PaperDolls Constellation: Spirit of the Fringe Award 2012

It was an exhilarating moment when PaperDolls were announced winners of the Spirit of the Fringe Award 2012 for Constellations, a work I felt was like a giant finish line in the culmination of much of my creative life. Acting as Creative Director and writer on this production with PaperDolls was immensely tough at times and hugely satisfying when we began to realise all our abstractions and big ideas were actually having an impact on our audiences: 

"...much more than this, I was very, very moved by it. It affected me deeply. I just wanted to write to say thank you very much for it."

"I had a particularly bad day, and I been very teary. Then I went to your show and fell under your spell and forgot about absolutely everything else... I couldn't actually speak for about 30 mins after the show and I know I didn't whoop loud enough or clap hard enough. So I just wanted to drop you a note of thanks..."

"There was a real chemistry between you guys which really fed into the mood of the piece and the atmosphere in the room. Seriously, I was blown away by it all. Found myself open-mouthed a good few times. It's been a long time since a show had that kind of effect on me..."

"Paper Dolls was amazing beyond my wildest expectations. From the first second I was hypnotised. This show will stay with me for a long time. Impressed would be an under-statement. You people are legends"

"it slips outside most of the normal categories that you might use to describe something like this. It’s a dance piece that takes place mostly in the air. It’s an acrobatic display that eschews all the cheesy narcissistic showing off which that normally entails. It’s a piece of performance art that revolves around the use of Japanese rope bondage. It’s a gig with a full band (Wolfbait) in the corner who blast out terrifyingly loud and intense noise rock. It’s eerie and unsettling and totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen before"
http://tracesofthereal.com/2012/09/18/constellations/

The reviews that emerged were in tune with what we were exploring and responded positively:

The spectacle provides a constantly-changing vista of human forms struggling and striving not only with themselves, but with each other, the bonds that bind them and even the very air itself. There’s a real sense that the performers are testing the boundaries available to them, yet without the lack of polish you might associate with such no-holds-barred performance. With bodies writhing in mid-air, the atmosphere resembles the world of the Inquisition more so than the ethereal beauty we tend to associate with the phrase “aerial performance”. A truly immersive and unique experience.
- Entertainment.ie

Still in their infancy as a company (formed in January 2011), PaperDolls are ferociously determined. This is nicely reflected in the Spartan monochrome costumes worn by the performers and the utilitarian surroundings of D-Light studios, giving the cast the air of a pack of hungry wolves, lean and hard.

The show is billed as ‘an experiment in risk’ and it certainly is that. Some performers have their upper torsos (arms included) bound in rope, before engaging in complex, ground-based and aerial, acrobatic sequences. A highlight is the opening section in which three performers swing from trapeze in complementary rhythms with the razor-sharp precision of metronomes.
- Irish Theatre Magazine

And so, after the successes already being felt by the team, evoked by having moved through a ferociously difficult emotional and physical space in the process of producing a creatively, emotionally and physically challenging show, we at last settled into a gorgeous pace, particularly in the final shows, and the power of what we had succeeded in doing and the connections between us as friends and performers at last started to give us huge satisfaction and joy. I'm glad this work was awarded with the Spirit of the Fringe. For me, the title means that all the guts instinct and desire that was injected into Constellations was indeed connected to an overall zeitgeist of this moment in time and my generation -  and important recognition and support for unconventional, challenging, experimental, uncomfortable and heartfelt creativity in Dublin city! It was also a hugely loving moment when I was jumped on and pushed onstage to accept the award on behalf of everyone involved in making Constellations manifest!

Here's a video that I'm so happy exists! I didn't realise Colin was recording, and I'm really glad he had the wherewithal to do it! I love Colin's unacceptance speech:

Promo video for Constellations:

Donegal Life: Irish Aerial Dance Festival 2012

Interview I did with Sean Feeny of Donegal Life magazine regarding Fidget Feet's annual Irish Aerial Dance Festival which took place in An Grianán theatre in June this year.

So What?

