I'm Spinnin' Around

We had another great night at Polari "Home and Abroad" last night!



Although the title of the night gave us an idea of what to expect, the readings actually evoked some fab memories.

Aoife Mannix's extract from her novel Heritage of Secrets, set in small town Ireland at the time of the Troubles, told the tale of the tricks naughty schoolgirls got up to and how they taunted their teachers - a scenario that I remember vividly from schooldays. Of course, the relationship between the girls blossoms into "trying out kissing" (and more)...



Nick Alexander's tale of a gay couple's adventures in a Parisian darkroom - highly sexually charged, as you might imagine - also struck a familiar chord for me, though I can't speak for everyone else in the room. Certainly some of the ladies present giggled enthusiastically, but I am not sure they have experienced this sort of thing first hand... (Do heteros have bars with darkrooms? Or lesbians?)

But it was Christopher Fowler's extract from his autobiography Paperboy that set my senses reeling - evoking memories of Spirograph, Plasticene, chemistry sets and bad parenting, all immediately recognisable. Excellent stuff!

Dom Agius opened the evening with a remarkable selection of music on a "Parisian cafe/cocktail lounge theme", including, I am very pleased to say, one of my all-time faves If You Want Me To Stay by Ronny. Celine sang a couple of brilliant belting tales of cracked relationships and sleaze, in her inimitable Music Hall style. And Paul Burston completed the wonderful evening with a set of pulsating pole-dancing pieces - an opportunity I couldn't miss, of course...



John-John and I ended up in the Piano Bar again till very late, which was a wonderful way to round off a superb evening's entertainment (as my head will testify today!).

Polari