★★★★ | Polari Literary Salon, The Southbank Centre
If you’ve not been to Paul Burston’s Polari Literary Salon, you must. I insist.
I had my Polari Literary Salon cherry popped last night and it was stunning. An incredible, humbling and glorious array of literary talent showed their prowess on stage including: Carl Stanley, Nicolas Collins, Karen McLeod, Angela Clerkin and Maureen Duffy.
A special mention for Karen McLeod, whose ‘humourless lesbian’ character Barbara Brownshirt had the room in tears with her odes to Judi Dench and cruelty free shoes.
Also Angela Clerkin’s immensely enjoyable reading about her stage wetting Irish dancing nemesis provided light and shade against the often angst but thought-provoking poetic readings from Nicolas Collins, while Carl Stanley opened the evening with an intimate reading from his book about growing up gay in early 80s.
An abundance of readings of poetry and excerpts from the author’s books, the evening provided a spotlight on some of the best queer writing, expertly hosted by the ever gorgeous and critically acclaimed Paul Burston.
The next Polari Literary Salon evening at the Southbank Centre is on the 28th April and will star:
Philip Hensher, Sophie Ward, Rebecca Chance, LaJohn Joseph and Kiki Archer.
