Welcome to our weekly Festival Digest !
During the month of August, we will be showcasing the work of SPN members as well as other LGBT+ content from around the Edinburgh Festival. As part of this effort, we will be publishing a weekly digest during the Fringe, featuring show recommendations and reviews sent in by SPN members.
Seen a show you’d like to recommend?
Leave us a review using this form – it only takes a minute or two, and we’ll include your recommendation in next week’s digest so that other folks from around the university can check it out! |
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SPN (and Friends) Showcase
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Afternoon T with Georgia Tasda
(Comedy/LGBT+/Satire)
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Here she comes! London’s breakthrough comedy drag act arrives in Edinburgh with a brand-new show! Join Georgia Tasda for a brew as she spills the T. Expect queer capers, gender-bending, and of course, cocktails!
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| ‘Georgia Tasda carries Leigh Bowery’s torch for weird and exceptional drag performance art’ (LoverboyMagazine.com)
‘This is a copyright lawsuit waiting to happen’ (Georgia’s lawyer)
Showtimes and tickets available: here |
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Gypsy Queen
(LGBT+/Drama)
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Can two men raised to fight ever learn to love? The story of “Gorgeous” George O’Connell, bare-knuckle fighter and traveller, who enters the world of professional boxing, putting him on a collision course with his roots, his identity and his greatest fear. In the opposite corner, gay boxer Dane “The Pain” Samson, the young pretender and son of a boxing legend, is fighting his own battles, which will lead to a tragedy that neither could predict. Gypsy Queen is an unconventional love story between two fighters who discover the greatest challenge lies outside the ring.
Tickets and Information available: here
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Pollyanna
(Cabaret and Variety)
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Hold your cocktails tight! Join host Pollyfilla for a showcase of performance art, drag, DJs and glittery carnage and ‘down-and-dirty joy… a bona fide asset to the Fringe’ **** (Scotsman). ‘Your life is poorer for not having been yet’ ***** (ScotsGay.co.uk). Escape the monotony, come sweat with us this evening. ‘The craziest, filthiest any-hole-will-do cabaret variety night… It’s a show, a happening and a movement’ (ScotsGay.co.uk). ‘A reminder that drag can go wild’ (NotTelevision.com). It’s intimate, it’s messy. ‘For those seeking the edge of queer creative talent, this is not one to miss’ **** (BroadwayBaby.com).
Tickets and info available: here
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Seriously Funny
(Comedy with an Academic Twist)
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11th August!
An evening of comedy that educates and entertains, featuring comedian Bethany Black, and the Staff Pride Network’s own Gina Maya Roberts!
Bethany Black has been a professional stand-up comedian since 2004. In her shows she tells the story of her being transgender, chronicling everything from her coming out through her transition and eventually falling in love. Gina Maya Roberts who is currently doing her research on transgender narratives in pop culture at the University of Edinburgh will reflect on perceptions surrounding transgender people in modern society.
Tickets and info available: here
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Adam
(Theatre/New Writing/Multimedia/LGBT+)
A fascinating story of a trans man moving from Egypt to Glasgow. Very creative staging and visual effects. Brilliantly performed – Adam himself part of the cast. A full 5 stars in my book.Tickets and Showtimes
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At a Stretch
(Children’s/ Physical Theatre/LGBT+)
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| In a big, busy city there’s loads of space. You can jump across rooftops and meet new people every day. But it can be lonely in the big city too. When Mel and Emma meet, something is different and they find themselves on a neon adventure they never expected. A wordless visual theatre production for children and families following the story of two women who meet, get stuck together with elastic and, despite their best efforts, fall in love. Sharp physical comedy, exciting choreography and breathtaking physical theatre from the Fringe First award-winning Jordan and Skinner.
Tickets and showtimes |
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Baby Mama:
One Woman’s quest to give her child to gay people
(Theatre/Solo Show/Storytelling)
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| ‘Funny, moving, and unapologetically candid’ (Time Out New York). Baby Mama tracks one birth mother’s true adoption journey, from conception to placement with the gay couple of her dreams – while still living her life, dating, and attending the occasional orgy. From adoption agencies to vaginal discharge, from burlesque to goodbyes, this intimate night of storytelling is up close and personal. Winner of The Dr Robert J Thierauf Producer’s Pick Award of the Cincinnati Fringe. Bring hankies.
