GLASGAY PREVIEW
_ Acting up
Tim Miller has taken the notion of the body politic literally and turned it into a piece of theatre; a funny, ranting performance which uses body parts to look at the experiences of one out, queer artist. Oh, and he tdtes his clothes off too.
Miller is the los Angeles performance artist who fought the law repeatedly, and has both lost and won. llis most memorable victory was against the Bush administration after § it tried to block a llatlonal Endowment ‘ for the Arts grant because Miller’s work was regarded as too sexually explicit. The Government’s lawyers were obliged to settle out of court when the judge decided Miller’s civil rights, and those of three other gay artists, had been infringed.
‘The radical right in the states has targeted lesbian and gay men after losing communists as the kind of bogeymen, and in particular queer artists, very few of which actually get funding from the government,’ Miller says. ‘it is part of huge cultural battle in this country around difference and sex and ultimately the body; how we define the body, who owns the body.’
This battle is played out in My Queer Body which is based on Miller’s life and experience as a gay man in America. it is a solo show — a format which because it can be staged on a low-budget and in virtually any space, is particularly suited to Miller’s brand
of subversive, confrontational performance. As a regular visitor to the llli, Miller
sees signs that this type of work is
breaking through here, helped by
' festivals such as llueer lip llorth and
' Clasgay! But he warns that the forces marshalled against gay and lesbian
performers are formidable, even by American standards. ‘We have our right-wing nuts but they’ve never managed anything as extreme as
. Clause 28,’ he says. (Eddie Bibb)
My Queer Body is at the CCA, Tue
2-Thurs 4 and Tim Miller is holding a
performance workshop at CCA on Mon 1.
:- WE WALK ALONE
TlirOugli Lulu“. Lonely Cirovcs gigs-M. . . . .
i
' .,#.?'“”~
alien
The American publlc’s voracious appetite for cheap ‘dlme store’ paperbacks in the 50s spawned a genre of lesbian exploitation novels by writers looking for an alternative to the overused gumshoe character.
They explon a ‘twlllght world’ of forbidden love where the central characters rarely found salvation, let alone lived happily ever after. Many trod a fine line between tltillatlng the (male) reader‘s taste for kinky sex and expressing distaste for women who sleep with women.
, ‘This was occurring at a time when
3 American women were tied to the
g apron strings after the war and lied
l paranoia was widespread,’ according to Edinburgh-based lesbian writer
5 Ellen Calford. ‘lt created a frisson
2 about these sexual monsters, that
5 twilight creature - the lesbian. But it was exploitation and reinforced these ! reactionary notions.’
; Along with horror, sci-ll and
; detective stories, the lesbian
l paperback novel explored a seamler
' side of life; ‘books to be confiscated by your parents’, as Calford puts it. They exploited the ordinary readers’ fascination with different sexualltles in a repressed age when politicians tried to rule culture. Most ended up delivering an essentially homophobic
There were exceptions, however. The Price of Salt, which bore the legend ‘The novel of a love society forbids’, ; was written by Patricia lllghsmith under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. With a cover price of 25 cents it fell into the category of dime store novel but according to Calford represents one of the earliest attempts at a sympathetic portrayal of lesbians in popular fiction.
llnsurprislngly, these books have become both cult collectors’ items and the subject of a reappraisal of their significance in lesbian writing. “People are now fascinated by them,’ | says Balford. ‘They are looked on as 1 part of lesbian cultural history.’ (Eddie , Cibb)
oykes for a Dime is at Cafe Cosmo in l the BET.
LISTINGS
Theatre
I The llonnal lleart Drama Centre at The Ramshorn. ingram Street. 552 3489. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50). Larry Kramer's powerful play has become a classic of the contemporary stage. The first play to engage seriously with issues surrounding AlDS, it has lost none of its topicality since its first performance roused both critics and audiences to a new awareness in 1985. The hero. Ned Weeks. tries to break through hostility and indifference to gain recognition and understanding of the disease.
I MS" The Tron Theatre. Trongate. 552 4267. 7.30pm. £6/£7.50 (£3.50/£4). DV8’s new work deals with cottaging. MSM (men who have sex with men) looks at the desire to step outside the boundaries of society. to risk situations loaded with danger and fear. in order to keep feeling. Film
I llsi Yen/The Wedding Banquet Glasgow Film Theatre. Rose Street. 332 8128. 6pm. 8.30pm. £1.80—£3.70. Ang Lee’s funny and serious film about a Taiwanese gay man living in America who agrees to a marriage of convenience to please his parents back home.
I Women’s All-lllghter Glasgow Film Theatre. Rose Street. 332 8128. 11pm-9am. Tickets £10 (£8) only available from GFI'. Women only. Born in
L Flames, C omedy in Six Unnatural Acts,
Desert Hearts, Claire of the Moon. Calamity Jane and more.
