Joseph Stannard loves music and he loves film. When he isn’t carrying out his duties as deputy editor of long-running music magazine The Wire, he is investigating the paranormal in sound, vision and real life. “I’ve always been interested in the supernatural, the occult, weird films and music,” he says.

While living in Brighton, Stannard noticed that a lot of contemporary music was influenced by horror, and that many horror films featured experimental soundtrack music. Accordingly he organised The Outer Church, a series of events which combined the two. The event ran, in the UK and abroad, for about five years, and a compilation was also released. After a spell in London, he wanted to get back to the sea and was eventually attracted by the rich occult history of Hastings.

Watching The Stimming Pool at a screening in London, Stannard noted that the Electric Palace cinema, which appears in the film, was a Hastings institution and a perfect venue, and began planning an event series to happen here. His event names are inspired by the work of comic book writer and chaos magician Grant Morrison, who drew and scripted the Vertigo comics series The Invisibles.

The Outer Church and The Invisible College are conflicting forces within the series. Historically speaking, The Invisible College was a name for the group of individuals, including Robert Boyle, who eventually founded The Royal Society. “It’s good to pay attention to synchronicities,” continues Stannard. On his move from an outer church to an invisible college, he remarks “You could say I’ve moved from the ecclesiastical to the educational.”

The first event will screen the 1993 film Body Melt (“There’s a lot of slime and gruesomeness… it’s very splattery, very DayGlo”, he explains) directed by respected film writer Philip Brophy. The film has been called ‘The Substance before The Substance’ – though on a much lower budget – and addresses the horrors of Big Pharma. One highlight of the film is Ian Smith (Harold Bishop from Neighbours) on a gun-toting rampage.

The evening will also feature live electronic sets from US artists Trigger Object and Dream Skills, both of whom make music that is thoroughly in keeping with the themes of Body Melt. “Everything I book is stuff I genuinely love, and hopefully there are like-minded freaks out there who’ll love it too.”

There is also, of course, a considerable tranche of avant-garde musicians in Hastings who might well be interested in this series, which with Stannard’s combination of enthusiasm and expertise, is sure to be a success.

The Invisible College will present as a special event at the Electric Palace Cinema on Sunday 16 August. For more details see electricpalacecinema.com. For a mixtape of some of the music he will use and a track listing, see the version of this article on our website at tinyurl.com/ysc692pt

A full house came out in force to see Ben Wheatley’s new film Bulk at the Electric Palace on Thursday 14. The screening was accompanied by a Q&A with the director. Questions were teased out of audience members with a free poster for the first six questioners – which worked a treat!

Wheatley is seen by many as a current leader – perhaps the leader – in British ‘arthouse’ cinema. His films feel steeped in, and deeply connected to, an array of odd British films and TV – notably from the folk-horror genre. They’re also known for blending genres, as in Sightseers and Kill List.

Bulk is no different. Rather than blending genre, however, it’s more like he’s whipped up the film itself in a blender. It jumps around, telling the story of Corey Harlan (Sam Riley) – trapped in an interdimensional world after an explosion tears up reality, searching for the scientist who caused the incident. He’s assisted by Aclima (Alexandra Maria Lara) and occasionally shot at or helped by Sessler (Noah Taylor).

It’s not always clear what is happening, though that’s not a problem. You’re instantly tossed into the film and you’re taken for the ride. The film’s jumpy nature, flinging you around different locations, and its dense ‘sci-fi’ dialogue, could become a bit of a bog which you had to wade through. But, it doesn’t. The film is great fun: funny and entertaining while retaining interest through its unconventional style.

Having established himself as a low-budget, ‘arthouse’ director, with equally experimental films in his pocket like A Field in England, Wheatley is also known to take on big-budget blockbusters. His most recent is one that he refers to as a “big shark film” – The Meg 2. But Bulk seems worlds apart. The special effects resemble Thunderbirds – or any other supermarionation series – and really draw attention to themselves. But this is done with deliberate intent. Wheatley talked about making the effects “so bad that you notice them,” but the effect of that is that you adjust and forget about them.

For all its madness, the film carries you away. You feel, too, his passion for filmmaking. This was made between projects – a TV series and another film. He just “likes making films” and he does it whenever and with whatever and with a lot of passion. A passion that’s shared by the audience.

This weekend, Electric Palace present an Andrew Kötting weekend, a celebration of films by the Hastings-based, internationally recognised filmmaker and artist.

Andrew shares a studio with his daughter Eden on The Ponswood Estate (between Screwfix and Toolstation) from where they send out their creative missives into the world.

He has made numerous experimental short films, many of which have been awarded prizes at international film festivals. Gallivant (1996) was his first feature film, a road/home movie about his four-month journey around the coast of Britain with his grandmother Gladys and his daughter Eden. It won the Channel 4 Director’s Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival for best new director, and the Golden Ribbon Award in Rimini. In 2011, the film was voted number 49 in the list of 100 Best British Films of All Time by Time Out. 

The weekend festival will be kick-started on Friday with a selection of award-winning short films followed by a director’s Q and A, hosted by writer Nicholas Johnson. Saturday sees an exclusive showing of The Memory Blocks, Kötting’s complex docu-essay about his daughter Eden, who has Joubert’s syndrome (a genetic disorder affecting brain development during gestation).

On Sunday afternoon there is a screening of his award-winning film Gallivant. Along with Time Outmagazine, The Telegraph and the BFI, the comedian and writer Stewart Lee has frequently championed Andrew Kötting’s Gallivant as one of the ten best films ever made.

Full details from The Electric Palace website: electricpalacecinema.com. See the entries for the weekend of 22-24 May.

The film will be followed by a Q&A session about local community energy projects in Bexhill, Crowhurst, Battle and Hastings. Free and impartial home solar advice from Energise Sussex Coast will also be available before the screening, from 6.30pm.

Inspired by lockdown mutual aid initiatives, artist-activists Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn decided to turn their street into an energy-generating powerhouse – a prototype for a new way of living, with the hope of galvanising a wider push towards sustainable alternatives.

Directed by the duo, Power Station charts their turbulent journey, from pitching the idea to their neighbours and sleeping on the roof of their home, to raising finance and launching a bid for a Christmas number one single.

