Flights of Fancy, Kava Girls and Absolut-ly supporting Stonewall

VFD creative director Lyall Hakaraia: Reviews Fancy Chance: Flights of Fancy 

Last Tuesday I went to see the scratch performance of Fancy Chance's Flights of Fancy as part of a two night run with the support of the Soho theatre. The vehicle for the night was a flight across the world from London to the US to Korea with Fancy as our stewardess, inflight movie and cultural tour guide, played to great effect with a mixture of video messages and live performance.

The mixture of autobiographical material with revelations her adoption and search for her American and Korean identity and trying to find and where she ‘fits in,’ combined with a strip tease and lack of technical fluidity gave the production a raw edge. There were laughs a plenty and Fancy is a natural comedian with great timing and an effortless ability to include her audience. Laughs with an edge make for an interesting evening and I look forward to seeing where she takes the production from here. Soho Theatre have just booked a longer run so if you missed it first time round, check out her Twitter feed here for more information.

Kava Girls

On the the day of the EU referendum I traveled out of the my East End comfort zone and headed to a decidedly damp Balham and the Theatre N16 to catch the performance of KAVA GIRLS.

The unfolding story picks apart the lives of three aspiring actresses who are all on the verge of getting their next big break that will provide them with the fame, financial stability and the recognition that they all desire.

The story is set backstage and the 3 are all understudies for 1 part. This promotes a distinct pecking order. Debra is the first understudy and is happy that for 3 years she has never been called on stage; the emotional stability of being in that position suits her lack of ambition and faded talent well. Salma is much more ambitious and is constantly seeking to find her self new roles only to be ’heavily penciled ‘ for parts that never come through, she wishes for a life on stage under the lights. Sinalei is a young Fa’afafine from Samoa who is assuring herself and everyone else (including her mother via the phone) that everything is going well for her and that she is street smart even though she is ‘green’ to London and the stage.

The staging of the play is ingenious and with a few simple props an expanse of vision is achieved  and sustained through out the piece. There is much singing as befits a story told backstage of a West End musical and the lyrics fall somewhere between Tim Rice and an episode of Glee. There is an audience for this work and the story line, while not unexpected, is never the less pleasing and makes for an enjoyable evening.

Good luck to the KAVA GIRLS as they journey around the UK on their PRIDE TOUR. The all female cast is refreshing and the inclusion of a Fa’afafine (a word that describes men who live as women in the pacific) character adds another dimension to a well acted and sung piece of work.

For details of gigs across the UK click here.

ABSOLUT MIX: STONEWALL FUNDRAISER

I was delighted to be invited as one of this year's Absolute Mix designers, alongside greats like Sibling and Gareth Pugh. You can see my collaboration with artist Tino Seubert here. The bottle went to auction and raised £550 for Stonewall which is fantastic!

When Kevin and Lewis met Stella... #Lift2016

VFD Creative Director Lyall Hakaraia reviews Lift Festival's play, Stella, and invites reflections from contemporary queer performers Kevin Le Grand Bailor and Lewis G. Burton: What makes a great play, performance, theatrical experience? Is it timing, delivery, words and rhythm, glorious settings or lack thereof? All of these elements in measure help to create a magic that can rivet an audience and submerge them in emotion, this balance has been beautifully achieved in the new Neil Bartlett play, Stella, at Hoxton Hall.

The play centres on the life of notorious late 19th Century female impersonator Stella and is performed in two strands; one by the young Stella who is giddily readying herself to celebrate her 21st birthday, and the other by an older Stella in her fifties who has resigned herself to treatment for the cancer that she expects to be the final chapter of her life.

The play opens with the older Stella (forcefully played by the exemplary Richard Cant) in a heightened emotional state as she twitches between lamentation of her youth and loves, her terror of going to hospital, and haughty recollections of the downward spiral of her life. Cant’s venerable and conflicted Stella is delivered in an all-too-believable manner as she emotionally recounts events in her life that have brought her to teeter on the precipice.

