ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

LGBT+ Theatre in Northern Ireland

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Last week we lost the  Above the Stag Theatre, 72 Albert Embankment, Inner London, SE1 7TP. It is not the first time that a theatre has closed, currently, Theatres at Risk Register 2022 shows 41 theatres in the UK at risk of being closed or moved into different usage, and there is no dedicated LGBT+ theatre in Northern Ireland.

But what was special about Above the Stag was that it was a charity and the UK’s only exclusively LGBT+ Theatre.  This is a massive loss to our community; writers of plays and musicals for our community no longer have a specific outlet.  They now will need to compete against mainstream theatre items whose (rightly) focus will be on generating revenue and keeping their premises open – and the way to do that is to put on items that will be of interest to the mainstream of society.

Yes, we are lucky in the UK to have various festivals, like the Edinburgh Fringe, which allow things to be produced of such a varied and wide nature.  Indeed the playwright Patrick Wilde had the play put on, and I have been trying to find a company in Northern Ireland (without success) to have Couldn’t Make it Up (by Patrick) or James Martin Charlton’s play ‘Desire of Frankenstein’ put on in Northern Ireland.

We are lucky that the Lyric and the MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) do put on LGBTQ+ plays etc, as indeed does the QFT (Queen’s Film Theatre), but it would be so tremendous to have a theatre and a theatre company dedicated to our community.

The loss of Above the Stag Theatre is felt deeply in our community; I hope that is able to be re-established in a new location but to expand that would be wonderful, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get 5-6 regional theatres that expressly produce LGBTQ+ material for our community

Above The Stag Theatre   

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MACinternational

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Last year I wrote a short piece on the exhibition and said I would revisit it when I had the opportunity before the Macinternational finsihed its run (9 Nov 2018-31 March 2019). This exhibition will have been on show for just over 4½ months when it closes, to showcase a snapshot of the very best contemporary visual art from around the world (as they have stated).

Being shown across all three galleries in the MAC, MACinternational has brought together a formidable array of pieces, which are interesting in concept, but I cannot see how any of them would or could be shown in a private home, or indeed even into a public space in a work environment.

As I indicated this is my second viewing (or is it my third?) to the exhibition; and again I was drawn to only one selection of work – that of
Renata Poljak and her work from ‘Galerija umjetnina split’.

I love the atmospheric loneliness of the phtographs. Even when there are groups of people they stand seemingly alone as individuals. The beach shows ripple affects, which we are assured are natural, and then there is the relentlessness of the sea. For these few photographs alone I am I’ve been to the exhibition.

However, on another point, I wonder what it is that so many of our gallery spaces in the last few years have been showing installation art (by this I mean, mixed media constructions, often designed for a specific space or for a temporary period of time)? I continuously try to understand the various artists(s) viewpoint but in the main, I usually fail. Perhaps this is my failing or lack of artistic education! I would welcome other peoples thoughts and comments

Roger Casement: Butterflies and Bones review: blood and thunder

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Secrets Of The Black Diaries...Picture Shows: Image order No HK6737 Irish Patriot and British Consular Official Sir Roger Casement (1864 - 1916) is escorted to the gallows of Pentonville Prison, London. TX: BBC FOUR Friday, March 15 2002 Getty Images/Hulton Archives Roger Casement, former British Consul to the Congo, was hanged for treason for his role in Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising. His conviction rested on a set of diaries that suggested he had pursued a highly promiscuous homosexual life. Under the social mores of the day, such a revelation deprived him of all hope of clemency. But were the diaries faked? BBC Four investigates the 85-year-old mystery. WARNING: This Getty Image copyright image may be used only to publicise 'Secrets Of The Black Diaries'. Any other use whatsoever without specific prior approval from 'Getty Images' may result in legal action.

Secrets Of The Black Diaries…Picture Shows: Image order No HK6737 Irish Patriot and British Consular Official Sir Roger Casement (1864 – 1916) is escorted to the gallows of Pentonville Prison, London.
TX: BBC FOUR Friday, March 15 2002
Getty Images/Hulton Archives
Roger Casement, former British Consul to the Congo, was hanged for treason for his role in Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising. His conviction rested on a set of diaries that suggested he had pursued a highly promiscuous homosexual life. Under the social mores of the day, such a revelation deprived him of all hope of clemency. But were the diaries faked? BBC Four investigates the 85-year-old mystery.
WARNING: This Getty Image copyright image may be used only to publicise ‘Secrets Of The Black Diaries’. Any other use whatsoever without specific prior approval from ‘Getty Images’ may result in legal action.


If you’ve never heard of Roger Casement, who was executed by the British for treason 100 years ago today, the reason is as simple as it is sad, he was homosexual. For that reason he was ignored when he was not being written out of our revolutionary history.

Jeffrey Dudgeon, MBE has written two wonderful insightful books into Casement,

and

Aidan Lonergan has written that there are ten things we don’t know about Casement:

  1. His Antrim father fought in Afghanistan
  2. His Anglican mother secretly baptised him as a Catholic
  3. He was looked after by the people of Antrim after his parents died
  4. He exposed one of the bloodiest colonial regimes ever
  5. What he saw changed him
  6. He sought German backing for an Irish rebellion during WWI
  7. Some see him as a gay icon
  8. Arthur Conan Doyle campaigned against his sentence
  9. He converted to Catholicism on the day of his execution
  10. A hundred years on from the Easter Rising, it’s important to remember Casement

However, as with all history, it is open to interpretation, and I know that different camps will have different feelings towards Casement, his impact on Irish history, and on Gay History.
The musical about him was one such attempt, and I hope that if it comes to a theatre near you, you will make an effort to see it and view it through the eyes of someone who is probably far older than he was, and also who has the benefit of a society that is beginning to be accepting of LGBT people.
 

Roger Casement is (again) centre stage, but this time it’s the dance world that’s exploring the many facets of his life

Source: Butterflies and Bones review: blood and thunder