Reviewing the film for The Guardian, Phuong Lee described it as “a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when we simply talk to our neighbours …  It is heartwarming to see different people, from diverse backgrounds but bound by shared economic struggles, come together to make green energy a reality. On this beautiful street, no one is a stranger.”

Community energy – where people help develop, own and benefit from local energy assets and services – is popular in the UK. Indeed, according to recent polling commissioned by Commonwealth, 62% of people would support the creation of a community-owned renewable energy project in their local area – compared to only 40% who would support a privately-owned project.

Community energy projects currently make up less than 0.5% of the UK’s electricity generating capacity. However, given the right support, it’s been estimated that community energy could grow up to twenty-fold over the next decade, powering 2.2 million homes and saving 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions every year.

Founded in 2012, local community benefit cooperative Energise Sussex Coast (ESC) works to tackle the climate crisis and energy injustice through community-owned renewable power and energy-saving schemes. It runs a free Energy Advice service to help local residents bring down the cost of their electricity, gas and water bills: to find out more, call 01424 390 062. 

Its sister project, Energise South, has raised community investment to finance and install solar arrays on eleven local community buildings, including Baird Primary School and St Leonards Academy. These projects are estimated to be saving local schools £82,000 a year in saved energy costs.

Current ESC projects include creating a 5MW community-owned biodiversity solar farm in Crowhurst – planning permission for which was granted last year – and exploring the possibility of creating a solar-powered community-microgrid in Bexhill, powered by panels on the roof of the Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club.

Kate Meakin, director of Energise Sussex Coast said: “We hope that anyone interested in how we can create a better and fairer energy system will come along to be inspired by the film and hear more about the community energy projects locally”. 

Tickets for Power Station are available from the Electric Palace website: electricpalacecinema.com  The screening on 26 March is supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, with all ticket proceeds going to support the Electric Palace.

ELIZABETH ALLEN

When I moved ‘down from London’ to Hastings twenty years ago, I found much to enjoy and cherish. But, oh, did I miss my weekly fix of cinema: the art houses just round the corner, the National Film Theatre, those big screens in Leicester Square for blockbusters like Lord of the Rings. Here, my partner refused to go to the Odeon (“sticky carpets and too much munching of popcorn”) and visits to the Electric Palace in the High Street were limited by the intense discomfort of the seats. The opening of the Kino at Hawkhurst offered new opportunities, but not everyone has a car or wants to drive that distance.

ELECTRIC CHAIRS

But how things have changed. The Electric splashed out on new seats, updated sound equipment. and, over the last three years, is establishing itself on a new professional basis (although the support of volunteers remains crucial). It is now ten years since the Kino-Teatr opened in Norman Road, returning the building from a hardware store to its original business as a cinema – now plus live theatre and music events. Two venues at opposite ends of town, different in size and ambiance but sharing the motivation of growing their audiences by an alert awareness of the nature of those audiences.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

“Every venue is individual,” says Olga Mamonova, Artistic Director of Kino-Teatr. While she, of course, studies reviews of new films (The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw is a trusted judge) and attends distributors’ professional London screenings, she is always aware of what is right for this venue. The audience, both for films and for the live events, she categorises as ‘sophisticated, creative’. Action films are not likely to draw big crowds, nor was a trial of animation films for children successful. Streaming of National Theatre productions are an immediate sell-out, films with historical or biographical significance do well, as do seasons of documentaries, which, Olga points out, “used to be talking heads but are now so sophisticated.”

Timing is important too: mid-week slots are the more popular; clearly the old ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ song is long out of date. Inevitably there is some personal choice at play in the programming: Olga is a specialist in Irish literature and her Irish-themed programmes have included a moving account of the life and work of Edna O’Brien and Kneecap, a biopic of the Belfast hip-hop trio, as well as Irish classics. So there are many decisions to be made and balances to be achieved, but it is, she says, important to keep flexible, to leave some space for “unexpected suggestions.”

A HARD GAME

At the Electric Palace, Creative Director Julia Andrews-Clifford lays strong emphasis on the importance of community in the programming policy. There is strong liaison with locally active groups such as the neuro-divergent, the Buddhist group and The Nest creative therapy centre in the Old Town Hall. This leads to specific showings designed to support the needs of different audiences and to an extremely varied programme which includes classic BFI restored films and those demonstrating the famous ‘quirky’ side of Hastings’ culture. Julia’s career has been devoted to cinema, working at the BFI, the National Film Theatre and the Depot in Lewes. She says she likes to think of the Electric as ‘Prince Charles-by-the sea.’ Those familiar with that cinema, just off Leicester Square, with its mix of cult, arthouse and classic alongside Hollywood releases, will understand the ambitions of Julia and co-director Antonia Clarke and their new team.

Both Olga and Julia know that growing and sustaining cinema audiences is, as Julia expressed it “a hard game”. But, certainly for those of us relishing the variety of film now being on offer locally, one worth playing. What a treat it was to be able to just amble down the High Street to the Electric to see my favourite film of last year, the wonderful Iranian My Favourite Cake. To be offered the nostalgic thrill of the restored 1984 Milos Forman Amadeus at Kino-Teatr. And I should say that, although the popcorn at the Odeon is still an irritant, the staff there are lovely.

A shift is happening at Hastings Rocks International Film Festival: a shift into the scary, the anxiety-ridden and the dystopian. Their call for entries is now open, for original films to be selected for next year’s screenings at the Electric Palace and the Printworks. Attention, filmmakers!

This is a re-launch for The Hastings festival, an off-shoot of the successful Brighton Rocks International Film Festival. It has always had a focus on indie cinema, its last four occasions providing a space for little-heard voices. Now, it aims to emphasise a more specific, niche voice.

Although this won’t explicitly be a horror festival, explains director and film academic Dr James Rowlins, “it’s genre cinema, it’s dystopia, it’s the darker-side-of-the-moon type of stuff” that the organisers are interested in. “But,” he adds, “we do hope to have a lot of horror films.”

The organisers hope to capitalise on the presently vibrant UK horror-filmmaking scene. According to Rowlins, this is also the most commercially successful. But that doesn’t mean they’re selling out to the masses. The emphasis will remain on shoestring-budget filmmaking. Festival co-director, Stephanie De Palma, emphasises this. “We’re not Hollywood. We don’t want to be Hollywood! We want to get the independents, to get the emerging filmmakers.”

