Tezza's Theatre Place

COVID-19 is not the first pandemic where the nations of the world have been proved to not really have as to how to handle it. Back in the 1980’s HIV and AIDS descended and destroyed the lives of many, many people. But, unlike COVID, AIDS also came with a stigma attached. People were terrified of catching it and people that did have it were treated as outcasts of society. And then, one day in 1987, the most famous woman in the world did something extraordinary, that started a revolution of acceptance and understanding. That event is captured in Nicky Allpress’s new film  Moment of Grace , written by Ben Gosling. Told as a series of intermingled monologues, Moment of Grace, is the story of the day Princess Diana opened the Broderip ward in the Middlesex Hospital. A fairly normal day for a royal you might think. A few handshakes, some well-chosen words, unveiling a plaque, then some nibbles and back home to the palace in time for tea. But this visit was unique in the annals of th...

Riot Act – Credit Dawson James It’s Pride Month and that means that London is full of building flying rainbow flags and the theatre scene is gayer than ever with a plethora of LGBT+ themed shows hitting the stages of the capital. Some are just OK, some are good and a small number are absolutely awesome. I was lucky enough to get to experience the latter type of show as Alexis Gregory’s  Riot Act  arrived at the Arcola Theatre, This one-man show is a verbatim portrayal of conversations Alexis has had with three gay men, whose stories are told in three separate monologues over the sixty-minute run. First, we have Michael-Anthony Nozzi, one of the few remaining people who were present at the Stonewall riots in 1969. Michael paints a graphic picture not just of the Stonewall Inn itself but also the area around Greenwich Village. This completely changed my perception of the events of June 28th. Over the course of the monologue I learnt so much about the event, its background an...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/180877/review-outlaws-to-in-laws-kings-head-theatre/ Outlaws to In-Laws 70 years is, according the bible, the amount of time that a person has on earth – Psalm 90, verse 10: “ The days of our years are three score and ten. ” Of course, in reality, people often live much longer. But, over the course of seven decades its amazing how much the world in which we live can change and this is the central message of  Outlaws to In-Laws  which is part of the centrepiece of the King’s Head Theatre’s Queer Festival 17. Outlaws to In-Laws  is not a single play but is an evening comprising of seven plays by individual authors, each taking place in a separate decade between the 1950s and 2010s. The first,  Happy and Glorious  by Philip Meeks take place on the day of the Queen’s coronation in 1953. In a ‘gentleman’s club’ overlooking Westminster Abbey, Edward (Alex Marlow) and Peter (Elliot Balchin) are welcoming a new member in the shap...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169539/the-chemsex-monologues-the-kings-head-theatre-review/ The Chemsex Monologues at the King’s Head Theatre. Photo by Mark Douet Some of you may have heard of an app called Grindr. It is a social app for gay men that enables them to chat and arrange to meet up. Okay, it may be a bit more than that but once again I must remember my mother reads these things. Anyway, if I was to download it and switch it on now, two things would become apparent very quickly. The first is that a lot of people take really bad photographs which seem to cut off their heads and the second is that the world is divided into those that say ‘chems OK’ and those that say ‘No Chems’. Being firmly on the ‘No Chems’ side, it is interesting to delve, if only briefly, on the other. Such an opportunity is available as Patrick Cash’s play  The Chemsex Monologues  makes a welcome return to the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. As the title suggests,  The Chemsex M...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/165886/the-hiv-monologues-ace-hotel/ The HIV Monologues (c) Eliza Goroya According to the National AIDS Trust, in 2015 nearly 90,000 in the UK received HIV specialist care. That’s quite a figure. HIV is no respecter of gender, age, sexual orientation or religion and between 2006 and 2015, there has been a 73% increase in the number of people accessing HIV care. It’s a difficult subject to talk about, and one probably avoided at most dinner parties. But Patrick Cash’s new play  The HIV Monologues  which I saw at the Ace Hotel, Shoreditch, is a wonderful way to get the conversation started. ‘Resting’ actor Alex (Denholm Spurr) has a lot going on at the moment. Not only is he about to go on a first date with Tinder match Nick (Kane Surry) but tomorrow, he is going to a hospital to audition for a role in a play by writer Barney (Jonathan Blake). Alex and Nick’s date is going well – after Nick’s horrendous opening flirting and dreaming up ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/151507/fcking-men-is-a-masterpiece-of-theatre-the-vaults/ Summer is definitely over. All the leaves are brown and the skies are grey. The clocks have gone back, the nights are dark and the temperature has dropped. However as autumn and winter firmly take hold, there is one ray of sunshine on the horizon. After a completely sold-out visit to Edinburgh, Joe Dipietro’s awesome play F*cking Men is back in London and has firmly taken up residence in the Vaults Theatre, Waterloo. Loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play ‘La Ronde’,  F*cking Men  tells the story of ten encounters between pairs of men with each character having two individual encounters so the play flows thus: Escort with soldier, soldier with teacher, teacher with student, student with hook-up, hook-up with husband, husband with porn star, porn star with writer, writer with actor, actor with journalist and finally journalist with escort. It’s difficult to say much more ...