it can be a daunting and time-consuming duty.

We found the Rainbow Fund process this year productive and supportive. Questions asked when needed and business needs identified where appropriate. The process challenged yet strengthened our organisation.

We currently deliver work and support around Community Safety, Personal Safety, Homelessness, Hate Crime, Domestic Abuse, Disability Awareness and Work Place Discrimination.

We maintain a helpline that runs 24/7. 01273 855620.

Presenter Geoff Raw, CEO Brighton & Hove City Council
Presenter Cllr Pete West, ward councillor St Peter’s & North Laine

We are instrumental in the planning and delivery of disability access at Brighton Pride, Disability Pride, The B&H Anti Hate Crime Vigil, International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia and the B.Right.On Festival celebrating LGBT History Month in February. We also support the delivery of The Brighton & Hove World AIDS Day Vigil and The Brighton Bear Weekend Picnic.

We do all of this as volunteers and all of our grants are ringfenced to projects that deliver front line outreach services and support.

As the current economy changes and political views shift, more and more people are becoming isolated and vulnerable. Every day people from all over the globe move to Brighton & Hove, because of its reputation as an LGBT+ safe space.

Unfortunately for some this is not the reality. The city’s brilliant services are stretched and money is becoming less available for everyone. We are acutely aware of this, and too, how much the Rainbow Fund contributes to service support within the City. The stark reality is that without the Rainbow Fund and its direct support to our groups there would be no funding for many of the projects that operate in the city..

We rely on the generosity of donations, fundraisers and the support of grant givers like the Rainbow Fund, Dine with the Stars and Bear-Patrol to enable us to deliver our work.

For this we thank you.

Billie Lewis
Volunteer Chair Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum
https://www.lgbt-help.com

Bobo Bear designs new BBW logo

Organisers of Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) reveal Italian artist and designer Bobo Bear will design their 2018 logo.

Bobo Bear
Bobo Bear

Bobo Bear whose designs feature at bear events across the globe will design the new BBW logo for 2018.

Bobo who attended last year’s event in Brighton, has a huge number of followers and admirers for his unique artwork.

The one-off design which will feature on all merchandising including t-shirts and polos shirts will be officially launched later this year.

Bobo Bear says: “I am very excited to be asked to do next year’s logo for BBW. I love Brighton and the last BBW was when I started being widely recognised and more visible in the bear community, so I feel Brighton is where everything started for me! I come from a small city by the sea in Italy and for me, Brighton feels a bit like home!”

Graham Munday
Graham Munday

Graham Munday the Chair of BBW, added: “We met the handsome and talented Bobo Bear last year at our store of our sponsors Prowler, where both Bobo Bear and BBW Products are on sale. We immediately recognised his talent and soon discovered what a great guy he was to hang out with as well. We are all really thrilled to be working with him this year.”

You can buy Bobo Bear’s work in Prowler.

To check out his website at, click here:

LETTER TO EDITOR: Thank you Rainbow Fund

I would like to thank the Rainbow Fund for awarding Brighton and Hove LGBT Switchboard a grant in this year’s awards to set up The Rainbow Café a new initiative for LGBT+ people living with dementia and their friends, families and carers.

This exciting new project will be up and running in early 2018 and will provide a vital service for those in our community living with memory loss or a diagnosis for dementia. For the Switchboard team it also gives us the opportunity to show that we are more than just a helpline.

We would also like to thank the Rainbow Fund and Chris Gull for organising the first LGBT & HIV Summit and bringing together all the LGBT+ groups together to talk about the work that we all do and look at creative ways that we can work together. It was a good day with lots of things to think about.

A final thank you must to be given to the Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel for their hospitality at The Rainbow Awards ceremony and to Lola Lasagne and Zoe Lyons for giving up their time to compare.

For those interested in Switchboards Rainbow Café, please watch this space,

Many thanks,

Daniel Cheesman
on behalf of the Switchboard Team

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