Workshops/Seminars
I Getting Out On Screen Glasgow Film Theatre. Rose Street. 332 8128. 10am-5pm. Tickets £2 (£1) only from GFI‘ Box Office. For lesbians. gay men and bisexuals who want to make film. video or television. Open to filmmakers. writers, actors, producers, viewers. beginners. Short screenings. practical advice and information plus panel discussions.
I lesbian and Bay Studies in Scotland The College Club. University of Glasgow, University Avenue. loam—4.30pm. Free. This one-day conference includes papers on: Collecting Lesbian and Gay Oral Histories; Contemporary Lesbian Literature; Gay Parenting; Gay and Lesbian Sexualities in Japan; Homosexuals and Homosexuality in 19th Century Scottish Literature. Speakers include Bob Cant. James Valentine, Lisa Norris. Edwin Morgan. James Kavanagh. Carol MacFarlane and Ros Walker. Full programme from Alasdair Cameron. Dept of Theatre Studies; David T. Evans, Dept of Sociology; Chris Whyte. Dept of Scottish Literature. University of Glasgow. Glasgow G12 8QQ. 041 339 8855.
I Outright Scotland: An Equal Age of Consent? Queen Margaret Union. University Gardens. 2pm. Free. Scotland’s premier campaigning organisation for lesbians. gay men and bisexuals stages a special Glasgow seminar as part of a UK~wide Equality Week in partnership with Stonewall, campaigning for a change to Britain’s age of consent laws for gay men.
SUNDAY 31
Theatre
I A Show for Clmay! Citizens’ Theatre. Gorbals Street. 429 0022. 8pm. £5. £10. £15. £25. Michael Cashman and [an McKellen make their debuts at the Citz. with Horse and other friends from Scotland and south of the border joining them on stage for a variety show in aid of Glasgay!. celebrating with music. comedy. and a bit of Shakespeare.
I Man Bound by his Book/Carrion Boost Paisley Arts Centre. New Street. Paisley. 877 1010. 8pm. Tickets from Centre Box Office: 887 1010. The Newcastle-based group Nexus Dance uses a distinctly individual style to re-create the life ofa man who wrote down every aspect of his life. Autobiography as you've never seen it before. Presented as part of Dance Break 11.
film I list Yen/The Wedding Banquet Glasgow Film Theatre. Rose Street. 332
8128. 6pm. 8.30pm. £1.80—£3.70. See Sat 30
Days out
I llot Strictly Ballroom Central Hotel. Gordon Street. 3—6pm. Tickets £8.50 (£5.50) from Ticketlink outlets. Tea Dance with displays by the London Pink Dancers and live music. Celebrate Glasgay! with waltzes. tangos and foxtrots. Ticket price includes cream tea.
MONDAY 1
Theatre
I Antonio and Tender Contact Drama Centre at The Ramshom. lngram Street. 552 3489. 7.30pm. £4 (£1.50). Two new works for the price of one: Antonio by Baz Barclay. directed by Lorenzo Mele. deals with the relationship between two historically and socially diverse men. linked purely by their sexuality. Bill Wright’s Tender Contact explores issues of sexuality from a ‘straight’ perspective. How do we understand gays? With fear? With envy? Directed by Josephine Peter. I The Way to Cook a Wolf The Arches. Midland Street. 221 9736. 9.30pm. £6 (£4). Trapped inside a deserted dacha somewhere in the heart of The Great Russian Novel. Olga Minsk. Olga Pinsk and Old Gdinsk desperately try to reach Moscow. A scandal is about to break and they are not there to report it! Meanwhile. in the glittering claws of High Society
Moscow. Anna. Kitty and Dolly. locked in
a passionate love-triangle. hurtle inexorably towards social disgrace. The Way to Cook a Wolf: a recipe for disaster and a very large dinner party. Written by Bryony Lavery and directed by Alicyn Marr. I Split Britches: ‘Lesbians Who ltill’ The Arches. Midland Street. 221 9736. 7pm. £6 (£4). inside every good girl there’s a serial killer screaming to get out. Two hard-boiled. fun-loving lesbians. May and June. tune into radio reports about a female serial killer on the loose. their fantasies turning ever darker as they devise dream deaths for misogynists. From kinky to kitsch. Lesbians Who K ill. written by Deb Margolin and directed by Lois Weaver. puts stereotypes through the shredder.
Music
I Worlds Apart The Tunnel. Mitchell Street. 204 1000. Doors open 10pm. Tickets on the door. Rapidly emerging popsters hit Glasgow.
Film I les llults Fauna/Savage lllglrts Glasgow Film Theatre. Rose Street, 332
8128. £1.80—£3.70. See GFT brochure for full details. Acclaimed film by and
starring Cyril Collard. who died from
18 The List 22 October—4 November 1993