Skating in the Clouds review

Summer and Autumn are two women in love, but despite appearances, all is not well in their fairy tale world. Written by Clare Mendes, Skating in the Clouds invites us into this whimsical space where fanciful skating parties are given the same level of urgency as our ever-growing environment and climate problems.
 
Rebecca Morton and Katrina Mathers play Autumn and Summer with great commitment. They distinctly show how different they are - with Autumn constantly trying to solve a leaking pipe whereas Summer remains fixated on the guest list for her decades away 70th birthday - yet also ensure we understand how they can be so drawn to each other.

The MILF and the Mistress review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

Meet Ali Anderson. She is an intelligent, middle-aged woman living the lesbian dream. Or is she? Presented as part of Midsumma Festival, The MILF and the Mistress is a one-woman show examining what happens when happily ever after occurs and why it has to begin in the first place. Why can't the excitement and discovery of life continue? And why must not only middle-aged women, and to be more specific, middle-aged lesbian women, disappear as they become older?

Jane Montgomery Griffiths' script brings an evocative description of Ali's life with humour and sincerity. The audience is given great insight into the mind of this woman and her unique circumstances, but at the same time, Griffiths writes such a relatable story where anyone who has ever felt like life was passing them by or searching for that spark in life, can absolutely connect with and put themselves in Ali's shoes.

How being a Slave 4 Britney built Sunanda's career in comedy

In 2019, Sunanda moved to Australia and quickly set their sights on the Melbourne comedy scene. Fast forward to this year and a Best Newcomer Nominee at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sunanda is ready to take on the Fringe Festival with their show Sunanda Loves Britney about how a decade long obsession with Britney Jean Spears led to an awakening and understanding of who they are.

Arriving with no contacts and being a queer Indian woman, Sunanda faced some initial hurdles to break the ice and make those valuable connections and introductions but she got lucky in finding her people and her audience. "I just moved here and had no network of artists to collaborate with so at first the Melbourne comedy scene felt limited and gatekeepery but I gradually met the right people and worked with different groups with different aesthetics and comedic styles which have informed and sharpened my own perspective. I’ve made friends in stand up, clown, theatre, impro, and sketch comedy. Compared to LA where I was doing lots of sketch and some impro, it’s definitely a smaller scene on the whole, but there are still artists pushing and melding genres," they tell me.

How Gay Am I? - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Sunanda is a queer woman of colour who came out at the tender age of 27. Through storytelling, stand-up and sketch, How Gay Am I? examines the confusion arising from being a Bangkok-native, adopted, third generation Indian lesbian. Having also lived in New York City, Sunanda brings a refreshing burst of energy to the stage in her solo debut as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Sunanda traces her queerness back to the days spent lip syncing to Britney Spears songs until she realised she didn’t want to be Britney, but simply wanted Britney. From there we cover her coming out experiences and her penchant for larger-than-life character work become evident. Sunanda is loud and not just with her voice but also with her expressions. When she isn’t talking, her facial features are. When she’s an angry Hindu Nationalist cow vigilante, we can see it in her eyes as well as hear it in her voice. It is a complete contrast to the vulnerability she exposes when opening up about coming out to her parents.

The Butch Monologues - Midsumma Festival review

Butch. A butch woman. A woman who has masculine traits, behaviours and styles. For The Butch Monologues, playwright Laura Bridgeman interviewed numerous butch-identifying women living in America, the UK, Europe and the Caribbean. There are currently over 100 entries in The Butch Monologues, and 54 of these have been selected for the Melbourne premiere of this show to be read out by five members of the Melbourne queer community, some with little or no stage experience.

The stage is bare except for one chair and a small round table, but once Fiona Jones, Anne Harris, Quinn Eades, Jax Jacki Brown and Jacques De Vere appear on stage, it becomes filled with the lives and personalities of the people whose stories are being shared. While the topics and themes that are raised vary from being humourous to affecting to profound, they all work towards highlighting the trials of butch identity and politics.

Sizzling summer fun is coming to The Butterfly Club

GRUMBLE: Sex Clown Saves the World

Summer is on its way and so is The Butterfly Club's curated summer program. Nestled just off Little Collins St. (between Swanston and Elizabeth St.), this iconic Melbourne bar and theatre space has put together a very interesting and varied collection of shows completely in line with its own quirkiness and slightly off-centre vibe.

Opening the season is Betty Grumble's Sex Clown Saves the World, which is bound to leave you wondering what the hell you just saw. The show includes wild neo burlesque, self-defence aerobics and a butoh kookaburra, so go along and witness the Queen of the Obscene and all her rage, desires and internal organs in a shamanic striptease.

Identity art exhibition - Midsumma Festival preview

Cultural theorist Stuart Hall once asked, "how much do we retain, and how much do we give up of our cultural identity in order to be ourselves?" In Susan Maco Forrester's latest art exhibition, Identity - and presented as part of the Midsumma Festival - she explores these ideas and looks at how we go about forming our identity and the importance of knowing who we are and where we came from.

While someone's personal identity can often be difficult to define in its most simplest terms, in Forrester's case it is understandable. Forrester is a GLBTIQ woman of Somali/Scottish heritage with her family coming to Australia as '20 pound poms' in 1974. Furthermore, Forrester's mother was also the first Somali woman to settle in Australia. "I have been reflecting whilst installing my show, about how much of my identity has developed from myself and how much has been put on me, so to speak," she explains. "Growing up I had often felt like I lived on the fringe, not really wholly belonging to Western or African cultures. What I have found interesting, is that in my experience, identity is not something that Anglo Australians think about in describing themselves."