HASTINGS GOTHIC

Not only did the vibrancy of the horror community appeal to the festival organisers, but the Hastings location (Victorian Gothic, primal celebrations, and echoes of Aleister Crowley) was also a vital part of their decision. Curator Sam Rose says: “Hastings is a town of artists and outsiders, and they deserve a film festival that showcases and celebrates this.”

Stephanie De Palma concurs. “There’s this bubbling underneath Hastings. There are these voices, these real hardcore creative people, creative minds.” She hopes the Festival will “bring them out of the woodwork.”

The psychological potential of the horror genre is also a key factor in the festival’s shift to the dark side. James says that “genre can be used as sugar in the medicine. To say something interesting, complicated and difficult.” Most people want to escape their demons. De Palma however sees a certain joy in confronting them, opening up further conversations. De Palma sees this type of film as addressing deep-seated anxieties and fears, but in the most creative and imaginative way.

“We don’t want anyone to hold back. We want to see what makes you uneasy. Because what makes you uneasy also takes you out of something you want to be taken out of; it’s a fantasy life that’s saying, ‘we can talk about the uneasy.’”

POPULAR GENRE

The aim is to put Hastings’ filmmakers and Hastings Rocks International Film Festival on the map. Despite the appeal to the darker and more obscure side, the Festival organisers hope that the popularity of genre cinema will also appeal to the masses. “This is a call to get those people that we need,” says James, “If we want a great festival in Hastings, we need people, and we need supporters and a network. And this is the moment where we really give it our best shot to get that. And with that in place, then the festival will thrive into the future.”

Between now and 2026, when the qualifying new films will be shown, classics of the genre will be screened at the Electric Palace in High St. It’s a creepy series: Nosferatu, then for Christmas the original slasher Black Christmas. 2026 begins with cult classic B-picture, The Wicker Man, the more recent body-horror killer Titane, then Suspiria (vile witchy goings-on at a ballet school, and it all ends in flames), Zulawski’s Possession (nasty tentacled creature has sex with deranged heroine; everybody dies), CandyMan (American Gothic and eternal vengeance), and finally The Exorcist.

Further Festival details, entry form and deadlines can be found at filmfreeway.com/HastingsRocks

Halloween is fast approaching, and consequently scary movie season is upon us. One of the best of these, still, is John Carpenter’s 1978 classic: Halloween. Set in the otherwise normal American suburb of Haddonfield, Illinois, monster man Michael Myers returns to his home town to wet his knife with the blood of teenagers and anyone else unlucky enough to cross his path. Sounds like regular slasher movie stuff, right? Well, unlike other slasher movies that came before it, Halloween puts the audience behind Michael’s mask. We stalk Michael’s prey with him, from behind a bush or around corners.

The movie was made with a surprisingly small budget of 300,000 dollars and shot within 20 days. John Carpenter composed a great deal of the score for the movie himself. Without the aid of either a big studio or a big budget, he made one of the most successful horror movies of all time – whether you measure success by critical acclaim, timelessness, or box office earnings. In Halloween, Carpenter made a movie that could (well, almost) have been made by anyone. There aren’t any super expensive effects; all the locations could have been any standard American suburb. Yet (as he continued to do throughout his career) John Carpenter made a timeless thriller that spawned many copycats and wannabes trying to top his original classic slasher movie. In spite of their bigger budgets and bigger baddies, these subsequent efforts don’t elicit for me the same visceral response I had the first time I watched Halloween, many Halloweens ago.

Halloween will be shown at the Electric Palace, High Street, on 31 October at 7:30PM 

Last weekend I was excited as hell to be seeing David Lynch’s as-yet-unseen-by-me Blue Velvet, on the big screen at Electric Palace in the High Street. Despite impulse-buying Inland Empires on DVD when the esteemed director died from COPD-related cardiac arrest in January, I haven’t watched it yet, so have not really immersed myself in his work since watching (the best biopic ever made) David Lynch:The Art Life, twice on mubi. I would watch it again if it was still there – you can get it on BFIplayer for the price of five cigarettes.

Local band Frank From Blue Velvet graced the Electric Palace’s compact stage before the screening, for a short-but-meaty set of perfectly-pitched songs about sinners, gambling, girls hit by lightning, snake preachers and lunatics generally taking over. Besides Lynch’s exemplary death from COPD (“find what you love and let it kill you”), I strongly suspect we have this band (once garage-punk-banjo, now jangling-dark-swing-rockabilly-bluegrass), to thank for the movie being scheduled.

They got their name from an enthusiastic listener who thought they sounded “like Frank from Blue Velvet”, when what she actually meant was that they sounded like the singer of the Roy Orbison song Blue Velvet, featured in the film, sung by Bobby Vinton. I think.

There can be no doubt that this comparison gave them not only a name but a strong identifying aesthetic, so good is the match to the atmosphere of Lynch’s deep and darkside American storytelling.

Guitarist Andrew Davies also told us that Dennis Hopper, while reading the script for the movie, called Lynch in the night yelling “I am Frank!” down the phone: apparently this rather freaked him out, given that Frank is “a man who does bad things to people.” But within this unpleasant character lies my favourite genius-intervention of this film: the stereotype of the evil gangster is portrayed … <spoiler alert> … not only sucking up to his dealer and being just a little bit vulnerable and unhinged, which is not uncommon in the genre, but literally crying for his mummy. Only Lynch could pull that off.

Exalting the sinister side of US small-town life to the surreal, Lynch in his own words tells us: “In a way, this is still a fantasy film. It’s like a dream of strange desires wrapped inside a mystery story. It’s what could happen if you ran out of fantasy.” Let us hope his death won’t mean that.

Catch the next offering from Electric Palace: electricpalacecinema.com/whats-on or see HIP List

If you thought you were full to the brim with Christmas films and box-set binges and couldn’t possibly consume another minute of moving pictures, wait till you see what the local independent cinemas have got lined up for you to enjoy in the bleakest month of the year. We’ve gathered their highlights, to tempt you out of the house… 

Here in Hastings and St Leonards we’re particularly fortunate to have both Kino-Teatr and Electric Palace on our doorsteps, in addition to the multi-screen Odeon for the mainstream. Kino’s programming is more responsive, but we can look forward to the ‘thoroughly fresh’ Queer (18) from Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love), featuring Daniel Craig shaking off his bad-boy-Bond persona as an amorous ex-pat in Mexico City (six screenings between 16th and 22nd). And one of my favourite directors, Andrea Arnold, is back with Bird (15), showing twice on 23rd; ‘a tragedy butting heads with comedy and physical existence facing off with fantasy and imagination’.

