Polari is a form of slang or cant historically used primarily in the United Kingdom by some actors, circus and fairground performers, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals and sex workers, and particularly among the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced to at least the 19th century and possibly as early as the 16th century. Polari has a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppeteers, who traditionally used it to converse.
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
David Hoyle is an English performance artist, avant-garde cabaret artist, singer, actor, comedian and film director. His performances are known to combine many disparate elements, from satirical comedy to painting, surrealism and even striptease, much of which is aggressive comedy in nature. Hoyle's work has often focused on themes in the LGBTQ community, attacking what he sees as dominant trends in "bourgeois Britain and the materialistic-hedonistic gay scene". According to The Guardian his performances have led him to become "something of a legend" on the London cabaret circuit.
Paul James O'Grady was an English comedian, broadcaster, drag queen, actor, and writer. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, through which he gained wider popularity in the 1990s. O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, including The Paul O'Grady Show.
Leigh Bowery was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, and fashion designer. Bowery was known for his costumes, makeup and live performances considered as conceptual, flamboyant, outlandish, and sometimes controversial.
Gay Shame is a movement from within the queer communities described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming. The movement directly posits an alternative view of gay pride events and activities which have become increasingly commercialized with corporate sponsors as well as the adoption of more sanitized, mainstream agendas to avoid offending supporters and sponsors. The Gay Shame movement has grown to embrace radical expression, counter-cultural ideologies, and avant-garde arts and artists.
Mark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Amy Lamé is an American-British performer, writer, and TV and radio presenter. She is known for her one-woman shows, her performance group Duckie, and LGBT-themed media works.
Ursula Martinez is a British theatre maker, performer and director. She grew up in South London, the daughter of an English father and Spanish mother, both teachers.
A gay icon is a public figure who is regarded as a cultural icon by members of the LGBTQ community. Such figures usually have a devoted LGBTQ fanbase and act as allies to the LGBTQ community, often through their work, or they have been "openly appreciative of their gay fanbase". Many gay icons also have a camp aesthetic style, which is part of their appeal to LGBTQ individuals.
Paul Burston is a Welsh journalist and author. He worked for the London gay policing group GALOP and was an activist with ACT UP before moving into journalism. He edited, for some years, the LGBT section of Time Out and founded the Polari Prize.
Kit Green is an English writer and performer whose work includes comedy, cabaret, theatre and live art.
Jonathan Stuart Bailey is an English actor known for his dramatic, comedic, and musical roles on stage and screen. His accolades include a Laurence Olivier Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is a Grade II listed gay entertainment venue in Vauxhall, London. It is also known as the RVT. It is South London's oldest surviving gay venue.
Jack Holden is an English actor, writer and producer from Tonbridge in Kent. He is best known for his roles in the television series Marriage with Sean Bean and Nicola Walker and in Ten Percent. Holden began his acting career starring in West End play War Horse.
Above The Stag Theatre was an Off West End theatre in London with a focus on producing LGBT-themed theatre. It was the only producing venue in the UK presenting a year-round programme of LGBT-interest theatre.
LGBTQ culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.
Travis Alabanza is a British performance artist, writer and theatre maker.
Marisa Carr, who performs as Marisa Carnesky, is a British live artist and showwoman. She uses spectacular entertainment forms, including fairground devices and stage illusion, and draws on themes of contemporary ritual, to investigate social issues from an ecofeminist perspective. Time Out declared that Carnesky's 'unique niche of interactive end-of-the-pier esoterica has fused ghost trains, anatomical models and tattoo culture with religion, feminism and class consciousness in ways both playful and rewardingly demanding.'
Mei Mac is a British actress and theatre maker. For her performance in the stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro, she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award.