My "authorial genealogies" never cease popping up. Wanted to share this postcard and image (both have been added to my 'inspiring images' folder) from an article published in the Observer today, 'Angela Carter: A portrait in postcards', available here. I've been glued to Bram Stokers Dracula, after which I'll be revisiting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, then I'll be picking up Carter's Heroes and Villains. Dracula has almost got my full attention but usually I like to read several books at once, those currently including: S. Reed Brett: Modern Europe 1789-1914 and After, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English: Witches, midwives, and nurses: A history of women healers, The World's Most Notourious Women (collection of short biographies) and Living Food for Health by Gillian McKeith (more studying than reading). I'm scouring second-hand book stores for good finds and wanted materials - on the look out for a good muscular anatomy reference book too. Many more on the list so... not writing much, but certainly reading much and it suits me fine.  

Sunday Business Post, September 4th 2011

Not a bad couple of photos for what felt like the slowest photoshoot EVER! Not sure where the "We aim to tease" message came from, but the article is a good one. Journalist Joanne Hayden gave us some good press, evening tripping along to the Burlesque and Cabaret Social Club on the 19th where I was performing the Sugar Club's first ever aerial act! J. Hayden writes of my act:

At the Burlesque and Cabaret Social Club, she performs a solo piece on an aerial rope, an act striking for it's beauty, simplicity and strength.

OOO! Good review.

P.S. Only NINE DAYS 'till 'Paperdolls' at ABSOLUT Fringe!

Buy your tickets here darlings!:

http://www.fringefest.com/event/paperdolls

Impromptu photoshoot: Kyrstin Healy

There have been two promotional opportunities sent my way via the ABSOLUT Fringe offices recently, which have required head shots - no funny stuff, no costumes, just little ol' me. No glitz, no glamour, just straight up - that's her. I find it endlessly humourous that in the vast galleries of my face and figure which exist, of all the photographers I have worked with, of all the photoshoots I've done of myself, I have not ONE straight forward head shot, no costumes, no madness, no 'just' Emily. 'Yes', I thought when the first opportunity came about, 'I have millions of good photos just waiting for a printed home', sending on a reel of colourful, action shots and funny poses. 'Thanks Emily pics are great' Conleth said, 'but do you have any of you in your everyday clothes?'...

Everyday clothes?

No believe it or not, I don't.

Only upside down, swinging from trees, painted with tattoos, slicing a pair of stripy nylons off, dumping a box of Special K over my head or that one of me floating in space - but I can't say I'm wearing everyday clothes in any of those.

I quickly passed that particular promo op onto another PaperDoll, but when the problem presented itself a second time, I knew I needed to call an emergency impromptu photoshoot and get some good, wholesome, head and shoulders Emmo shots for just such occasions. So I called on Kyrstin Healy, a photographer I have been meaning to shoot with for a good while now and thankfully she was all for it. We got the portraits done quickly, but it was during the uploading process from camera to computer that things started to go a little technologically awry...

Photo: Kyrstin Healy

I guess my will for bizarre, ridiculous and generally more interesting visual imagery has begun influencing even the hardware of my environment! Excellent. But still, if you want to see the successful head and shoulders, plain ol' Emmo photo that Kyrstin and myself created this morning, keep an eye out for the Irish Indo's A Question of Culture column in the coming weeks where you can read the answers to those questions I'm sure you've always wanted to ask me:

Favourite aerialist/acrobatic performer? (living or dead). Why?
The best stage production (acrobatic or otherwise) you've ever seen? Why?
Craziest experience so far while performing?
Favourite band? Why?
Best concert/gig you've ever seen? Why?
Your desert island discs and why them?
Favourite book? Why?
Last book you read and loved? Why?
The book you could never make it through? Why?
Favourite film? Why?
Last film you saw and loved? Why?
Last film you saw and hated? Why?
Favourite TV show? Why?
Favourite radio show or presenter. Why?
Favourite website? Why?
Favourite city/country? Why?
Favourite food/restaurant. Why?
Wine or beer?
Cultural blindspot?

Regarding Stripping.

With regarding to some comments published in response to Ciara O'Connor's article on Burlesque posted earlier:

1. Andrew

   I dunno. I’ve never been to a strip club of any kind, but my one experience of going to a burlesque show at the Sugar Club made me wonder if they’re really so different. It’s strange to be told that a woman gyrating near-naked on a stage is ‘empowering’ or ‘ironic’ in one context and always ‘demeaning’ in another. I appreciate that in a respectable burlesque show you can be reasonably confident that the dancers are being properly paid and treated respectfully by management, but it still boils down to taking off your clothes for other people’s entertainment. Which, regardless of context, is either absolutely fine or not a good idea at all. Plenty of the blokes I saw there were just treating it as an opportunity to get an eyeful that was somehow acceptable to their female companions.

