Divinely decadent daahling

We had another fab evening at Polari at the grotty Concrete Bar on the South Bank last night. John-John and I (as usual) took the theme of "High Society" as an excuse to dress in our best bib-and-tucker, and host Paul Burston looked relieved to see fellow dressing-up fans, as he changed his flat cap for a glorious top hat to compliment his luxurious (and borrowed) evening jacket and satin trousers combo.

Concrete Bar attracts a peculiar mix of people, from regulars at the Hayward Gallery to aesthetes, and of course fans of our evening's readers - the lovely poet Mark Walton and former Lesbian Avenger-turned-"straight" authoress Stephanie Theobald. We grabbed a front-row table in a packed house, and immersed ourselves in red wine and decadent culture of the highest order.



Mark read a few of his sublime poems from his anthology Frostbitten, taking the "high" theme to a new level, with poems about drugs, sex and even Jesus! Excellent stuff, and such a shame he is still looking for that elusive mainstream publisher for his work. I hope he gets signed up very soon, as what the world needs right now is more of this great man's ascerbic observations on life...

After a brief hiatus, Miss Theobald read a passage from her new novel A Partial Indulgence - a divinely decadent tale of the life and loves of aristocratic society. Described as "a contemporary gothic voyage through a decadent world of high society and low morals", this certainly sounds like a fantastic book, and one I will definitely get round to reading asap. Read an extract from the book on Stephanie's website.

Sated with literature, I was thrilled when Paul introduced me to his gorgeous special guest, the American actor and star of the film Big Gay Musical (I am dying to see this film if it ever gets a proper cinematic release in the UK!) Daniel Robinson.

Although I had my photo taken with the lovely Daniel, he declined the suggestion to replicate the poses he did for a rather gorgeous recent revue called Broadway Bares. Damn! Never mind, he had a hot date in (of all places) Croydon(!) so perhaps he was saving himself, lol...



Despite the enduring grimness of the venue this was a brilliant and well-attended evening, and I look forward to the next one!

Polari

Frozen vampires and the strange ladies of Whitby

Another fab time at Polari "Supernatural Night" last night (despite mourning the departure of the lovely DJ Dom) - suitably-themed spooky music from Paul Burston, happy hour cocktails, and a bevy of brilliant writers reading their most ghoulish works for our delectation...

Opening the show, Mathilde Madden read an extract from one of her "slash" erotic novels - a genre that has women writing graphic sex, including gay sex, for the benefit of other women. Her tale was of a reluctant werewolf who transforms from human to beast whenever he cums, but now manages to curtail this transmogrification with the aid of a silver collar that is enchanted by witches. In this extract, our (anti-)hero manages to service all twenty-seven nubile members of the Vix coven without becoming hairy and howling at the moon, just knackered, so something worked... The Silver Collar on Amazon



Poet Mark Walton read some of his works, including a chillingly incisive observation about a friend taking up with the wrong company, Vampires ("they will suck you dry"), written especially for this evening. I bought a copy of his first anthology of poetry Frostbitten on the strength of that alone (even though that particular poem isn't in the book). He was ably followed by Kristina Lloyd, another "slash" writer, whose icy tale of encounters with vampires in the frozen Arctic made our blood run cold - deep dark stuff indeed! Vampire's Heart is part of the compilation Lust Bites, available on Amazon.



Our headline guest Paul Magrs (pronounced "Mars") has a long history of published works, novels and short stories - including some spin-off books from the Dr Who TV series - and he read for us an extract from one of his hilarious books about the adventures of Brenda and Effie, two most unusual old ladies of Whitby. Not only do our two heroines get themselves involved in all kinds of sinister supernatural adventures ("Mr Danby and his Deadly Boutique", a demonic local radio phone-in show, the evil Mrs Claus at the Christmas Hotel, a convention of elderly ex-superheroes - gripping stuff!), but Brenda has a secret - she is a 200-year-old "Bride of Frankenstein" creation from various mis-matched body parts...

Read an extract of his novel Something Borrowed on Amazon

As Paul Burston succinctly put it, in a review he did in The Independent on Sunday a few years ago:

"Gothic horror and situation comedy don't always mix well. The danger is that everything is reduced to camp. Added to this, Magrs brings a large helping of pathos as Brenda's back-story is laid bare. To pull all this off at all takes some doing. To pull it off so well takes the combined talents of Alan Bennett, Angela Carter and The League of Gentlemen."

As you can imagine, we were transfixed!

Another great night's entertainment (if somewhat curtailed by the fact that another performer was scheduled to appear immediately following Polari, so we were unceremoniously encouraged to clear the room almost bang on 10pm...)

Still, if rumours are to be confirmed, there are bigger and better things afoot for Polari in the near future - and not just next week's "Love and Pride Night" (with Maureen Duffy, Michael Arditti, VG Lee and Dan Mathews of PETA ).

Polari is collaborating with The House of Homosexual Culture again at the London Literature Festival at the South Bank next month on two events which we have booked to attend - "Love and Marriage" and the Stonewall 40th anniversary event.

Polari