In recent years Electric Palace has been closed all January, but this year they have thrown off that tradition and have a full programme! 

My top January pick is their Anime mini-season later in the month, including The Boy and the Heron, the first feature in ten years from beloved Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli’s brightest star and co-founder. Showing twice on Thursday 23 Jan, then Saturday 25 evening, when you can also have a Japanese dinner in situ! Or make a whole day of it by starting with the themed Diorama workshop at 2.30pm. There’s even a Pokemon drawing workshop on Friday 31st.

The B-movie fan club pick for January (last Sunday of every month) is Beginning of the End (PG!), featuring giant grasshoppers. For horror fans a delicious treat: the new 4k restoration of the seminal-epic-classic Carrie (18), showing on 17 January for the monthly Friday Fright Night, and based on Stephen King’s first ever novel. And if you weren’t aware, The Electric Palace offers open-to-all, autism-friendly relaxed screenings – check the website for the February offering.

And that’s not all folks… Try as I might, I simply cannot fit everything in, so if you want to see Watership Down (the proper one), Godzilla Minus One, Head South, The Substance, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or Snow Leopard, you know what to do.

Electric Palace Cinema is at 39a High Street electricpalacecinema.com and Kino-Teatr is at 43 Norman Road kino-teatr.co.uk – and both offer great email listings.

PETE DONOHUE reviews the biggest small gig of the summer

Walking into our Old Town fifty-seater, independent cinema music venue and bar for this extraordinary gig was like arriving at the party you’ve been most excited about all summer. The atmosphere buzzed with cool intimacy and wild anticipation as the endearing Dogg personally welcomed familiar fans and new faces. Those of us already in the know, along with recent converts, could tell it was going to be a very special evening.

Taking the stage, Tymon announced: “It’s great to be in this small space with you all…” (a ten-minute stroll from home) before launching into songs from his new album The Granada Sessions, recorded in Spain with his latest band The Dacoits. The level of physical energy and charismatic passion stunned the audience from the outset. Wielding his five-string electric violin, held low, he leaned into the audience to strut punk poses and draw us all in with natural ease to his world of, what he wittily calls, quantum folk – “You can do anything you like!” It’s hard to believe he’s been professionally songwriting and performing for well over half a century and yet can still be so relevant and fresh.

Dancing across the tiny performance area packed with the tools of his trade, this multi-instrumentalist dodges cables almost balletically to grab his Hermosa Spanish guitar and enthral us all with another new song, Cruel Mind, vibrating the strings exquisitely to match his unique voice. As the set continues, he flits from instrument to instrument: electric keys, acoustic 4-string violin, upright acoustic piano, even a harmonica taped to a mic which he plays simultaneously with a violin. Sometimes he changes his mind at the last second, as his engineer, Ian, darts behind and between him trying to keep up – “What did he do in his previous life to have to be my sound man tonight?” 

In between each virtuoso musical performance, Tymon captivates the audience with his own skewed humour. Humble without being self-deprecating, he has us all laughing along with him as he shares his quirky takes on music, life and spirituality. The serious message, however, lies within his brilliant songs, both old and new. Check out I Don’t Want To Be Poor and Conscience Money.

After the gig, I caught up with Tymon as he signed vinyl albums and CDs up at the bar: “I’m going to keep going for as long as I can,” he told me. He doesn’t mean just churning out old favourites like many of his generation do, he means continually writing and performing new music. More power to the old Dogg!

Tymon Dogg played at the Electric Palace, High Street, Hastings, on Friday 2 August. For more dates and films see electricpalacecinema.com/whats-on

The Barefoot Opera Production of La Cenerentola (Cinderella) is on tour this year. The initial date is 27 July at St John The Evangelist Church, Pevensey Road, St Leonards. This is an improved and expanded version of last year’s successful and original performance, and proves in rehearsals to be enormously entertaining. It can also be seen at Rye Creative Centre on 19 August. In between it will be in London for five days at the Arcola Theatre from 1-5 August. 

AGATA READ 

Last chance to see this totally original artist’s PhD show Frames on the Distaff Side, which runs at Project 78 Gallery, Norman Road, until 5 August. Incorporating the relationship between photography, feminism, and textile craft. Read creates unique, hand quilted and embroidered pieces using photographs and yarn, incorporating strong historical connections to women.

DAVID QUANTICK’S SUMMER MUSIC SEASON

The Summer Music Season is still ongoing at the Electric Palace, presented by music journalist, author, and Emmy Award winner, David Quantick. Bands featured in the film selection have included King Crimson, The Police, The Black Angels, Spacemen 3 and Tina Turner. The Slits, The Raincoats, Noel Coward and Delia Derbyshire (Dr Who Theme – electronic pioneer) still to come in August. 

SHOW OF HANDS

The legendary folk trio, thirty years on the road, perform their final tour with Miranda Sykes. Tickets are on sale now for their concert at De La Warr Pavilion on Thursday 16 November.  Don’t miss this – it promises to be an extraordinary event.

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC

Another one not to miss at De La Warr is Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and guest choirs from Freiburg Germany, sing Mendelssohn’s dramatic and inspiring oratorio Elijah on 30 July. This glorious music confirmed Mendelssohn’s position as one of the greatest composers of sacred music of all time.  

THE MONSHORE

The Moonshore Festival relates to the theme of The Sea in a photography festival running from 4-6 August, taking place at 40 Marina, St Leonards. The Moonshore is part of the local shoreline that hides an ancient submarine forest, revealing itself only scarcely and under the right conditions. The festival will include workshops, talks, exhibitions, a photo-book fair and a social event to celebrate the exhibitions and promote discussion. 