   
   
   • on April 2, 2011 at 7:10 am | ReplyWendy Lyon

     I’d like to see us get away from this idea that whether a woman’s actions are demeaning or empowering mainly depends on the way men react to them. I think it’s entirely possible that burlesque could fall into the first category while ordinary strip clubs could fall into the second. The critical contextual difference, it seems to me, is the reason why the performer is there in the first place. It’s what she is getting out of it, not what he is.

     
     
2. on April 2, 2011 at 12:58 pm | ReplyAndrew

   You’re absolutely right, Wendy. I suppose the point I was making is that I don’t quite understand why burlesque shows are deemed socially acceptable in a way that strip clubs aren’t just because they are more popular with women. If the performer on stage is comfortable then it doesn’t particularly matter what the gender make-up of the audience is, or what their motivations in watching the show are.

   
   
3. on April 6, 2011 at 11:11 pm | ReplyEmily

   I’d just like to say that Burlesque is not sex work. The Burlesque performers referred to in the above article do not dance 40 hours a week in a highly explicit, sexualised environment. ‘Strippers’ are sex workers. They dance a full time job. Strip club stripping is a pornographic industry, Dublin’s Burlesque scene is not. Rather, it is a dynamic community of grassroots performers and creatives who use the stage space in a highly playful and inventive way, and yes, sometimes in a sexy way too! Like the woman on the sex ed video shown me in school said, “But that’s ok!”

   I enjoy cabaret and burlesque because it reclaims the playful and childish aspect of sexuality and nudity. I think that we need to be self aware as performers and audience, and I think that conversing about sexualization and objectification and the dynamics of power at play in these situations is very important! It’s true however, that these conversations are often the domain of women. As I was quoted saying in Hot Press this month: “Women perform, women are objectified, and it’s male privilege that they don’t have to talk about these issues”. But I think burlesque and cabaret, intelligently crafted, can be a space to reclaim our sexuality and explore an opportunity to be playful in our sexuality – an opportunity sometimes denied us in the face of pornographic capitalism and it’s societal twin, puritanical conservatism.

   I also think that the devices for understanding dynamics of power presented to us by second wave feminist theorists, including words such as ‘objectification’ are sort of worn out! We need new, more nuanced ways of understanding dynamics of power, exploitation and desire which consider the complexities of these issues and avoid a reductionistic, polarization of how people ‘do’ their sex, performatively, voyeuristically or whatever else.

   Finally, I LOVE to pole dance, just not as a full time job.
   I have practiced it as a sport for conditioning rather than as a sexy enterprise or indeed, for financial survival. But since we are on the subject, a hero of mine, Kathleen Hanna once wrote in a fanzine article entitled “Lots of girls get bad reputations”: “I, personally decided to become a sex trade worker cuz I feel a lot less exploited making $20 dollars an hour for dancing around naked than I do getting paid $4.25 an hour (and being physically, psychically and sometimes sexually exploited) as a waitress or burgerslinger”.

   Sex, capitalism, nudity, desire – they are complex issues… but it’s frustrating when burlesque and sex work are somehow equated. That is a mistake.

   
   

Blackbird in the antiroom...

Guest Post: “The beauty of burlesque is that it can be anything and everything…”

April 1, 2011 by theantiroom

Feminism and the art of burlesque have traditionally had a complex relationship. It is empowering? Degrading? Subversive? Creative? Clichéd? Pandering to the male gaze? Subverting that gaze? Here feminist and burlesque fan and performer Ciara O’Connor gives her view.

The word “burlesque” has cropped up in polite conversation quite a lot recently. Christina and Cher’s affront to the word notwithstanding, every so often someone brings it up when out for drinks if I say I’ve just been to a show… and often there is a reductive remark about strippers. Take for example Maeve Higgins’ recent comment on the Tweeter : “Burlesque is so shit. Stupid middle class women stripping.” I’m not sure if Maeve has ever been to a show, but I know her comment was a reflection (if a slightly more abrasive reflection) of some peoples ideas and conceptions of what Burlesque is and is not. There are always people who are indifferent towards any medium, the decriers declaring Burlesque is dead, those who say it is anti-women, and those who couldn’t care less.

