CUMMING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

[CULTURE] Out There Issue One cover-boy Alan Cumming does a special gig in support of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission


PHOTOGRAPH: Minh Ngo exclusively for Out There
A match made in heaven? We think so... It's like our very first issue all over again. Out There Issue One Cover star and darling Alan Cumming meets Out There's charity the IGLHRC (we featured the IGLHRC's work in combating homophobia in Uganda in the same issue) for a very special benefit gig! Homoculture does good...

On Saturday, March 17th, New Yorkers will be treated to a special, one night only performance by Tony Award winner and Emmy nominee Alan Cumming. The intimate musical evening, hosted at XL Nightclub & Cabaret, will benefit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). A 22-year-old organization, IGLHRC works tirelessly both on the ground and at the United Nations level to promote LGBT rights, justice and safety.  With offices throughout the world, IGLHRC advocates for change at the country, regional and international level. IGLHRC is also dedicated to strengthening the capacity of LGBT human rights movements to conduct documentation of LGBT human rights violations.  Backlash against increased visibility for LGBT rights struggles has made the need to support emerging rights movements even more vital, as every day, LGBT people still face harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention, separation from partners and children, and even murder, simply for trying to live with dignity and honesty.

You can find out more about the new XL nightclub in our TRAVEL blog.

BOY IN A DRESS

[CULTURE] Do not miss your chance to see Out There's La JohnJoseph's return to the London stage 

Photograph by: Martin Perry

We are very proud to announce that our multi-talented Berlin based culture correspondent, the inimitable LA JohnJoseph will be laying soul bear once again on the London stage once again bringing together all three of his solo memoir shows I Happen To Like New York, Underclass Hero and Notorious Beauty in what promises to be a must-see series of illuminating, entertaining and moving performances. 

Autobiographical, political, raucous and accidentally profound, Boy in a Dress (link to Oval House website) details the life thus far, of one third-gendered, fallen Catholic, ex-fashion model from the wrong side of the tracks as she moves from the council estates of Bootle to the strip clubs of San Francisco, via Penny Arcade’s living room. 

Embracing themes as apparently diverse as Catholicism and drag, public sexuality and body dysmorphia, La JohnJoseph brings together an outrageous but heartfelt slew of true-life tales presented as monologues, and studded with reworkings of iconic songs from wide ranging artists such as Leonard Cohen, Justin Vivian Bond and Cole Porter. 

His three week ‘retrospectacle’ starts on Tuesday 14th February until Saturday 3rd March at Ovalhouse Theatre, Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW.

Evening programme: I Happen To Like New York and Underclass Hero 

Saturday Matinees: Notorious Beauty 

Boy in a Dress is presented as a part of Ovalhouse's If only... season. This is the second season of diverse and thought provoking work programmed by Ovalhouse’s new Directors of Theatre; Rachel Briscoe and Rebecca Atkinson-Lord. If only... is performance driven by an ambition for complexity; a search for something to believe in; a desire for someone somewhere to do something surprising.  

Written and performed by La JohnJoseph with Anna Lewenhaupt
Ovalhouse Downstairs: Tuesday 14 February – Saturday 3 March 
Dates and Times: Tuesday-Saturdays 8:00 pm, Saturday Matinees 2:30pm
Ticket Prices: Adult: £14, Equity, BECTU, Under 26: £10, Concessions: £7

SPOTLIGHT: LA JOHNJOSEPH

PHOTOGRAPH: ADRIAN LOURIE

BY CIARAN RUA

La JohnJoseph’s choices growing up were to join the priesthood or the army. Luckily for us, he decided on neither and since then, the world of performance art hasn’t quite been the same. Upon meeting La JohnJoseph, one is initially struck by his idiosyncratic allure, an allure which was to become embedded on my memory after I had the pleasure of meeting him in Berkeley, California some years ago…

A self-styled transdrogynous performance artist, La JohnJoseph is quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before and, for those of you who haven’t, keep your eye out for him, as you’ll never know when he will pop up. Right now, he’s hiding out somewhere in Berlin, after a successful run of his show, Underclass Hero in London.

Weaving together real events and experiences from his own life, Underclass Hero is the perfect introduction to the strange and bewitching creature that is La JohnJoseph. It is the third in a trilogy of memoir-based pieces which he has been working on for three years, culminating in his current pièce de résistance.

This transatlantic performer’s rise to stardom began when he was living in Berkeley in 2004. He had been asked to perform at a ‘gay prom’ which he later described as both “inane” and “mediocre” but which was to catapult him into the world of performance.

Having not come from a traditional theatre background, his only experience of performing before this had been working as a model (which he now speaks of negatively), explaining how it left him with the impression of having been used as an “artefact without consciousness”. La JohnJoseph decided, following his performance at the prom, to help establish ‘Boyfriend Robotique’, a troupe of performance artists whose own brand of irony and insanity brought them success along the West Coast of the United States.

This was followed with a tour of Paris, London and Liverpool (La JohnJoseph’s native city) where they were met with much acclaim. Following his work with Boyfriend Robotique, La JohnJoseph moved on to solo pieces whilst he was living in New York.

He was asked to perform at Dixon Place and it so happened that he concurrently had been thinking about writing an autobiography. He decided to use the text he had been working on and turn it into a show. This resulted in Notorious Beauty, his first memoir-based show. The following year witnessed the birth of I happen to like New York, the second in the trilogy.

La JohnJoseph’s shows are difficult to define, lying as they do in the margins of various genres. Perhaps this is appropriate for this transdrogynous performer who is equally as difficult to define, living as he does in the murky middle area between genders (he was first questioned about his gender at the age of 12). It is this undefinable mélange that makes his work so captivating and distinctive. They are points of transvergence for burlesque, drag, live art, cabaret, song and the absurd, all of which is overlaid with La JohnJoseph’s intelligent, witty and articulate observations. Such honest, heartfelt and engaging pieces of performance are to be missed at your own peril.

boyfriendrobotique.blogspot.com

YOUR CHANCE TO CATCH LA JOHNJOSEPH'S SHOW: UNDERCLASS HERO, IN LONDON, IN MARCH:

La JohnJoseph “Underclass Hero” at Oval House
March 3^rd, 4^th , and 5^th  2011

“Poutily poignant, bracingly glacial…A sublime young talent” – Time Out

The show is a frank, and almost charming tour of the artist’s formative years, in which La JohnJoseph tells all about life as an oversexed, underage Catholic on Liverpool’s most glamorous council estates. Part JT LeRoy, part Evelyn Waugh, part Jean Genet, the show is morbidly funny and genuinely raw, combining outspoken monologues with near the knuckle candor and tender ballads. Delivered in the wild and witty signature style, that made his previous show I Happen To Like New York such a hit, Underclass Hero offers indiscrete storytelling interspersed with reworked classics from Suede, Bowie and Broken Social Scene. A success at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s Hot August Fringe last Summer, “Underlcass Hero,” returns to London for three nights only.

Tickets are £5 and can be booked at www.ovalhouse.com or by calling 020 7582 7680