PAUL TAYLOR-MILLS & THE TURBINE THEATRE PRESENT
RALLY FEST
A CELEBRATION OF LGBTQ+ VOICES & STORIES RUNNING FROM 6 – 13 JUNE 2021
Paul Taylor-Mills and The Turbine Theatre proudly present Rally Fest – a celebration of LGBTQ+ voices and stories, opening at the Battersea based theatre from 6-13 June 2021.
The festival, which includes 12 shows, sets out to promote allyship within the creative industries and encourage artists to take up space with LGBTQ+ work. Rally Fest aims to promote ways in which recognising the craft of under-represented voices can make society a richer, more cohesive and dynamic place to live. The festival will feature both new work and re-energised classics that mark important moments of our history.
Paul Taylor-Mills, Artistic Director, The Turbine Theatre, said, “The opportunity to mount a festival of new work from under-represented voices has been an ambition of mine for some time. Over the last year we’ve had a huge amount of time to reflect about our practice, to think about the kind of work we want to create, encouraging artists to tell the stories of today. My hope is that #RallyFest provides us with a platform to do this, as well as allowing us to look back on some seminal moments in LBGTQ+ theatre.
During the curation of the festival, I’ve come across artists who I didn’t previously know existed, and have learned a huge amount about what is and isn’t out there for under-represented theatre-makers.
We hope the festival allows for conversation and for change. I believe so strongly in the power of theatre to unite people and to educate and to learn, including myself. I look forward to sharing our varied programme with our loyal audience and can’t wait to re-open our doors on 17 May.”
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Queens of MT
An evening of showtunes with drag queens!
An Evening OF Show tunes with Drag Queens: Misty Van Cartier (Priscilla Queen Of The Dessert), River Medway, Samantha Stone and your Host; Tiana Biscuit (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bugsy Malone).
Join these Broadway babes for ‘One Night Only’, we‘ll be singing some of your favourite Show tunes. This is guaranteed to be a ‘Sunday In The Park With George’ you’ll never forget! So, ‘Don’t Rain on my Parade’ and BOOK NOW!
All artists will appear subject to availability.
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Wreckage
‘This. What I’m feeling means you meant something. That you continue to mean something.
That the feeling we shared. Share. Is real.
I never want that to go away.
When that goes away you won’t be close anymore.’
Sam’s life is completely devastated by the sudden, unexpected death of his fiancé Noel. Left alone with his fractured mind, Sam works tirelessly to keep Noel close to him as he wrestles with his guilt and anger at the world. But when Sam stumbles upon new scientific theories about consciousness and our very existence, he is convinced there is a way to really see Noel again.
Harlow Playhouse presents this reading of new work by emerging talent Tom Ratcliffe (VELVET, Circa) directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair. Wreckage is a touching and emotional two-hander about learning to live with a loss that can never be resolved.
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Safe Sex
A collection containing the following three plays by Harvey Fierstein.
Manny and Jake
Two young men meet in a bar. Manny is literally praying for sex; Jake is only too eager to oblige. What the latter does not know is that Manny has AIDS.
Safe Sex
Two recently reconciled male lovers confront the challenge of their on-again, off-again relationship in the time of AIDS. Ghee, an aging, congenial gay man, may be using guidelines for safe sex as an excuse for his fading sex drive. This dismays Mead, a virile and no-nonsense blue-collar type. The emotional seesaw of their interactions creates the compelling dynamics of this fascinating short piece.
On Tidy Endings
A man has died of AIDS, leaving behind a son, a male lover, and an ex-wife. She still loves him and accepts the fact that he was gay, and that he died in the arms of his male lover, who selflessly cared for him right up until the end.
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Steenie by Ian Hallard
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was a Seventeenth Century celebrity. He was beautiful, charismatic, and his lust for power led to him becoming the favourite of not one, but two, English kings.
Steenie is a sexy, comedic, historical romp, and tells the true story of Villiers’ rise and fall, and of his infamous love affair with King James I.
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Blowing Whistles
Matthew Todd is the award winning author of the hit LGBT mental health book Straight Jacket, described by Elton John ‘as an essential read for every gay person on the planet’. His first play, Blowing Whistles, last seen in London in 2008, is a painfully honest and funny drama about the complications of aspects of modern gay life.
Nigel loves his hedonistic lifestyle – he has a long-term partner, goes clubbing and has lots of sex in their open relationship. Jamie, isn’t sure things are so great…
The night before Pride in London, the couple make contact with a stranger on the internet, a mysterious young man that seems too good to be true. They make plans for a night of casual sex, but their young guest has a very different agenda…
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Obsession
Obsession is a 1920’s gothic-horror romance about a young, black, American paranormal debunker who travels to England to find his Sceptics Society’s long absent founder but instead discovers the woman he left behind, intent on reliving their relationship in ways that will challenge this sceptic to his core.
Obsession is Sophia Murphy’s debut play.
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Boy Out The City
‘I wanted to be as close to It as possible. If England was a body, It was the belly button and I wanted in. I want to crawl inside that pulpit of stink and feel in harness with it and with me.’
Boy Out The City is a brand new intimate autobiographical one man show written and performed by Declan Bennett (Once, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fatherland, Kiss of the Spiderwoman).