Feminist burlesque performer Blackbird, aka Emily

Because I’m a fan of the art form, and I occasionally perform at cabaret shows and see a lot of different types of burlesque, I thought I’d throw my two cents into the ring.

Burlesque’s etymology denotes a send up, it is a derisive imitation, grotesque parody. Burlesque is close in meaning with caricature, pastiche, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical sense, with extravaganza, as presented during theVictorian era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_burlesque). From the Wikipedia entry on Burlesque we see that it isn’t just all 1950s pin-up wither, its been around a long time: “”Burlesque” has been used in English in this literary and theatrical sense since the late 17th century. It has been applied retrospectively to works ofChaucer and Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman classics.“

Later forms of burlesque came in the popular variety show format. These were common from the 1860s to the 1940s, often in cabarets and clubs, as well as theatres, and featured bawdy comedy and striptease as part of the show. Burlesque has historically been seen as a cheeky, low-brow and very bold form of adult-only theatre. Performers draw from theatre, mime, improvisation, movement to music, as well as all forms of dance. They are also usually loaded with cultural reference and spoof.

There has been a resurgence of interest in classical Burlesque in the 1990s which quickly became popular in the US, the UK and the rest of Europe. This resurgence also birthed what is referred to as Neo-burlesque (see Hot Press this month for a very interesting round-up of Neo-Burlesque in Ireland). Neo-burlesque often removes the nostalgic aspect of burlesque and uses contemporary music and themes, so you may find yourself watching Jessica Fletcher do a striptease to Gothrock. The beauty of burlesque is that it can be anything and everything, as creative as your imagination and the boundaries you put on yourself as a performer.

A friend writing a blog on fashion and feminism recently described me as “someone who I imagine came into the world screaming ‘I am a feminist!’.” As a feminist-from-the-womb – or at least a young age, I was needless to say not immune to the impressions the media give out about burlesque, and my inner feminist was in twitch-overdrive when I went to my first ever burlesque show. My twitching quickly subsided – and not only was I completely hooked: I was fascinated, enthralled and excited, brimming over with ideas after it – I was convinced that in my eyes, burlesque was decidedly feminist.

As I wrote recently in a guest blog for Dr Sketchy’s, decontextualised women’s bodies are everywhere in society. Disembodied perfectly round arses in Reebok trainers, floating breasts selling car insurance…. our world is saturated with nudity, implied nudity and women’s body parts, exposed, scrutinised, made grotesque and vilified… or portrayed as perfection and symmetry and the ideal we should all strive for/compare ourselves to. Burlesque shows are one place where you get to see real women’s bodies… not on display for the sexualised gaze, nor for “auntie Gok” to truss up like some Christmas ham and stuff into magic knickers to try to fit into normative beauty standards, but just – celebrated. Cheered. Whooped at and hollered for. Breasts, bellies, smiles of all ages and types, none of them detached from the woman they belong to. In fact, firmly in context as the performer is not only showing off her body but her creativity… her body can be tattooed, pierced, decorated with body paint, breasts all different shapes and sizes adorned with nipple tassels; they have meaning, they have context. These are real bodies, (ab)normal, individual, all appendix scars and jiggly bits. In a society where nudity has become so… meaningless… here it is loaded with meaning.

Also, the burlesque scene in Ireland is decidedly radical. The performers are smart, creative and quite amazing men and women who do fantastical things with the medium. A great example is my friend and fellow fabulous feminist Emily. She is a stunning performer – she creates acts that are thought provoking, political, visually stunning, sometimes hyperfeminine, sometimes very masculine, always impeccably costumed and gripping from beginning to end. She tells a story and makes a statement in a way that is firmly tongue in cheek and yet quick off the mark and very intelligent.

Lilly DeValle's barbershop act gradually turns from cute to creepy

Another burlesque performer, Lilly DeValle, cuts a striking figure on stage, playing a cheesecake cutesy character who has a dark and evil side – for example her cute barber shop act which quickly transforms into a bloodbath as she hacks up the poor unsuspecting customer in her barbershop chair. She is a true storyteller and has impeccable comedic timing. One of Dublin’s queen’s of the burlesque scene Miss Bella A Go Go is one of the most creative people I know, sewing and handmaking all her costumes, her incredible mind is full of fantasy which she expertly brings to life on stage with incredibly intricate themed shows, such as her recent Steampunk Cabaret.