SEAFOOD AND WINE

Forward to September, and the Seafood and Wine Festival will feature delicious seafood and luscious wines (with the emphasis on locally sourced and sustainable food and wine), and the best in live local music, including Liane Carroll, The New Blue Shoes, Kinsella and The Sam Calver Band. Starts Saturday 16 September, and both days will be covered by wristband entry. Wristbands can be purchased in advance from Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

It’s a Steal 

Fine artist and illustrator Robin Elliott-Knowles has a new exhibition Everyday Stolen Artefacts – at The Nest – High Street, Old Town until 27 October. He says it’s a series of still life paintings based on objects that have become everyday commodities in the West, but which were originally taken from around the globe. robinelliott.uk

Taken Around the Globe

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery unveils a selection of Annie Brassey’s travel photographs in a special walkway exhibition. She was a travel writer and collector who travelled the world in the 1870s and 1880s. Many of the objects Brassey collected were donated to Hastings Museum & Art Gallery in 1919, along with the Durbar Hall itself, which she purchased from the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. The objects from her travels now form part of the World Cultures collection at the museum.

Still Rolling

The Electric Palace cinema in Hastings Old Town is putting on an array of special events and screening an eclectic mixture of films all about the magic of cinema to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its doors first opening in October 2002. It is also to say thank you for the overwhelming community support which had enabled the Electric Palace to continue operating. electricpalacecinema.com

Her Story

Meiso Lai a mixed media artist announces a new exhibition – This is my story This is my place – at her gallery Lai Art-On-Sea, London Road, St Leonards. Until 3 December. laiartonsea@gmail.com

Beached

Images from early morning runs along the beach in Bulverhythe inspired the composition of a series of keyboard/piano pieces: The Bulverhythe Variations, a multimedia piece by Elaine Edwards which will be performed The Beacon 67-68 Saint Mary’s Terrace Hastings on Thursday 13 October 2022 along with a performance by Afrit Nebula. beaconhastings.com/events

Who Dares

The Who Exhibition tells the story of the band’s transform-ative years between 1969 – the last time The Who played Hastings – and 1971, during which time they were catapulted from generation-defining ‘Mod Gods’ to international rock icons, who would go onto sell over 100 million records worldwide. This bills itself as “a cutting-edge, mixed reality exhibition featuring the world’s first Immersive Single^® installation designed to take users on an omni-sensory, fully-immersive VR experience inside one of The Who’s all time classic track”’ (phew!) On until Christmas Unit 8, St Andrews Mews, Waldegrave Street, Hastings rnrwof.co.uk

No Abate-ment

American saxophonist, flautist and composer Greg Abate, one of the hardest working musicians on the international jazz circuit, will be centre stage at Jazz Hastings’ next session on Tuesday 8 November at the East Hastings Sea Angling association on the Stade. Greg has been a feature of the world jazz scene for 50 years and still spends 225 days a year touring the world. jazzhastings.co.uk

THE GOLD MACHINE

The acclaimed writer Iain Sinclair and the director Grant Gee have created an extraordinary, award-winning film, The Gold Machine, which will have its first Sussex screening at the Electric Palace in Old Town on 3 September, followed by another showing at the Kino in St Leonards on 4 September. The film is about a father and daughter who find themselves haunted by the life of a Victorian botanist ancestor who was exploring the heart of unknown Peru. It is apparently based on Sinclair’s research into his own great-grandfather who wrote an account of his imperialist ‘adventure.’ Sinclair is a St Leonards man – as well as being the author of a body of psycho-geographical work on London – and will be at the screenings for a Q and A.  
Tickets are available on their respective websites. 

BRIGADE AT THE CRYPT

The anarcho-tunesmiths, Bandaid Brigade perform at The Crypt on Friday, 9 September. Their music has been described as the sound of punk colliding with Elton John. 

COASTAL CURRENTS

The extraordinarily diverse collection and celebration of our coastal creativity returns this September. It would be impossible and invidious to sum it up in this small space but expect a fantastic range of artists on show all around the town and surrounding areas. There are painters, sculptors, filmmakers, dancers, street artists, open studios, exhibitions and events. In short, all manner of unique delights for those that like a little subversive spice in their life. There is an opening party at 55 Prints, 19 Grand Parade, St Leonards, starting at 7pm Friday, Sept 2, with free fizz for early arrivals. You can and should download the programme online.

For more information go to coastalcurrents.org.uk 

ROCK AGAINST RACISM

There is a fascinating free exhibition of the history of RAR, and its current campaigns, at St Mary in the Castle from 27 August – 17 October. The event opens on 27 August with a gig featuring Neville Staple from The Specials. Dub Pistols and Hot Wax are also on the bill. 

Tickets for the gig are available on Eventbrite. 

HASTINGS INTERNATIONAL PIANO PRESENTS

On 17 Sept at Fairlight Hall, the former BBC Young Musician of the Year, James Bartlett, will be performing
a programme of piano pieces. The works include compositions by Bach, Hayden and Rachmaninoff. Standard tickets are £25.

Book via hastingsinternationalpiano.org.uk 

STAY FABULOUS

The wondrous Fabulous Red Diesel play the Kino Stage in Rye on Sunday 28 August at 1pm. This is part of the Rye Jazz and Blues Festival.

For more details go to ryejazz.com

THE DIRTY OLD GALLERY

The DOG brings us an exhibition curated by the inclusive pop-up collective, The Museum of Us, entitled ‘Upon Waking.’ It features the work of William Shepherd, an artist who has made his name as part of project artworks. He says his exhibition is inspired by his daily mantra, “get up, eat breakfast, paint.”

It is on from 2 September to 2 October. The gallery is on West Street in Old Town.   

SOMNIANS

On Thursday 1 September, The Piper, in Norman Road, hosts a band described by our critic, Lucy Brown, as “taking PTSD punk energy to the point of overdose.” The Somnians gig coincides with the release of their new schizosonic single, ‘Habitual Ritual.’ This is likely to be a full-on performance but be warned, it may leave you gasping for sanity. We look forward to Lucy’s review.  

Tickets are available at thepiper.club/events

The cinema is approaching its twentieth anniversary of screenings in the Old Town High Street and, after previous closures during successive lockdowns during earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, had reopened in July with reduced seating capacity in order to allow social distancing. Other health precautions, including a policy of requiring its audience to wear masks, were also kept in place, and owner Rebecca Marshall says that during October and November audiences were returning in numbers which were approaching at least a break-even financial level. But as the Omicron variant emerged to threatennew rates of infection in the run-up to Christmas, attendances collapsed.

