“Everything is about sex. Except sex, which is about power”—the quote, apocryphally attributed to Oscar Wilde—sums up much of the machinations at the heart of Neil Blackmore’s brilliant The Dangerous Kingdom of Love, a thrilling retelling of the later years of Francis Bacon’s life with the seductive frisson of Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses... Continue Reading →
Cameron Maddock, who goes by Cam, isn’t just your average twenty-something gay tech guy in San Francisco avoiding his less-than-accepting family. He’s a cyber-security genius. But that doesn’t explain why an apparent alien assassin is pursuing him. Robert Roth’s Into the Lightning Gate is a fast-paced, pulpy sci-fi snack with a solid, high-concept base that... Continue Reading →
The gap between real support and performative allyship—the lurking fear that beneath the flag waving veneer of equality hides something untrustworthy, the thought that when push comes to shove straight people may not really have our backs—is the starting point for Matthew Clark Davison’s debut novel, Doubting Thomas. Thomas is an openly gay fourth grade... Continue Reading →
It’s really not often that a new play feels so electric, funny, and fierce that the audience alternates between literally falling off their seats with laughter, and stunned soulful silence. Dammit, I’m just going to say it, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner is the best new play I’ve seen in years. Moreblessing Maturure as... Continue Reading →
There’s something refreshingly nostalgic about the world of Getting it Together (the new comic book series from Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, Jenny D. Fine and Mx. Struble)—and I don’t just mean the range of covers riffing off everything from Friends and Sex and the City to classic Marvel comics—it’s a world of live music and... Continue Reading →
Ahead of the US theatrical and on demand release of the acclaimed, BAFTA-nominated fourth feature from writer-director Oliver Hermanus, Moffie, this Friday April 9th, The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann had an exclusive chat with its star Kai Luke Brümmer. Brümmer, who makes his impressive big screen acting debut in the film, portrays sixteen-year-old Nicholas... Continue Reading →
One thing we’ve learnt through this pandemic is that “Zoom theatre” is gawdawful. And while previously recorded theatre productions (like London’s brilliant National Theatre Live) have gone some way to filling the gap, new productions have been rare and of vastly varying quality. Which is why this production of The Picture of Dorian Gray is... Continue Reading →
Often films with a message are so busy driving that message home that they become one-note. Rūrangi, which plays this month's virtual 35th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, doesn’t fall into that trap. By placing this transgender homecoming tale into a broader, intersectional context of identity—gender, sexual, cultural—it rises above them to become a... Continue Reading →
Well, here we are again. A beloved book, the first part of a trilogy, a strong cast… and a mess of a film. Chaos Walking? I wish! This is more like Disorganised Wandering! If you love the book, it’s best to look away while this one is put out of its misery. Acclaimed gay YA... Continue Reading →
Thomas Wilson-White’s The Greenhouse, part of the 35th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, is a queer fairytale, but if that sounds like it’s all prancing twinks in tight shorts running around the woods, I hate to be the one to disappoint you. Like all good fairytales, this one is about bigger, darker things, and... Continue Reading →
