Despite a 6 hour train journey - and five changes of rolling
stock - I found myself grinning from ear to ear last week when I
escaped London's dolldrums for sunny Liverpool. Homotopia was my
destination of choice, not least so I could pay homage to my old
pal, and brilliant painter Sadie Lee, who's joint show with Matthew
Stradling at The Gallery is a jewel in the crown at this year's
festival.
Arriving fashionably late at almost 9pm at the bijoux
queer-friendly haven known as Unity Theatre, I made my entry
half-way through the Lavender Girls event just in time to catch
Sandra Alland and Y. Josephine who together comprise the
alternative performance troupe, Zorras. A medley of poetry, music,
video, megaphones - and drumming that would put Sheila E to shame -
the Edinburgh duo spin stories of whimsy and manage to insert the
great painter Frida Kahlo into (almost) every one of them.
Apparently I wasn't the only one to be inconvenienced by Virgin
Trains (a collapsed network of overhead power cables and 'a fire'.
Somewhere), Lavender compere-cum-radio-host Rosie Wilby and members
of Sadie Lee's band 'Spinster' were also casualities. In Rosie's
place the audience was treated to an impromptu compere stand-in
from local lasses Caz and Britney. Caz and Britney were ever so
friendly, greeting me like a long lost cousin visiting from
Australia. Sadly I missed their chef d'oevre 'Scotty Road, the
musical' a satirical homage to a (their words) 'particularly skanky
but much loved' road in the 'Pool. According to the Liverpool exile
I work with, it's the equivalent of London's Hackney Road, so no
danger of finding Prada there. Well not in its original
incarnation, anyway.
But back to Rosie. Miss Wilby arrived in a flurry with a new
girlfriend who seemed to enjoy her new role as the butt of Rosie's
jokes, judging by the way she was chortling in the seat nearby. I
use the word butt in an affectionate way. Like a hornet's nest.
Rosie was in fine form. Perhaps all that extra time on the train
had given her the opportunity to hone her funny bone. The
pint-sized funny woman had me - and the rest of the audience, gay
chaps included - emiting sounds which can only be described as
laughter for a solid gold half hour. She told us she'd had to
change five times on her way up, not trains, mind, but her gender.
I think she might have been telling the truth because she actually
morphed into a lesbian Eddie Izzard before us. Mind you some think
that La Izzard IS a lesbian, I suppose. That notwithstanding, I
think we can safely say that a new comedy star is re-born.
The following and final act, Spinster, was headed up by Sadie -
who looked replete in a pencil skirt, boots and fishnets. The
band's opening number 'Village Slut' has stayed with me for days.
And nights. And the odd morning. Sadie plays the electric ukelele
and is supported by a crack team of queer ladies on bass, keyboards
and drums. Most of the band have first names that sound like
letters of the alphabet. Spinster's set was a rollicking 40 minutes
of hardcore sex, er, ukelele (interchangable) and the band finished
off with an unforgettable version of Britney's Toxic ("I'm addicted
to you, don't you know that you're Toxteth").
The following day I had the pleasure of attending Sadie and
Matthew's artist's talk for the Pinups exhibit at The Gallery on
Stanhope Street where I learned a thing or two about my friend.
What draws Sadie to her subjects is a sense of dis-ease and
awkwardness. Sadie reckons she's got awkward running through her
veins and so she can spot it a mile off and capture it in all its
delicious complexity. She's not wrong - her new series of artworks
specially commissioned by Homotopia - features andro pinup
Anderrida Shurville, Stav B - the first lady of London's queer
underground, Liverpudlian actress Rita Tushingham, cultural icon
and commentator David Hoyle and her painter friend Matthew
Stradling. Matthew, who paints luscious, devotional images of men
in the style of the great masters told us how the art world still
operates a gay glass ceiling and how difficult it is to get his
work seen beyond a gay audience. Go see! And drag your straight
mates along too.
Later on I trundled over to the fabulous FACT - is le tout
Liverpool gay? - where local girl Rita Tushingham, star of the
famous Kitchen Sink drama 'A Taste of Honey' gave a bravura lead
performance (at least she did in 1961, the year the film was made)
and spoke about her fabulous acting career in a Q&A afterwards.
If you've not seen it I recommend it as a film that addresses race,
homosexuality and femaleness in a sensitive fashion that was rare
at the time.
Throughout my all too brief weekend in Liverpool I met so many
friendly, funny, clued up people at Homotopia, and the team there
are positively inspirational. If only I could stay for the whole
month. If you're after some intelligent, funny, touching,
visionary, thought-provoking stuff to do in November, Homotopia is
the place to be.
This weekend, on Saturday night, the highlight is Alternative
Miss Liverpool featuring traditional rounds of day and evening wear
as well as Butch/Femme realness, Tom-Boy, Liverpool Spinster and
Military Drag. There's plenty more on so check Homotopia for more
info.
