ROUND-UP FILMS PLAYS AND GAY MAnnlAces
I Edinburgh’s Cameo has been wowing audiences looking for that ‘specialist’ cinema-going experience. Its ‘In The Pink’ season has been selling out, and expect the same with the one-off Tuesday 2 October screening of the scorching lesbian erotic drama, The Monkey’s Mask. Starring Kelly McGillis on incredible form, it is amazing to see a renowned icon play a lesbian part in such an exposed manner. Sally Porter as the young butch detective falling in love with McGillis is also glorious. Send suggestions of favourite gay movies that you would like to see in the future to louise@cameocinema.co.uk
I Still time to check out Moulin Rouge, surely the gayest movie of the year, despite no outright gay character. Full of heightened emotion and excess, from even before the opening credits, this 1899 tale of a young man being drawn to the big city where he takes up with a band of outsiders, is pure Jimmy Sommerville’s Smalltown Boy all over. It’s about the magic of theatre, and the glory of artifice and cheap songs. Not since Greta Garbo in Camille has there been a more ravishing dying prostitute than Nicole Kidman, and she sings Randy Crawford’s hit ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ with complete abandon. Perth’s very own Ewan McGregor is pretty nifty doing Joe Cocker’s ‘Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong’. And can Madonna ever seriously contemplate doing Material Girl again after the rendition by Jim Broadbent and twenty mincing waiters? I Gohatto at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse means ‘taboo’. With Ryuchi Sakamoto’s pulsating score and repressed, gay oriental passions, it feels a bit passé. Ravishing on the eye, this melodrama could have done with more overt tenderness and romance between the men. Definitely for the boys, the only two speaking
I After 38 years together, Alex Cannell and Ian Burford, two London-based Scots, became Britain’s first gay couple to have their partnership registered. On 5 September, London mayor Ken Livingston officiated over the men’s union. Although the partnership is not legally binding, Cannell believes it’s a start. ‘It’s like planting a seed which you hope will grow into a tree,’ he said. ‘We want to live in a society that’s fair for everyone . . . we’re not flag flyers, we’re not great political activists. We’re just sensible, normal human beings who have lived together for 38 years . . . We’re law-abiding, we contribute to society and we pay our taxes. We don’t discriminate against anyone and we don’t see why anyone should discriminate against us.’
I Look out for Glasgay! from 26 October-4 November, which is happening in venues all through Glasgow. Highlights include performances by queer American Tim Miller, a sometimes nude Ursula Martinez, stand-
female roles are for geishas. If you missed the sweet Hollywood gay drama, The Broken Hearts’ Club first time round, check it out at the Lumiere.
I Simon Callow, gay renaissance
actor/director/translator, sweeps into Glasgow’s Theatre Royal, Tuesday 2—Saturday 6 October, for his one-man exploration of Dickens. Luwies abound.
DIVA ALERT
LOOK WHO’S TALKING: SIAN PHILLIPS
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Nicholson Street, Thu 20 Sep, 1pm
What makes a diva?
68 THE LIST 2O Sep-4 Oct 2001
up Scott Capurro, novelist Patrick Gale, poet David Kinloch and the British premiere of Latin American Edwin Sanchez’ drama Barefoot Boys With Shoes On.
There’s gay movies including a Derek Jarman
Why do gay men love divas? Do we aspire to be glamorous. mysterious. suffer in luxury and jewels. while being betrayed by some cad of a hunk?
One of Britain's legendary stage stars. Sian Phillips flies into the Festival Theatre to introduce her autobiography Public Places (Hodder & StOughton. 5220) as part of Edinburgh Airport's Look Who's Talking series. Phillips is the ultimate all-rounder, an actress. singer and writer, and Currently star of her one— woman show in London. So what makes a diva? 'Diva used to be a great opera singer.‘ she says. 'Now it seems to apply to anyone who's bad-tempered or tiresome. My grocer was referred to as a bit of a diva the other day.’
Famous for playing the ultimate German diva in Pam Gems‘ drama Marlene, Phillips got the opportunity to analyse what made Dietrich tick. She was married to Peter O'Toole for twenty years: her book is her take on the marriage. She didn't tell the Irish hell- raiser she was going to write it. feeling she didn't need anyone‘s permission. It's a candid. compulsive read. and
retrospective, audience singalongs, a ceilidh, Halloween parties, photography exhibitions and films by young lesbians. Unmissable. (John Binnie)
Phillips comes across as practical. hardworking and always professional. It captures the difficulty of being a working mother/wife and continuing to penonn.
Anyone who has seen Sian Phillips on stage will never forget her. How she made us swoon in a fur coat and heels as Marlene. while her rendition of ‘Bewitched. Bothered And Bewildered' in Rodgers and Hans Pal Joey is legendary. Her favourite part was the middle-aged New England virgin in Tennessee Williams‘ profoundly moving The Night Of The lguana. The gay playwright wrote another drama specially for her.
‘As a writer he was a genrus.‘ she says. ‘All he wanted was for the play to go on. If a director didn't think a scene would work. Tennessee would Just cut . . . so accommodating.‘ So do the gay writers that she has worked with — Williams. Hart. Coward. Sondheim -— bring a special understanding to female roles? 'Gay writers.' she agrees. 'seem to have a better grip on the female psyche.’ (John Binnie)
l./g'ay@list.co‘.uk
TELEVISION BOB & ROSE ITV, Mon, 9pm 0000
Bob 8 Rose is a departure from Russell T. Davies' mega-hit. the compulsive in-yir-face. gay wham- bam. Queer as Folk. This is mainstream ITV and is a decidedly gentler affair. charting the Manchester-set love story of two ordinary mid-30$ folk: teacher Bob and garage supervisor Rose. It just so happens Bob is gay. He has known since he was ten. He's happy with it. For his mother. her son's gayness is her life. Bob sleeping with Rose doesn‘t change his sexuality. he's still gay.
Bob. played with great softness and delicacy by Alan Davies. makes us smile. Even if his pulling power on Canal Street is implausible. it‘s refreshing to see a gay man pertrayed who is Cuddly and Curly. Mothers will love him.
Thank goodness Lesley Sharp is no longer kept to the margins of ‘character actress': as Rose. she is glorious. full of pain and Joy. and becomes beautiful before Our eyes. It's a great cast. with Barbara Marten as Rose's youngish. money-silly mother. Jessica Stevenson no longer the plump next~door rieigthur to The Roya/e Family and Daniel Ryan the gentlest. sweetest boyfriend imaginable.
Mothers will love him
Bob 8 Rose is abOut coming out. not stopping. continually growing. Living at the vanguard of a gay movement. in the early days of liberation. sometimes it's important to admit we don't know where we are going. What role— models do we follow? What if yOu have adopted an alternative lifestyle. consciously different from yOur parents. and then suddenly in your mid-30s. you start to question your choices? Bob 8 Rose captures these dilemmas. it's appropriate it is actor-led. it‘s all about nuance and lack of simplicity. Russel T. Davies' writing is truthful. funny and movmg. Let's hope the remaining four episodes maintain the same depth and sensitivity. (John Binnie)