Tickets and showtimes |
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Eve
(New Writing/Solo Show/LGBT+)
An intimate monologue by Jo Clifford about her life and transition. An incredible story and a warm and genuine performance. 5 stars. Tickets and showtimes
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Sweatshop
(Cabaret and Variety/Circus/Music)
Rating: 4/5
Briefs Factory present Sweatshop. If you like “Briefs” and are disappointed that it’s not participating in the festival this year, “Sweatshop” is a dirty alternative. Provocative and not for all tastes, it does away with taboo and provides over an hour of vulgar, in your face entertainment. Not quite the level of the original Briefs show, but still worth going. Tickets and showtimes
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Thanks to Emily Ford-Halliday, Manos Farsarakis, and Remus Valsan for this week’s submissions!
If you’d like to contribute to next week’s digest, please submit a review using this form. |
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[SPN] AGM – 1 Year Anniversary
Wednesday 16th August – 12:30-2:00pm, LT2 Business School
Your Staff Pride Network needs YOU!
Join us for our first AGM to hear about committee vacancies, volunteer opportunities, plans and achievements and celebrate our first birthday– we’ll even have cake! We’re very excited about our future possibilities and hope that you will be too.Please confirm your attendance via EventBrite
[SPN] Monthly Social
Friday 1st September – 5:30pm, The Potting Shed
Continuing our monthly evening socials, join us after work to unwind and meet other network members. Conveniently held on the first Friday after payday. |
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Welcome to our special Festival Edition of the
Staff Pride Network Newsletter
In an effort to showcase LGBT+ content from around the Edinburgh Festival, we are bringing you this supplementary edition of the Staff Pride Network Newsletter, featuring shows and performances from SPN members, as well as their friends and partners.
As always, we also want to celebrate the achievements of the diverse LGBT+ community across the university. So if you have any news, research or events that you would like to include in the newsletter (August issue due later this month) then please do get in touch – StaffPrideNetwork@ed.ac.uk. |
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A Message From Our Social and Events Officer
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Alex Solomon
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| Hello Staff Pride Network!
I hope you won’t mind that I’ve temporarily commandeered our lovely newsletter to bring you this special Festival edition, packed full of events to watch out for. Whether you’re looking for theatre, music, comedy, or even a night out, there’s something for everyone included below.
Want to get involved?
We’re also giving our members the opportunity to contribute to our weekly Festival Digest, by leaving a show recommendation or review using this form.
Simply fill out the form and we’ll do the rest – the Digest will be sent out to the network each Wednesday during the Festival, in plenty of time for you to check out anything that tickles your fancy.
So don’t be shy, share the love and send in your top picks!
Best wishes,
Alex
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The events below feature the work of Staff Pride Network members.
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4D Cinema
Artist: Mamoru Iriguchi, Operator: Gavin J. Pringle
(Theatre/Live Performance)
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Returning for a limited run as part of the Free Fringe, ‘4D Cinema’ was a hit at last year’s Fringe, receiving 5 stars from the Scotsman and Broadway Baby, as well as a ‘Best Director Award’ from the Asian Arts Awards.
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| Sporting a projector and a screen around his head, performance maker and theatre designer Mamoru Iriguchi turns himself into a mobile cinema. He then performs with a host of Hollywood film stars by dint of black and white classic film clips, with special focus on Marlene Dietrich.
‘4D Cinema’ is a performance piece that explores what is live, and what is recorded and so fixed eternally on film. Iriguchi investigates what it is that films mean to us, in an age where new technology blurs actual and virtual realities.
Showtimes and info available: here |
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A Virus to End Humanity?
Dr. Liam Brierley (Lecture/Spoken Word)
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We’re constantly threatened by outbreaks of diseases like SARS and Ebola.
Can we win the fight against a deadly unidentified infectious disease that has just been discovered at the Edinburgh Fringe? Or is the task of staying one step ahead now too much for scientists? How could this virus arise, where could it come from and what could it mean for you? How fast will it spread from our very feet to the rest of the world?
Join epidemiologist Liam Brierley to see if humans will win the struggle to survive.