So for those who may reduce burlesque to “stupid, middle class women stripping” – I’d like to extend an invitation to come and see a show. The scene here is vibrant and bristling with life and energy. The performers (male and female) are dedicated to making you smile, cringe, cower and giggle like a kid. I asked my friends when writing this why they attend these shows, and the consensus was strong – the striptease element is the last thing on the list. They come to find something different, something entertaining, to find like minded people and to have fun. The nudity in the shows is a great leveller. It’s an opportunity to dress up, to drink cocktails and smoke cigars, to travel to another world for one night only. And who among us doesn’t enjoy some escapism now and then?

If you think you’d like to give a show a go, then I would highly recommend any of the following nights:

The League of Decadent Bastards

This will be the show of the summer – an all male cast and an amazing line up including some of my favourite cabaret artists, a proper treat for the senses!

Burlesque and Cabaret Social Club

The mainstay of the Dublin scene, mostly classical and vintage burlesque and music, monthly, at the Sugar Club

The Love Cats Burlesque

Fabulous troupe of burlesque artists, comedians and musicians in Dublin

Dr Sketchy’s anti-art school – for the artists among us – where life drawing meets cabaret

AND watch out for shows from: Sedition Industries, AWOL tattoo studio Galway, The Pony Girls, Midnight Burlectro, Sideshow Cabaret and many more over 2011.

Ciara O’Connor is an avid amateur cook and veggie. She has been working in women’s health and education for many years. In her spare time she likes to read, cook, drink wine, and is a student homeopath, sometimes cabaret performer and occasional yogi.
Her twitter is ciara_oc

Hotpress Magazine

Turns out I am featured in the current Hotpress magazine: Full page image of Double Rainbow and a double hit of the Walrus gent. Photographic products of my ongoing collaboration with photographer Will Eames, great to see them published.

Also featured is the work of Ross Waldron, Bella a Go Go, Postmodern Sleaze, Sedition Inc. and Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair!

The featured article is by Roe McDermott, a Rocky Horror kid, who does a thorough job of questioning the more complex dynamics of Burlesque theatrics, underneath the playful sexualities explored by Burlesque performers in Dublin. It's a discussion that certainly needs a voice and I am delighted to have contributed to the article. I have also written about my perspectives in Rag magazine, issue 5, available from independent book stores around Dublin city and online.

Personally, I still hold a candle for the energy and vibrancy of the cabaret scene in Dublin. However, in terms of performance possibilities, I would like to see and contribute to the development and expansion of the genre, testing boundaries and exploring new directions, all the while being conscious and engaged.

Maybe the kindly folk at Hotpress will give me and Will a job as they seem to like our work so much... woop!

CATHOLIC GLITCH: St. Blackbird in print

Read the article and the see the pictures here: Pages 56 and 57.

Funny story:

When the young Will Eames and I shot this set, we did not imagine it would be published, or at least the practicalities of such an enterprise was not at the fore of our minds. But when the editor of Totally Dublin clapped his eyes on our reverent Saint, well, it was only right that she was included in the December edition, for Christmas!

But alas, although the shop guy loved the prints we gave him, the nature of his business meant he would not agree to the publication of some of the more detailed images. It was heart breaking. We had to change the images we wanted to use, photoshop out distinctive features and darken corners to increase anonymity of this little jewel of Catholic retail in Dublin city.

The Censorship of St. Blackbird!

I was briefly ruined by this censorship, but the incident gave me the slightest insight into the impacts of Catholic influence which has oppressively dominated Irish Culture and in many respects still does. While we may be in the process of removing the restrictive layers of enforced religion (is that a pun?), it cannot be denied that the negative effects of Catholicism will be felt for a long time to come, even as the tangible manifestations of such oppression are at long last being addressed and discussed openly.

Here are a few (personally interesting) particularly Catholic induced events and some revolutionary battles won in the face of Catholic sexual oppression:

March 25th, 433: St. Patrick arrives in Ireland, at Slane.