CREDIT: Electric Palace Cinema

December was “terrible” according to Ms Marshall, and January bookings – individual and venue hire – were “at an all-time low”, almost non-existent. Although much of the staffing of the cinema is undertaken by a team of 30 unpaid volunteers, there was almost nothing coming in to cover the part-time payroll, film licences, and rent and other overheads of the building. 

Previous closures of the cinema during lockdowns were financed by grants totalling over £54,000 from two rounds of the Cultural Support Fund administered by the British Film Institute (BFI). A third round was on offer in November – the Kino cinemas in Hawkhurst and Rye received more than £111,000 each under it and the Kino-Teatr in Hastings nearly £80,000. But Ms Marshall says that, at that point of time, the cinema appeared to be on a positive financial trajectory and would not have been eligible. An application is now being made this month to the BFI’s Emergency Resource Support fund but, even if that is successful, the cash is unlikely to be forthcoming for some months.

Ms Marshall says that, if the cinema is enabled to survive the current crisis, she will be looking to change its business model to render it less dependent on day-to-day ticket sales and bar profits. Events with special guests, live music and cabaret have all been successful in the past, and she intends to aim at building a higher profile of the venue within the local community. 

• Donations can be made on www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-electric-palace-cinema-hastings

Review by Jamie Sellers 

What springs to mind when you think of buddy movies? The Odd Couple? Butch and Sundance? Thelma and Louise? Maybe one of those modern Hollywood comedies where Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell or Owen Wilson and An Other gurn, break wind a lot and channel their inner infant? Well, it sure has a chequered history, the buddy movie. A certain degree of hamming is always quite likely.

And then along comes First Cow, the latest offering from the always-interesting director Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women). No ham here! We’re introduced to Cookie and King Lu, two drifters coming together in Oregon in the early 1800s. Cookie (John Magaro) is a put-upon chef, charged with foraging for food to keep happy a gang of uncouth fur trappers, and who one night covertly offers clothes and shelter to King Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese immigrant on the run following a fatal altercation with some Russians. When their paths later cross again, Lu offers Cookie a place to stay at a little shack he’s found, and spying a single cow in a nearby forest, Cookie starts sneaking out after dark to milk it (with Lu as his lookout man), in order to make “oily cakes”. The entrepreneurial Lu suggests selling the cakes at market, and they’re soon a roaring success.

When a pompous Englishman, the Chief Factor (Toby Jones, in a role that might have been written just for him) gets wind of their venture, he samples the cakes and declares, all misty-eyed, that they taste of South Kensington. He invites Cookie to bake a dessert for an upcoming meeting he’s hosting with a local captain and a Native American chief. It soon transpires that the Chief Factor has a single cow (its mate and calf having died en route to his property), and he’s mystified as to why it’s hardly producing any milk…

As with many of Kelly Reichardt’s films, First Cow is shot in the rural Northwest, and adapted from part of a novel by her regular collaborator and Oregon native Jonathan Raymond. And like many of the others, it’s but a small story. But it’s also captivating, with every scene a joy to watch, and the casting of Magaro and Lee, neither a household name, as the two central characters, is perfect. There’s a beautiful naturalness to their performances, with the gentle-natured Cookie nervous, pensive, and King Lu the slyly dynamic, slightly reckless one. As soon as I saw it the first time, I wanted to watch it again. And when I eventually did, it didn’t disappoint.

In the last HIP, you may have read my raving about After Love, and now I’m saying see First Cow at all costs. It’s not always like this. I wouldn’t waste valuable space trashing films of little merit, but with the likes of Another Round, Limbo, Surge, Apples and others, it’s been a pretty decent film year, and for me, First Cow tops them all. Catch them all when you can! Support your local cinema!

• First Cow screens at the Electric Palace, Hastings, on 9th and 10th September.

Had cinemas been open to capacity all year, a movie like After Love – Kent-born writer-director Aleem Khan’s intriguing drama – would certainly have garnered more attention and been easier to track down. If you like interesting independent films, and don’t need explosions every five minutes, this is one you shouldn’t let slip through the cracks. Come to think of it, it does have explosions, but of a less pyrotechnic sort.

I mainly know lead actor Joanna Scanlan from potty-mouthed political satire The Thick of It, and from Getting On, the quietly brilliant hospital sitcom she co-wrote and starred in with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine. A quick browse through her CV reminds me I saw her in supporting roles in Girl with a Pearl Earring, Notes on a Scandal, and In the Loop. And there are a host of other British TV and film productions I would certainly have missed, but where I expect she was as reliably good. Nevertheless, After Love presents her with a lead role in which she shows a degree of emotional depth that previously she rarely got the chance to display.

Scanlan is Mary, a recently widowed converted Muslim living in Dover, who makes a shattering discovery. Among the possessions of her late ferry captain husband Ahmed, she finds a French woman’s ID card and a series of anonymous and unanswered texts. Seems he’d lived a whole separate life across the Channel, apparently over a number of years. But when Mary sets off on a journey to Calais to either confront, or possibly break the news of her husband’s death to the other woman, Genevieve (Nathalie Richard), she finds she’s unprepared for the moment. Meeting on the doorstep and still wearing her veil, she’s tongue-tied, not helped by her lack of French, and is assumed by Genevieve to be applying for the position of a domestic. Before we know it, Mary is scrubbing the steps, sorting through Ahmed’s (other) wardrobe, and imagining the life he enjoyed on his periods away from home.

From here on we’re with Mary all the way, trying to imagine what’s going on in her head and, upon each new revelation, wondering which way she’ll go. Earlier in the film we see her among Ahmed’s family after he’s laid to rest, with no sign of her own relatives. She really is alone now. Scanlan’s performance is often wordless, but her eyes and face convey so much. Her marriage, her religion, everything she thinks she knows is questioned. It’s a devastating unravelling of her life and identity – and it’s only part of the story.

A shot of Mary standing in her hijab on the white cliffs of Dover looking out is one of several arresting and thought-provoking images in the film. There’s a lot going on here. Joanna Scanlan is on screen in almost every scene, and never less than captivating. A few years ago, Olivia Colman was elevated to national treasure status after appearing in Paddy Considine’s harrowing Tyrannosaur. Scanlan’s turn in After Love is deserving of similar plaudits.