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As part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, Dr Liam Brierley will present ‘A Virus To End Humanity?’, an interactive pandemic scenario investigating where a newly discovered ‘Fringe virus’ might have come from, whether it could spread worldwide, and how it might be controlled. Liam is an epidemiologist with the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, and completed his PhD within the Centre for Immunity, Infection & Evolution last year.
Tickets and info available: here
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Eaten
Artist/Writer: Mamoru Iriguchi, Assistant Director: Gavin J. Pringle
(Theatre/Young Audience)
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Written and performed by Mamoru Iriguchi, ‘Eaten’ is a highly visual, informative, bonkers, funny and sad show. Targeted at children 6-15 years old and their guardians, ‘Eaten’ will also appeal to folks older than 21, although 15-21 year-olds may be just too cool for school!
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| What if your food started talking back? Meet Lionel the lion. He’s just eaten a human called Mamoru for lunch. But Lionel hasn’t chewed his food well. So Mamoru’s alive and well in his stomach, and now wants to say hello. A strange friendship between the eater and the eaten starts to grow. Meanwhile, Lionel’s breakfast wants to say hello… from his bottom! Eaten invites children and grown-ups to the fascinating world of food chains, asking, “What should we eat?”, and “Who should eat us?!”
Tickets and showtimes available: here |
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Join SPN member Jerrard Doran, as he performs in two concerts with EMT (Edinbugh Music Theatre)!
The first concert, Fringe Fantasmic, is packed with sing-a-long favourites from kids’ films like Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Aladdin, and The Muppets. The second, Anthems: The Movie Musicals, features some of the greatest hits to appear on both stage and screen, with songs from Rent, Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, Guys & Dolls, and many more.
The concerts take place at St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church on George Street from 8th-11th August. Fringe Fantasmic shows at 7:10pm and Anthems: The Movie Musicals at 8:40pm. Tickets to see one of the concerts are £12, £10 concession and £5 for children. Tickets to see both shows on the same night are available on a combo deal through cast members for £18, £15 concession and £7.50 for children. If you would like to book any tickets, please get in touch with Jerrard.Doran@ed.ac.uk!
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Loud and Proud Fringe Concert
(Music/A Capella)
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| Scotland’s LGBT a cappella singing sensation is back at the Fringe! Loud and Proud presents its annual Fringe concert in support of Waverley Care, Scotland’s HIV and Hepatitis C charity. The choir, now in its 12th year, combines Scottish songs, songs from abroad, show tunes, gospel and pop classics – and more! A Fringe event not to be missed. Saturday 19th August at 7.30pm, St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Lothian Road. Tickets are £14 / £10 concessions and are available now!
Tickets available: here |
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Friends & Partners Showcase
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The events below feature the work of friends & partners of SPN members.
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From Today, Everything Changes
The Oast Theatre (Theatre/LGBT/New Writing)
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A new play
by Ian Tucker-Bell
Before Chris’s wife died, after over 30 years of marriage, she made him promise to be himself. But accepting he’s gay is only the start. Online dating is a whole new world; can this younger man really be interested in him? And how does he come out to his daughter? Written by first time Fringe author Ian Tucker-Bell and brought to Edinburgh by the Oast Theatre, this new play takes a refreshingly honest and tender look at a 60-year-old man coming out and finding love.
Tickets and showtimes: here |
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Limited run: 2nd-13th only!
If you love Donald Trump, you’ll hate this show! Get ready for a hilarious, thought-provoking, heartbreaking yet inspiring experience – in glorious four-part harmony and over-the-top drag!
America’s favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet (and Edinburgh, Off-Broadway and Vegas favourites!) return with their provocative new musical that takes a searing journey into Trumpism, racism, AIDS, giraffes, Bette Midler, oblong vegetables and so much more!
‘All-you-can-enjoy bundle of fabulousness; amazing voices’ (Scotland on Sunday). ‘Wonderfully smart and liberating; hilarious; lovably ribald’ (Times). ‘Hottest ticket in town; voices sweet as birdsong’ (New York Times).
Tickets and showtimes available: here |
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You Need People Like Me
Dean Hendry (Comedy/Stand-up)
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It’s just like the famous ‘bad guy’ scene in Scarface, when Tony Montana rants that iconic phrase, ‘You need people like me…’ to a crowded judgmental restaurant. Just add a Scottish accent, a large dollop of 36 years worth of shame, sprinkle generously with some vulnerability, add a pinch of gay, an epiphany and you have it. Bon appetit! The world is Dean Hendry’s crowded judgmental restaurant. He’s the misunderstood bad guy and he’s finally OK with it, because actually, you need people like him. Trust us.
