03/05/2018 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Press release for FABULOUS! Cabaret from the Rainbow Chorus

FABULOUS! its name and fabulous it was. Held on Saturday 21 April, the Rainbow Chorus’ first fundraiser cabaret was an absolute triumph, from the quality of the acts performing generously free of charge on the night through to the mouth-watering food served up by long-time community partner Lunch Positive. Swapping St George’s Church for Knoyle Hall, the Rainbow Chorus transformed the space into a buzzing cabaret night spot assisted by a troop of volunteers who donated time, skills, talent and muscle power to produce a successful event, all part of the choir’s 21st anniversary celebrations.

The entertainment was as varied as the Brighton choir’s own repertoire we have come to know through the years, the performers all giving up their time for free to raise funds for the choir. Opening the show was Andrew Farr with his tribute to Edith Piaff, rolling his r’s to gutsy effect. From a French chanteuse to a British icon, another BGMC bass Nick Ford delivered a performance that included a spine-tingling rendition of Kate Bush’s seminal Wuthering Heights (so spine-tingling in fact some neighbours popped in to enquire whether THE Kate Bush was performing!). Pride’s Got Talent semi-finalist Max Legroom was next up but made a last-minute cancellation, so the evening continued with David Stewart who magicked and mesmerised the audience, who were then left scratching their heads wondering how on earth did he do that? He was followed by another Pride’s Got Talent semi-finalist Hannah Brackenbury (aptly described as Victoria Wood & Tim Minchin’s lesbian love child) performing a witty comedy set that had the crowd in stitches. There’s another chance to see her in the Brighton Fringe and we highly recommend you go. If you haven’t seen Aneesa Chaudhry and Mojca Monte Amali perform as Bliss Art, then you’ve missed a treat. They lived up to their billing as a crazy, fun and passionate clash of the music titans. Something Fishy, featuring Eliza Marz, ‘Fingers’ Finlay, and Lara Montage and Dickie Bladder reunited specially to support the Rainbow Chorus, brought the evening to a hilarious end with some witty and gloriously irreverent cabaret pop songs. All of the above was kept jogging along in perfect time by experienced compere Kate Hendry Ballard.

A delicious dinner of Mediterranean chicken or vegan ratatouille with rice and scrummy breads was all cooked up by the team from Lunch Positive led by the ever-cheerful Gary Pargeter. The HIV support lunch club has always supported the Rainbow Chorus and indeed other choirs in Brighton and Hove, especially on World AIDS Day.

There were also prizes to be won. Not only did the Rainbow Chorus’ cabaret production team organise one of their signature hamper raffle prizes, audience members also had a chance to buy tickets for the Grand Prize Draw recently launched as another fundraising activity to mark the choir’s 21st birthday. At £2 a pop, a ticket might win a holder one of 10 prizes, ranging from one week’s accommodation for two in Malta to a photography package with Liza O’Malley to a memory bear made by Richard Clark-Monks. Visit the Rainbow Chorus website for more details*.

The Rainbow Chorus are bursting with thanks to everyone involved, from the cabaret team who worked their socks off to make it happen—and in particular production manager extraordinaire Chick Atkinson, Katy Jenner and Liza O’Malley for their cracking organisation and enthusiasm, and sound team Rob, Dave and Andy.

The funds raised by the cabaret will go towards supporting everything the Rainbow Chorus do, from running concerts and keeping their concession rate as low as possible to covering operating costs such as music rights.

Bev Morgan, Chair said ‘It was such a fantastic evening – one of those times when there’s such a wonderful spirit of community and friends coming together. We would like to thank everyone involved for being so amazing and for all giving their time so generously and freely. We raised over £2,300 which will make a huge difference to the Rainbow Chorus, thank you from the bottom of our rainbow hearts! Everyone had such a brilliant time we are already thinking we may try and make this an annual event’.

The Rainbow Chorus will be singing at IDAHOBIT on Thursday 17 May and then at their summer concert, aptly named ‘21’, on Saturday 14 July.

For more information about the Rainbow Chorus and future events and performance, or if you’d like to volunteer or sponsor them, please see their website or contact them via their Chair, Bev Morgan, at chair@rainbowchorus.org.uk

* https://www.rainbowchorus.org.uk/the-rainbow-chorus-21st-anniversary-grand-prize-draw-2018/

Contact details:

Chair: Bev Morgan chair@rainbowchorus.org.uk

Media & Comms: Justin Hillier presspr@rainbowchorus.org.uk

You tube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRainbowchorus

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbowchorus

Twitter: www.twitter.com/rainbowchorus

Web: www.rainbowchorus.org.uk

Notes to editors:

The Rainbow Chorus is the biggest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) choir in the south outside of London. The choir aims to provide an enjoyable and supportive environment for LGBT members to sing together, making new friends, developing their community spirit, individual talents and confidence. Through performance, the Rainbow Chorus also raises the profile of the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove as well as providing top quality entertainment. The Rainbow Chorus is supported by the Big Lottery and the Rainbow Fund.