"Identity is a concept that is thought of for others, so for someone like me, of mixed Celtic and African heritage, who lives in Western society, often it is only my African heritage that  is seen as my identity. However, already being used to being a fringe dweller really helped me when i 'came out', so I guess my idea of my identity has been formed by and strengthened by living on the edge of, and having one foot in a few camps." 

The Ultimate Lesbian Double Feature | Midsumma Festival interview

There are not many people who can say they've never sexted before, the fine art of texting and being sexual at the same time. It's a practise that has only been around a few decades, but had it been available 200 years ago or even 100 years ago, how would relationships have been different? This is just one story being performed as part of The Ultimate Lesbian Double Feature during the Midsumma Festival.

In Love in the Time of Sexting, playwright Zoe Brinnand imagines a world where Emily Dickinson didn't write letters to Susan Gilbert and Virginia Wolf's letters to Vita Sackville-West never existed. Instead, Brinnand explores how this intimacy would have been created and maintained through the use of mobile phones and sexting. "I hope that this play encourages more lesbians to loosen up about sex," Brinnand laughs. "And to sext more! Sexting can be funny, and should be fun."

Alpha review - Melbourne Fringe

In this day and age, queer identity is more important than ever. Or is it? In Sebastian Robinson and Tamara Natt’s Alpha, the two explore the idea of what modern day queer identity looks like - and if it actually exists. Through poetry, movement, music and sound, the two create a world where the roles we choose to take on in life are revealed and questioned.

 

Robinson and Natt appear on an empty stage, dressed in matching white shoes and black tracksuit outfits. They spend the next 50 minutes creating some beautiful visuals for us not only through their soft and fluid movements and exploration of the space but also through their words. From a Britney Spears song to an Auslan interpretation of a Delta Goodrem song to one of their original works of poetry, Alpha shows how words can do so much to an environment even when you are staring at an empty stage.

Homosexuals, Olympics, Russia and Vodka...

The news about Russia and its legislation that now bans "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors” with severe punishments for anyone who infringes on this draconian law, has been making headlines, and rightly so. With all the progress the world has made regarding gay rights for something like this to be passed in this day and age is so horrendously wrong that people should be talking about it. However, there have been two things that have really got to me regarding this legislation; firstly, the reaction of the International Olympic Committee and secondly, the boycotting of Russian vodka, Stolichnaya.

It's all fun and games in Russia

I have never been a fan of the Olympics. I have always seen them as being hypocritical in what they stand for with their claims about solidarity and uniting countries, yet it’s always about winning and who has the most medals. With the laws that Russia has just passed, it is now time for the IOC to take a stand and prove what the Olympics stand for. Instead they release a since proven erroneous statement that they have "received assurances from the highest level of government in Russia" that these laws that violate human rights "will not affect those attending or taking part in the games". Because that makes it all right does it? Out of sight out of mind? It is reminiscent of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The Nazi party might not have been in at its peak back then and communication to the masses would have been a lot more difficult so I can see somehow understand (but not accept) how they would have still permitted the games to be held there, but with all the facts we have at hand about what is happening in Russia, it is unfathomable that the IOC can sit back and implicitly say ‘we don’t give a shit about human rights, just as long as the games go ahead”. The last time the games were cancelled was in 1940 and I can understand the importance of the games (even if I don’t agree with them) but find me anyone who is a supporter of human rights who would not agree with cancelling the games if Russia does not wake up to itself? Yes it’s an extreme reaction but this is an extreme discriminatory law. Forget about gay marriage for a second and remember that this law permits someone to be jailed for even discussing homosexuality with minors.

But if the IOC won’t do anything, at least the gay clubs will. Some of the biggest gay clubs in America, Canada, England and Australia - including The Laird in Melbourne and Gay Bar in Sydney, have begun boycotting Russian vodka - in particular Stolichnaya. Individuals have also chosen to no longer purchase the Russian brand as their drink of choice. Bravo! Bravo indeed! Let’s stop consuming a drink that obviously has Russian ties but whose headquarters are not even based in Russia (they’re in Luxembourg) and have no effect on the actual Government itself. Even the CEO of Stoli’s parent company SPI Group, Val Mendeleev, has issued an open letter to the LGBT community, in which he speaks of being a “fervent supporter and friend” of the gay community. Yes, it is raising awareness about the issue but it is not doing anything for the cause. It’s this “bedroom activism” that really infuriates me. If people really wanted to take a stand against this they would stop using/purchasing products that Russia exports. In 2007, Petroleum products comprised over half of Russian exports to the U.S. while iron, steel and railway equipment are the fastest growing imports into Russia from America. If we put a stop on such trade in response to Russia’s heinous legislation then this would actually have an effect on the country. Of course, this would require people to actually make some sort of sacrifice rather than getting on their morality horse by limiting their alcohol intake. Not drinking Stolichnaya vodka because of Russia’s gay laws is the same thing as “liking” a page on Facebook to end world hunger.

We – in Australia – are up in arms about the fact that we still don’t have legal marriage for all gay people. We think this is abhorrent and extremely discriminatory, but on the flipside, I am so relieved that we can openly hold hands, kiss and discuss homosexuality without fear of retribution. Yes we can’t get married (yet) but at least we don’t have the fear of going to jail or being murdered for being who we are. For this reason, it is imperative that the IOC and world leaders make a stand to Russia that this is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Tilda Swinton posing with the rainbow flag in Russia