A story about moving in and moving out of the Big Smoke and the love loss and sexuality that showed up in the most unexpected places.
Directed by Nancy Sullivan.
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Work In Progress Showing: Oh We Do Like To Be
HighTide present a work in progress extract of a new play by commissioned writer Sonia Jalaly.
A stack of postcards, a trail of secrets and an innate curiosity leads Beth to Blackpool where the lights flash and the rain glistens.
On a journey to find out who she is, Beth encounters all of what Blackpool has to offer from ballroom dancers to drag queens to organists to tribute acts. Someone must have the answers she’s looking for.
Oh We Do Like To Be tells an intergenerational story about nostalgia, identity and the good old British seaside through the eyes of a woman who longs to know who she is, featuring appearances from the likes of Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion and Bucks Fizz (kind of..)
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Heterophobia
Gays are the majority. Straights are illegal.
Thanks to a population explosion, the UK government began to actively encourage gay relationships. Decades later, being gay is the law, babies are born only by government sanctioned IVF and anyone found harbouring heterosexual tendencies is punished severely in a correctional facility.
We follow the story of Loretta Devlin, a woman in prison for having a heterosexual relationship. Heterophobia is a battle of wits between Loretta and her interviewer Doctor Kane. He has been tasked with sourcing specific information about Loretta’s ‘crimes’… but Loretta will only give the answers if she gets some answers herself, answers to questions like ‘who outed me?’ and ‘what became of my straight friends and lover?’
And then… we learn the terrifying instruction Doctor Kane has been tasked to perform before he leaves the room.
Heterophobia is a two-hander for actors in their 70s, which, through its ‘flipped’ viewpoint, shines a light on modern-day homophobia.
This performance is a rehearsed reading.
Written by Ross Berkeley Simpson (Olivier nominated Warheads).
Directed by Scott Le Crass (Oncomm winner Rose starring Maureen Lipman).
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Fister Act
‘We are lost in the darkness of heterosexuality. the endless beige of cisgender, searching, longing to be free’.
Join me, Fatt Butcher, for the world premiere of my Fister Act, an autobiographical musical about my inability to get past the knuckles (inspired, I know).
Fister Act, is a life-affirming queer fantasy adventure through time, space, bodies, and brains. Join intergalactic sexpot and non-binary drag icon in the making, Fatt Butcher, as we journey beyond the knuckles, battle our demons, and free ourselves from shame with the help of an enchanted bottle of poppers and the disembodied voice of Liza Minelli.
With an original score of synth-pop electro musical theatre (think Bohemian Rhapsody in space) and kaleidoscopic visuals, Fister Act is a cult classic in the making. Oh, and it’s strictly BYOP – bring your own poppers!
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Showtune Disco Bingo
WARNING: this is not your ordinary bingo, Fatt Butcher’s Disco Bingo is a FULL ON PRODUCTION BABES! And this time we are bringing you an all musical theatre special, so get your tits and teeth on and jazz hands at the ready.
Join Birmingham’s queen of [bingo] balls, statement earrings and sausage rolls, Fatt Butcher for an unmissable night of outrageous performance, powerhouse vocals, games, pastry, poppers, and prizes, with an unforgettable soundtrack from DJ Sophie Ellis Bisto.
A critically acclaimed artist & winner of many awards, Fatt’s Butcher has been described by NME as ‘ramshackle’ and by trolls on twitter as ’the accelerating decline of humanity’ (accolades of which they are understandably proud). See you there babes!
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A Brief History Of Drag
Join international multi award winning Cabaret star Velma Celli as she celebrates the most iconic drag moments of film, stage and popular culture, many of which helped cultivate and shape her into the living drag legend she is today!
From David Bowie, to Priscilla and every drag queen remix in between, be wowed by Velma’s triple threat of heavenly vocals, theatrical swagger and razor-sharp wit as we remember those trail blazing cross dressing legends who paved the way for equal rights, no matter the sexual orientation.
Known as “The UK’s Queen of live vocal drag”, Velma has been charming audiences across the globe for the past 10 years. The alter ego of West End star Ian Stroughair who has appeared in hit musicals Cats, Fame, Chicago and Rent, to which he received critical acclaim.
Last year Velma’s A Brief History of Drag entertained audiences across the globe on a tour which included Australia (Best Cabaret Nomination in Perth), 54 Below in N.Y.C, a sell-out U.K tour ending in a smash hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Velma is the currently reigning recipient of the “Best Cabaret” award from Fringeworld, Perth Australia!
In 2015 Velma was invited to appear on BBC’s EastEnders for a very special guest episode playing herself, starred opposite Danny Dyer in the music short Nebraska, performed with pop icon Anastacia and West End and Broadway legends Ruthie Henshall, Kerry Ellis and Frances Ruffelle to name but a few.
She can also be spotted in American comedy series Piss Off, I Love You and on the silver screen in The Night of The Lotus.
Last year she appeared in the Olivier award-winning circus show, La Soiree, fronted the McDonalds “we are awake” campaign, was nominated for a Great British Pantomime Award and even performed privately for royalty.
The headline act for the BBC’s Best Of the Fringe closing night concert at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015 and the winner of the coveted Three Weeks Editors Award, a two-year long residency at The Hippodrome, London, there isn’t much our Velma hasn’t done!