Tickets and showtimes available: here |
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[SPN] August Coffee Afternoon
Wednesday 9th August – 1:00-3:00pm, Ground (Chrystal Macmillan Building)
Join us at our regular monthly coffee afternoon (in a slightly different venue this month due to the Festival). Please drop in any time for a coffee and cake, catch up with your LGBT+ colleagues and meet some of our committee. This month we will be joined by Professor Jane Norman, Vice-Principal for People and Culture.
Dive presents Homage
Saturday 26th August – 9pm-Late, Charlotte Square Spiegeltent
Promising to blow fresh glitter up the arse of any festival in their wake, Dive Queer Party are back with their sell out Fringe 2016 hit “Homage” with a special literary plot twist for Edinburgh International Book Festival. Chief weirdo Miss Annabel Sings is on a mission to the four corners of the rainbow, showcasing a smorgasbord of homegrown performance talent alongside a handpicked selection of international guest stars. Strap yourself in for a mind-blowing, fast-paced celebration of the heroes of queer culture from books, music, film and fashion from the past 70 years – in the year that also marks 50 years since the UK decriminalization of homosexuality. Follow this link for more info.
Dive presents The Last Night on Earth Cabaret Party
Monday 28th August – 7pm-Late, Charlotte Square Spiegeltent
Ladies, gentlemen and everything in between! Anarchic entertainers Dive Queer Party are conjuring the spirit of ’47 to stage a closing cabaret party of epic proportions. With fakery making the headlines and the rest of the world falling apart around our ears the glitter-spattered minds at Dive Towers have had time to reflect: what would we do on our last night on earth? Well this, obviously. Join Miss Annabel Sings, the Dive family and the queerest pick n mix of the Fringe as they conga their way into a brave new world – one where you can be whoever you want to be, however you want to be, whenever you want to be. It’s the closing night of the festival so party like it’s your last! Follow this link for more info.
[SPN] Monthly Social
Friday 1st September – 5:30pm, The Potting Shed
Continuing our monthly evening socials, join us after work to unwind and meet other network members. Conveniently held on the first Friday after payday. |
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Welcome to the new Staff Pride Network Newsletter
Over the past year the Staff Pride Network has been growing and evolving, and as such we felt it was time for a makeover to match! As well as a new image, we’ll be sending out a regular newsletter to keep you up to date with all the Network news and upcoming events, and to help you stay connected with your LGBT+ Colleagues and Allies.
We also want to celebrate the achievements of the diverse LGBT+ community across the university. So if you have any news, research or events that you would like to share with us then please do get in touch – StaffPrideNetwork@ed.ac.uk. |
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A Message From Our Co-Chairs
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The newly named Staff Pride Network (previously the LGBT Staff Network) was relaunched in September 2016, for LGBT+ colleagues and allies, and we are delighted to complete the relaunch today with a new logo designed by ECA student Kael Oakley.
Having discovered that the previous network had gone into abeyance, Jonathan MacBride explored the possibility of reinvigorating the static network with his now co-chair, Sharon Cowan. With the support of the UoE Human Resources team, VP for People & Culture Jane Norman, and committed volunteers, the new network has gone from strength to strength in its first year.
We have developed links with external organisations such as Stonewall Scotland and university LGBT+ staff networks such as Napier and LSE, as well as internally with the Disability Network. LGBT+ History Month in February saw a packed programme of academic, arts, social and other events, some of which were organised with the student LGBT+/queer groups BLOGS and Liberation+.
Future planned events include a UoE SPN Pride March contingent wearing our newly designed t-shirts with logo, while the rainbow flag flies over Old College, and trans awareness training for network members.
We are proud to provide a safe space for all LGBT+ identified staff and allies, and happily welcome anyone who wants to join the network to contact the committee at StaffPrideNetwork@ed.ac.uk. |
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Logo Competition Winner Announced
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| Congratulations to Kael Oakley, winner of our Logo and Branding Competition.