The young Stella (inhabited by Oscar Batterham) has youth on her side and is a far more flippant creature who has no worries of tomorrow or cares what others think, she is naive and reckless. Stella’s mother is an off-stage presence that is supportive of her son’s lifestyle giving practical advice, encouragement and living vicariously through Stella’s exploits. There is also the lover, Arthur, who is expected on this night to present Stella with a ring (wedding) to be worn with her new cerise pink ballgown. Arthur sends a note to say he will be late, which Stella sees as a dark omen and she sees their relationship as a tenuous and tortured thing.

So, yes, this is not a play to lighten your way, and in many ways, it plays to the tragic ending expected from a story about those who transgress society. But the truthful and powerful telling of Stella’s story is rewarding for an audience who are drawn in to sigh, breath and cry with our heroine. The sad and ignominious ending of Stella’s life for me is one that is thankfully in contrast to the fulfilled and rewarding lives that are lived by trans artists today. No longer does a Queer artist have to adopt a gender or personality to be accepted by society, their stories and journeys can now flow into the public consciousness, their humanity shared and appreciated.

Neil Barlett work reaches out across time and as he has said the presence of Stella haunted, possessed and urged him into writing this piece. Stella’s deft and adept manipulation of the Georgian society echoes the finding of ‘place’ for a new generation, as the plays timely examination of transgression echoes our era of trans people finding their political voice.

I invited two of VFD's favourite young Queer performers along to see their reactions to the play's theme, click here to watch Kevin Le Grand Bailor and Lewis G. Burton interview.

Stella runs until 18 June at Hoxton Hall.

Taylor Mac at Lift Festival - review

Lift Festival is the most positively, affirmatively named festival that Taylor Mac has ever performed in, Judy (Taylor’s preferred pronoun) went on to list ‘Under Construction’, ‘Under the Radar’ , ‘Arts and Ideas’ as the more downbeat and earnest type of festivals and events that Judy normally plays. This element of lifting ran throughout the show at the Hackney Empire with Taylor taking us on a shamanic radical faery journey that aimed to leave consumerism, sexism, racism and many other ‘isms’ behind and to take the audience into a bright future through a series of ritualistic audience participation exercises. The show had a fabulously louche backing track of 20th century hits from iconoclast performers such as Tiny Tim, Nina Simone and Patty Smith, all sung by Taylor and accompanied by the super laid-back band. Each song gave emphasis to the total performance and, of course, were sung with Taylor’s unique delivery.

The highlight was watching Taylor getting out into the audience and selecting members to illustrate Judy’s thoughts on pronouns, patriarchy and panting - all accompanied with eye-rolling, perfect comedic comments and soulful reflection from Judy giving the show a lightness of touch that can only be judged by a performer who knows how to effortlessly guide an audience through complex imagery.

Through interaction and participation Judy aimed to make the audience and the individuals in it into a community. The objective was clearly important to Judy who commented that through the ephemeral nature of art and performance communities could be made in terms of bringing people together, getting people to talk to one another, exchanging ideas and making continued contact outside the confine of the theatre.

This show is a prequel to a much more ambitious piece of work that Taylor is working on that involves singing 240 songs in 24hrs and tracing popular music from the 19th century through to the 21st. An incredible feat and in July of this year Taylor will be attempting to complete this dream with a supporting cast of performers, actors and dancers. All of it to be garnished with exhaustion, confusion, and super human amounts of energy as promised by Taylor. There is the hope that Judy will be able to perform some of this show in the UK in the near future. Fingers crossed this spectacle makes it to these shores soon.

A beautifully judged show by an immensely talented performer, who is in love with London and wants to make a connection with the city. We salute you Taylor Mac and assure you that you are loved back.

Fantastic that ‘Lift Festival’ started on such a great high and filled the glorious Empire, I look forward to rest of the programme and especially to seeing Neil Bartlett’s new work STELLA.

LOVE ART MAGIC

VFD