(There's a quote I'm after, watch this space)

Jack Harte, Unraveling the Spiral - the Life and Work of Fred Conlon

Read more here.

1965: Author John McGahern's novel The Dark is banned in Ireland for its alleged pornographic content and implied sexual abuse by a member of the clergy and descriptions of physical abuse by the protagonists Father. The controversy led to McGahern's dismissal from his teaching post.

The Dark, John McGahern-s second novel, is set in rural Ireland. The themes - that McGahern has made his own - are adolescence and a guilty, yet uncontrollable sexuality that is contorted and twisted by both a puritanical state religion and a strange, powerful and ambiguous relationship between son and widower father.Against a background evoked with quiet, undemonstrative mastery, McGahern explores with precision and tenderness a human situation, superficially very ordinary, but inwardly an agony of longing and despair.-It creates a small world indelibly and without recourse to deliberate heightening effects of prose. There are few writers whose work can be anticipated with such confidence and excitement.- Sunday Times-One of the greatest writers of our era.

- Hilary Mantel, New Statesman

1971: Women in their numbers travel to Belfast to bring back contraceptives still illegal in the Republic of Ireland, contesting the anti-birth control policies of the Catholic-dominated Irish government and the Criminal Justice Act of 1935, which forbid the import or sale of contraceptives.

When the would-be smugglers emerged from the train, a customs officer raised his hand to halt the procession. One of the women cried, "Loose your contraceptives!" and a shower of condoms, pills, diaphragms, foams, intrauterine loops and spermicidal jellies fell at his feet. Some women tossed the contraceptives over customs officials' heads to friends. Others produced the pill, swallowed it, then challenged customs men: "Now confiscate that!"

Read more here.

1984: A 15 year old school girl with a concealed pregnancy gives birth alone in a grotto in County Longford. The young girl and the new born baby are later found dead in the grotto.

Ann Lovett's death came just four months after the outcome of a divisive abortion referendum in which a two-thirds majority voted to enshrine the right to life of the unborn in the constitution, creating confusion over where that left the rights of the mother. The death of mother and child became symbolic of the emerging clash between church and state. The media spotlight was understandably glaring.

Read more here.

1993: Homosexuality is decriminalised in Ireland.

Homosexual acts were illegal in Ireland up until the Summer of 1993. The offenses against the Person Act lifted the band, and declared the age of consent to be 17, the same as that for acts between heterosexuals.

2009: The Ryan Report: 'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care,
inquiry finds. 
 
Rape and sexual molestation were "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today.
The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.
The high court judge Sean Ryan today unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's commission into child abuse, which drew on testimony from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. Police were called to the news conference amid angry scenes as victims were prevented from attending.
Read more here.

AND THEN THERE WERE THE CULTURAL RESPONSES:
(A Selection)
Will Saint Leger

Neil Watkins:

Opus Gei:

Read an interesting article on some of the artistic and performative responses to Ireland's Catholic heritage and recent history here

Butcher Queers.

Months ago, Will St. Leger invited me to contribute to the fanzine Butcher Queers (written about previously), for which he is responsible, as compiler and curator. I was absolutely flabbergasted and overjoyed to be invited to contribute to this publication, no exaggeration. Butcher Queers is a brilliant fanzine, with content that has impacted upon me for months sometimes. The last issue was totally sexy, with beautiful nude boys and hot animal hybrids (my favourite). Coincidentally so, for the forthcoming issue I have written about a beautiful boy familiar to some of you who read this blog, Narcissus and all that the Narcissistic myth has evoked in me. I have also submitted a number of photographs, which I'm really excited to see in print!

Writing this article for Butcher Queers was a tremendous challenge. Sometimes my creative fragmentation is troublesome. When I gotta write I don't feel like a writer, when I gotta drum I don't feel like a drummer and so forth. But as per usual, synchronicity worked its magic and I was provided with what I needed. A late night conversation, a little more time and a few more life experiences and I was ready to comment in writing about something that matters greatly to me, as an individual and as a performer. I really hope some of you come to the launch, pick up the magazine (of which there are only 1000 individually numbered copies) or download a pdf version from butcherqueers.wordpress.com

The magazine launch is taking place on:

Thursday 25th November,
8.30pm
Panti Bar, Capel Street.

YAY!