Musical director: Aneesa Chaudhry.

Accompanist: Mojca Monte Amali.

Sussex-born actor, writer, director and translator Neil Bartlett directs the explosive one-man show Medea – Written in Rage at this month’s Brighton Festival. Brian Butler talks to him about his sexuality, gay politics and Greek tragedy.

“I knew by the age of 13, in the early 1970s, that I was gay. I grew up in Chichester where being gay didn’t exist. I twigged in that strange way you do that this wasn’t something I could talk about,“ says Neil adding: “It was a secret life – a terrible way for a child to grow up. Because of the incredible work done on gay rights I now live in a country where young queer kids don’t have to go through that.“

Talking to Neil is like clinging on to a very speedy rollercoaster. His energy, passion, commitment and clarity of thought shine through his conversation. He is surely one of the most prolific creative minds of his generation – equally at home he says at Bethnal Green Workingmen’s Club and on stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

His escape route from adolescence was, he says, a combination of cottaging and the hidden world of books in libraries.

Arriving in London in 1982 he had what he calls “an amazing time. It was the era of Betty Bourne’s Bloolips theatre company, Leigh Bowery, the films of Derek Jarman – and I stayed an enfant terrible till I was 55,” he jokes.

His overriding aim has always been to say that queer art has its place. “All I ever wanted to do was make my work and for it to be in the mainstream.“ He is probably the only person to have his work onstage at both the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and the National Theatre in the same week.

His output has been enormous – five novels, dozens of plays and work for film and television as well as a searing six-hour reading of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. His latest novel The Disappearance Boy is a strange and tender take on queer courage set in the tatty backstage world of a 1950s variety theatre. On stage he has ranged from Shakespeare, through Wilde to Somerset Maugham and Albert Camus.

He is looking forward to having his production of Medea on at Brighton Festival later this month. It’s a show he has adapted, translated and directed – a sure-fire success everywhere it has been seen. It’s a highly charged solo performance and a modern take on the Greek tragedy, starring French actor, singer and dancer Francois Testory.

He is a great and extraordinary performer. He found a modern French version by Jean Renee Lemoine and asked me to translate it into English and direct with the author’s blessing.“

Francois trained as a dancer with Bejart and performed with Lindsay Kemp. He has an extraordinarily powerful singing voice with a big range. He’s a stunning looking man but amazing as the female murderer Medea. Name your worst fear – Medea is it. She’s an outsider, a foreigner, a Barbarian.“

Neil sees a read-across to the Brexiting UK today, and attitudes to immigrants.

“Medea is a sexual outlaw; she’s incestuous, the murderer of her own children – beyond the rule of law – and she gets away with it. A woman who does what she wants and ends in triumph. It’s a dangerous piece.“

But then that’s Neil’s signature – the controversial, direct approach to sexuality and freedom.

Returning to the subject of gay rights and freedom, Neil accepts that many strides have been made in his lifetime. “Now you can call the police and they will take action about homophobic behaviour but it’s too simple to say that it’s all over. It’s only yesterday that we got our civil rights – adjusting our lives will take a very long time.”

And he says that public gay behaviour, like he and his long-term partner holding hands, would be acceptable in Soho but not so in rural Lincolnshire. “Reported violence against trans people is up by 80%, and lots of Commonwealth countries, former British colonies, have anti-gay laws on the statute book. We have to do something about that.“

With an OBE, honorary doctorates, and acclaimed work at both the National and RSC, is he now an establishment figure? “That’s a laughable suggestion. The National is no more important to me than Bethnal Green Workingmen’s Club. I’m not respectable, or growing old gracefully – Medea is not a sign of respectability.

Medea – Written In Rage is at The Theatre Royal, Brighton on Saturday, May 26 at 8pm.

To book tickets online, click here:

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Day: May 3, 2018

A FABULOUS! Cabaret from the Rainbow Chorus

FEATURE: Rebel With A Cause

Sussex-born actor, writer, director and translator Neil Bartlett directs the explosive one-man show Medea – Written in Rage at this month’s Brighton Festival. Brian Butler talks to him about his sexuality, gay politics and Greek tragedy.

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Sussex-born actor, writer, director and translator Neil Bartlett directs the explosive one-man show Medea – Written in Rage at this month’s Brighton Festival. Brian Butler talks to him about his sexuality, gay politics and Greek tragedy.

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