• After Love screens at the Electric Palace, Hastings, on 2nd September and will be followed by a Director Q+A. https://www.electricpalacecinema.com/whats-on/after-love

On the 15th and 16th August, we saw the first South Coast Film Festival take place in Hastings Old Town. It’s an independent celebration and examination that will run annually – this year it was at the brilliant Electric Palace, socially-distanced and Covid-safe, despite the necessary seating restrictions that requires.

The Festival organisers Paul Saunders and David Wurawa say: “Our mission is to help create a platform for our filmmakers to be seen, but more importantly, get them the industry exposure to help sustain their craft for many years to come. The SCFF is extremely excited to present its showcase, and hopes to become one of the most important Independent film festivals in the UK. The SCFF Awards will provide space for independent film-makers to create and display their stories without commercial pressure, in order to discover and celebrate extraordinary films and develop independent film-making.”

Many of the weekend’s films were stand-out amazing, particularly the contenders for the International Film award, including two dramatic shorts from Iran. Each was expertly crafted from beginning to end, and could have been expanded to feature length (though still functioned perfectly as shorts). Another especially memorable entry was the documentary, Age is a Bingo Number, which followed a bingo-centred social club in Newcastle, and the many touching nuances of its largely Italian-British membership.

Other films shone out because of their ingenuity. Best Newcomer, Silhouette was filmed entirely on a Huawei smartphone by the director and sole actor, Ben Dillaway, yet still showed remarkable cinematography and a now very familiar sense of isolation. The protagonist sits in his car, in the quiet dark, arguing with his own conscience, or self, dressed like James Bond in the back seat. The only other person involved in the production was Ben’s mum, who filmed a small section at his direction. Evidently social distancing doesn’t have to mean the end of film. 

Paul Saunders seems to be the ideal organiser for this kind of festival. A film-maker himself, he showed an energy, optimism and understanding that was instantly endearing and inspiring. Anyone could easily approach him to discuss the world of independent film and how best to navigate through it – definitely the right man to be guiding a festival that wants to support and showcase upcoming makers. 

• Check the website: www.southcoastfilmfestival.com

Glitterbug

A fundraiser screening of Derek Jarman’s Glitterbug – a lovingly compiled montage of Jarman’s Super 8 footage fused with a multitextured Brian Eno score, posthumously assembled by his friends. The film constitutes a breathless journey around the director’s favoured stomping grounds such as Italy, Spain and London. Featured in the film are Tilda Swinton, Adam Ant, William S. Burroughs and many more familiar faces. This fundraiser is to contribute to the Art Fund’s goal of purchasing Derek Jarman’s Dungeness home, Prospect Cottage, and to preserve and maintain it.

• Electric Palace, High Street, Sunday 22nd March, 4.30pm.

Coneboy

Clive Parker-Sharp

Sussex author Clive Parker-Sharp presents his novel Coneboy with readings and live acoustic music. Clive has played with punk groups The Members, Spizz Energi, and Athletico Spizz 80, and he’s a founding member and songwriter in 80’s mega-band Big Country. Clive’s first book The Box came out in 2012, and is now being adapted for TV. His new book, the semi-auto-biographical work Coneboy, is teased out in spoken-word and song by Clive and Marshall, through a one hour show, with Q&A and book signing to follow. 

• Performances will be at: Printed Matter on Queens Road, 1st April, 6pm; Twelve Hundred Postcards, Queens Road, 8th April, 6pm; Kino-Teatr, Norman Road, 22nd and 29th April, 3pm; De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, 1st and 8th October (times tbc). 

Hastings Beatles Day 2019
PICTURE: Tony Ham

Hastings Beatles Day 

The countdown is on to Hastings Beatles Day which will be held at the White Rock Theatre on Sunday 5th April from midday. The popular event sees local and national musicians interpreting songs from across the entire Beatles collection in a wide variety of styles. There will be over 70 acts with over 350 performers playing across three stages. Younger fans can also join the Little Beatles music making sessions between 2pm and 5pm and learn how to perform a song using different instruments and sounds with live performing musicians.

This year, the event will be supporting local Hastings-based charity The Sara Lee Trust, who support people affected by cancer and other life threatening illnesses by providing free specialist counselling and complementary therapy care. 

• Tickets are available on the door, or in advance from the White Rock Theatre Box Office on 01424 462288 or whiterocktheatre.org.uk
For the full list of performers, go to hastingsbeatlesday.com

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman
PICTURE: Nikki Bidgood

‘On Reflection’ Tour 

2020 marks 25 years of making music together for this popular wife and husband duo. Twice winners of ‘Best Duo’ BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2016, and 2013, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have long established themselves as one of the UK Folk scene’s most rewardingly enduring partnerships.

To celebrate and acknowledge this milestone, the couple will revisit and reinterpret songs which span their career. From the early days of folk supergroup Equation through to their current release Personae with a nod or two along the way to their extra-curricular musical adventures, the evening promises a whistle-stop tour through their artistic journey to date.

• Playing: Wednesday 18 March – St Mary in the Castle, Hastings. Show 7.30pm Tickets £15 adv. www.stmaryinthecastle.co.uk/events

Over at the Electric Palace, Glenys Jacques is hosting a fantastic weekend to kick off October, with a performance of Bette Davis On The Edge on Saturday 5th and then on Sunday 6th, a screening of In This, Our Life, starring Bette Davis. 

Bette Davis On The Edge is an impressive one-woman show written and preformed by Christine St. John. You can find HIP’s review of a performance at the Kino earlier this year on our website. After the play on Saturday, 5th October, Glenys Jacques will host a Q&A with Christine St. John.

Christine has performed her play all over the world and will be taking it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday 19th October as a fundraising event for her friend, Meseret Yirga, Ethiopia’s first woman choreographer. Meseret is working on a project to build a community dance centre for those children affected by low-income backgrounds, disabilities and HIV. Her fundraising drive has been very successful so far, but still needs to raise £16,000. Sale proceeds from tickets to see Bette Davis On The Edge will go directly towards the building of the Meseret Yirga Centre. 

In This, Our Life is a lost gem in the Bette Davis film library. It is odd, quirky and above all else, it was considered extremely brave to make: it tackled racism in America head-on, even in 1942. 

• Tickets to both events are for sale until an hour before the start time. Check out the Electric Palace’s website.