The Staff Pride Network was re-established in July 2016 but needed an updated logo and brand. Fashion Lecturer and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Staff Pride Network Rep, Emily Ford-Halliday, set an ECA-wide competition for Art and Design students to come up with a branding makeover that would encapsulate the networks’ values and purpose. Read More
And here is Kael’s winning design which is now the new logo for the University of Edinburgh’s Staff Pride Network! |
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‘Tis the Season to be Proud
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Join SPN at Pride Edinburgh
Get your rainbow hats out of the closet and get ready for Pride Edinburgh 2017 which is now just a few days away. The 22nd annual pride scotia march starts at 12pm on Saturday 17th June. Meeting point for Staff Pride Network members (and friends of course!) is at 11am at the Scottish Parliament, beside the water feature. Look out for our new logo branded t-shirts.
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Order Your SPN Pride T-Shirt
We hope you can join us this Saturday for Pride Edinburgh. We’ll be marching together so remember to order your Staff Pride Network T-Shirt. E-mail us at StaffPrideNetwork@ed.ac.uk with your size (M-L-XL) and we will save you one. Limited stock though, so hurry! |
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Edinburgh Frontrunners Pride Run
Early bird? Join/come and support other SPN members at the Meadows (eastern end) at 9am for the Edinburgh Frontrunners Pride Run before the march, including a cake sale in aid of LGBT Youth Scotland. Visit the web page for more details, here. |
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Pride Edinburgh 2017
Sat 17th June
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For a full running order of the day’s events – visit the Pride Edinburgh website. |
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Pre-Pride Edinburgh Coffee Afternoon
TODAY – 1-3pm, Teviot Library Bar (Side Room)
Join us at our regular monthly coffee afternoon and the first of our Pride Edinburgh events. Please drop in any time for a coffee and cake, catch up with your LGBT+ colleagues and ask a committee member those questions you’ve been dying to have answered!
Pride Edinburgh
Saturday 17th June – 11am, Scottish Parliament
Meeting point for Staff Pride Network members (and friends of course!) is at 11am at the Scottish Parliament, beside the water feature. Look out for our new logo branded t-shirts.
SPN Social
Friday 30th June – 5:30pm, The Potting Shed
Continuing our monthly evening socials, join us after work to unwind and meet other network members. Conveniently held on the first Friday after payday. |
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| By Gina Maya
Introduction
I came out as a male-to-female transsexual this year, meaning I identify less with the gender I was born and raised with, and more with its opposite. It’s a transition of many processes—administrative, cosmetic, hormonal, and social, to name a few—and it will take years; in some respects, a lifetime. Although I keep a weekly diary on my website (www.ginamaya.co.uk) on the ups and downs, I’ll try to use these newsletters to shed light on the more general processes involving my transition. I’ll start with the thing I want to get out of the way—the thing I’ve hated most: facial-hair removal.
It takes fifteen minutes and sometimes less. You rest in a dentist’s chair, wearing dark goggles while a smiling young woman lasers your facial hair. For the first few months, there’s only a 12-hour rash. Your jaw and mouth are blotchy, initially. With balm smothered over it, it looks like you’re melting.
You walk back from the clinic along busy Princess Street, looking down. Avoiding eye-contact because more than ever you look terrible, a swollen, red, rash-covered face that’s melting. You’re walking so fast your calves are hurting.
You continue to go to the clinic every six weeks. The pain gets worse with each visit; your feet press against each other and you hug yourself during the cosmetician’s polite conversation as she lasers your face. You’ve started taking taxis home, wrapping your face in a scarf like the Invisible Man. Soon enough you come out as a transgender woman.
Soon enough, you’re noticed in the street, you clearly don’t pass as well you thought. Your five o’clock shadow becomes your obsession, not the breasts or the groin, those things you can cover. It’s your five o’clock shadow, that’s what will decide the social reaction. You shave at least once a day. You touch up your layers of foundation constantly, in disabled toilets that become a second home to you.
October 2016. Ten months have gone by, the dark bristle almost gone. The NHS calls you, they’ll do it for free. But they need to know what they’re dealing with, so there’s one condition: come in with four days of facial hair growth on a bare, unmade face. We’re sorry, was that a ‘yes’?
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Dear LGBT+ Colleagues and Allies,