On 16 June, 115 years ago, Leopold Bloom got up, had breakfast, started wandering the streets of Dublin, and finally encountered Stephen Dedalus. In his famous novel Ulysses, 682 pages later, James Joyce has told us all about their adventures. Bloomsday commemorates 16 June 1904 –
the day on which the events of James Joyce’s Ulysses take place in Dublin.

Celebrating Bloomsday in Hastings 2018

The Hastings Ulysses Reading Circle have been reading Ulysses since October 2017 on a fortnightly basis, and in March this year visited Dublin to join the Dublin reading group near Sandycove to follow scenes from the book. It is a marathon of beauty, delight, difficulty, rhythm, history, interior monologue and hilarity!  So much so that we have decided to celebrate Ulysses again this year at the Electric Palace in Hastings Old Town on Sunday 16 June. 

Bernard McGinley, long term Joycean scholar and author of Joyce’s Lives will present this year’s Bloomsday talk at the Electric Palace, followed by a series of short performances exploring the themes of humour, soundscape and love.  Among the line up will be local musician Ross Andrews-Clifford and Irish actor Elaine O’Dwyer.

Everyone is welcome to join us for our Old Town celebrations. You are invited to come in Edwardian costume as Ulysses is set in Edwardian Dublin, or dressed as you are. As a town that loves dressing up, what better place than Hastings to explore the look and feel of Ulysses?  

A commemorative photograph will be taken after the event at the Electric Palace at around 3pm on Sunday 16 June. 

• Tickets available online for £10.00 through eventbrite at bloomsday1066.eventbrite.co.uk

• For more information contact bloomsday1066@gmail.com or Facebook:  bloomsday 1066

BY THOMAS DALDRY

Although it’s often under the radar, Hastings has a thriving theatre scene. It is stocked with a wealth of venues, projects and professional theatre makers that operate with passion and innovation.

Hamlet is happening at St Mary in the Castle (Feb 21st-24th). This immersive, intimate production is the first project for Theatre Nation – a new local theatre company that encourages the development of professional theatre by making it.

Emily Carding’s award-winning one-woman Richard III has toured nationally & internationally. She is currently working on a one-woman Hamlet (premiering at Brighton Fringe in May), with both pieces to be staged in Hastings in the near future.

Every month the Electric Palace showcases new writing from local scriptwriters – in John Knowles ‘First Heard’ project. Professional actors provide rehearsed readings before a live audience – followed by a Q&A with the writer.  A one-woman exploration of The Tempest’s Caliban opens the 2018 season, in John Knowles’ Caliban’s Codex (Jan 17th).

The White Rock promises to encourage more drama. Particularly promising is an adaptation of  (24th Jan) and John Godber’s classic comedy Teechers (28th March).

Hastings Fringe Festival takes place in June/July. Last September’s programme was rich with exciting theatre (a take on Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, for example). This summer’s programme is yet to be announced, but is sure to deliver.

Hastings’ own Stables Theatre is also rife with exciting work. Classic plays (Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace; Ibsen’s A Doll’s House) complement more contemporary work (Diary of a Nobody) to offer a broad and ambitious programme.

This is just a selection of the variety and quality of the theatre that is made locally, but – for theatre lovers – does justice to the claim that something exciting is going on.

More info: Theatre Nation: Theatre Nation, Calibans Codex at the Electric Palace It’s Not Us, Our Dream House at the Electric Palace, Richard III, Hastings Fringe

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article from Hastings Independent Press. The future of this volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.

HIP talks to Gemskii, the one-woman force behind Conscious Theatre and Glenys Jacques of Electric Palace about this production, coming soon to Hastings Old Town, on how it all came about, and the formidable Joan Littlewood herself.

“I was taught by great comic and actor Ken Campbell.” Says Gemskii. “He said I was a reincarnation of Littlewood – he said, ‘you’re brilliant but no-one likes you’.”

This was nine years ago at East 15, the famous acting school founded in 1961 to take forward Littlewood’s unique approach to theatre making. “She was a woman in a man’s world, swore like a trooper, could be fiercely furious at a moment’s notice, and often reduced people to tears. Her Theatre Workshop pioneered new ways of theatre making, working with ensemble casts – people could be asked to switch roles from one night to the next to make sure no-one got too attached to what they were doing. She turned down Michael Caine saying ‘you’ll only ever be a star’. She also championed strong, rounded female characters, and directed the first openly gay character and the first black character in a central role in British theatre”.

“When the centenary of Littlewood’s birth was approaching, in 2014, I decided to collaborate with East 15 on a show to celebrate her life and work”, she continues. There was a cast of six, a musical director and a publicist. But a dispute over rights meant the school pulled out just four weeks before the show was due to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “It was a horrible experience, the worst time of my life, but the idea of failure was worse so I decided to take it to Edinburgh on my own”.

Taking a complex multi-character show and turning it into a one-woman performance was a challenge. One of the characters, as the name suggests, is Barbara Windsor. “The idea of playing her was outside my comfort zone to say the least, so I did an eight-hour improvisation at London Pride that year, in full costume, to get her character – now it’s the strongest character in the show.”

By the time Edinburgh came around, the show was up and running but not yet perfected. It got three star reviews, “which was fair,” says Gemskii, “it contained some schoolgirl errors, the show needs to be sharp and there is no room for these”. She took the production on tour, continued to hone it, and took it on tour again – her most recent run included a performance in the Brighton fringe, where it got five star reviews and was described as ‘outstanding’.

And this was where Jacques, saw the show. “It reminded me immediately of all the stuff I saw in the 70s” she says, “feminist theatre with a grass roots way of doing things, people working hard to create the experience.”

“It will be interesting to intelligent people, people who love theatre and love the theatre”, says Gemskii. “She was no fool, so I can’t do something foolish with her story.” People who remember Littlewood’s work and the time she was working and theatre students in particular will get a lot out of the show. Jacques continues “I thought it would be perfect for the Electric Cinema, because of the community and also the intimacy of the space. I think people might be inspired to think ‘I could do this – I could do something like this at the Electric Palace’”.

A last word from Gemskii on the show? “Just that I really enjoy doing it, it’s multi skilled, with tap and puppetry, I pretend to be a boy, I pretend to be a girl like I am, I pretend to be a girl like I’m not … and I’ve fallen in love with Joan.”

Joan, Babs and Shelagh Too, Conscious Theatre, Friday 29 September Electric Palace, tickets £10, electricpalacecinema.com