For our last episode of season three, we meet another Friend of Dorothy: fashion lecturer and PR Tony Gill. Tony’s British Asian upbringing gave him a whole different set of gay icons to the ones host Alice grew up with - and the conversation may give you an appetite to work back through decades of Bollywood classics… Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake
Any history nerd will be excited to hear about Paula Akpan’s research into Black queer women in - and beyond - the British Women’s Lib movement. Paula is also currently working on her first book, When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve Queens. Billed as “a book that will give voice to the women warriors and regents across the African continent often demoted to a footnote in history”, it will be published in hardback in 2024. As well as that research, and her work as a journalist, Paula (yep, ...
Today’s interviewee, Rita, has proven the power of nightlife for the queer community better than maybe anyone else I’ve met. In the combination of her own life experiences, her career as a psychologist and in LGBTQ domestic abuse services, and with the groundbreaking queer Asian night Club Kali, Rita has created something very special indeed. That’s an incredible legacy for one club night to have. But it has a dynamic future as well as an important past - and we started there… Creator & host...
This one's a little bit different... In summer 2021 we brought together a panel of debut authors, all female, all writing about queer topics or characters, along with the broadcaster and literary judge Simon Savidge. We talked representation, what's changed, and what's next in queer fiction. Prepare to go away with a long 'to be read' list. This panel was first published as a LIVE Twitter Spaces conversation, so this is an edited collection of the best bits - with all the boring technical issues...
Dr Fern Riddell is a historian, podcaster, and the author of - among others - the brilliant book Sex: Lessons from History. If you haven’t read it yet, its fairly revolutionary perspective is that not only have people always been obsessed with sex, but that British people in the past weren’t necessarily as narrow minded about sex, sexuality, and gender as you might think. Which I found a really hopeful message.
This week’s interviewee made his name as the UK’s answer to Judge Judy, and on Strictly Come Dancing, but there’s much more to him than that. From his upbringing in North London (in a future celebrity enclave, not far from Rachel Stevens and Amy Winehouse) to his crowd of adoring female fans, the Rinderettes, Rob Rinder had so much to say. A rare male interviewee, we reflected on the relationship between women and queer men and what we can offer each other. Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Pal...
Meet Lisa-Jayne Lewis. A well-known figure in the queer Christian world, she is on the leadership team of Two:23 and The Gathering Space, both safe spaces for queer people to be themselves within their faith. Lisa-Jayne is also a trustee of OneBodyOneFaith, the oldest LGBT Christian organisation in the UK and formerly known as the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM). We talked about her journey through her sexuality and faith, the present and future status of LGBTQ Christians, and the burd...
The Dorothy Project is BACK. Every Thursday, we’ll be introducing you to another iconic woman and her impact on queer culture. First up, it’s Bishi - the mononymic and multi-talented musician, artist, performer, composer and curator. A true Renaissance woman, Bishi found herself on the London queer scene at a very young age, and became part of the legendary club kid Leigh Bowery’s band Minty. She has since created music across a dizzying array of instruments and genres, and written powerfully ab...
Drag Race UK is back, and it’s making herstory thanks to Victoria Scone. Yes - The Dorothy Project is back for a special one-off episode, meeting the first ever cis female drag queen to star on RuPaul’s Drag Race worldwide. Cardiff queen Victoria is the drag daughter of season two’s Tia Kofi. Inspired by pantomime dames and gay icons, her drag is as British as afternoon tea. But this camp classic also represents the future of the artform, uplifting ‘AFAB’ queens and drag kings as she goes. You c...
What does a self-described ‘outspoken black lesbian’ have to say about Prides and the UK's queer nightlife scene? The Dorothy Project meets Olivia Andrews, author of two recent viral articles about racism within the LGBTQ community. Olivia is also a Stonewall Young Campaigner alum. During her degree at the University of Leeds, she co-organised the award-winning ‘Why is My Curriculum White: Decolonising Geographies’ panel event and worked with peers and faculty to decolonise the curriculum. You c...
Can books change the world? Sharmaine Lovegrove is the founder of the publishing imprint Dialogue Books, which she set up to promote stories by, for, and about queer, disabled, working class, black and minority communities. As a queer Black woman herself, Sharmaine believes that storytelling creates the dialogue we need to build a more inclusive world. I quite agree. Her own life story is quite something, from homeless teenager to Berlin bookshop owner and now, one of the leading lights of Briti...
There are different ways to be an activist. Some people chain themselves to railings and get arrested, others raise money, or deliver services. “Everyone can do something” is the message I was left with after talking to veteran fundraiser and activist Victoria Noe. After years of fundraising for AIDS causes in the 1980s and 1990s, she was ‘burnt out’, but has since returned and is now a member of ACT-UP New York. Asked to reflect on her experiences by a Chicago LGBTQ newspaper, she was inspired ...
She is currently developing several original dramas and adaptations for TV. On stage, Rose ( @RoseLewenstein ) performs with queer comedy cabaret troupe Sex Shells - who’ve enjoyed multiple runs at top venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre and The Glory - as That Woman Rosie. We got stuck in to being the ‘token woman’, the difference between gay (‘as in…’) and queer, and performing queer work for wider audiences. Don’t miss Sex Shells at The Glory next Friday, March 6th 2020. After...
This week, I meet a woman who has been professionally and personally involved in the HIV epidemic since 1985. After nursing some of the first people to live and die with HIV in New Zealand, Flick came to the UK and was a Charge Nurse at London Lighthouse from 1994-1998. London Lighthouse - most famously visited by Princess Di - offered comprehensive, compassionate care to people dying of AIDS and their loved ones. Following the closure of the Lighthouse residential unit, Flick became the HIV psy...
THIS EPISODE CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT, ADULT THEMES, AND STRONG LANGUAGE. You've been warned. This week we meet a legend among Dorothies - Sophie, the Cock Destroyer. The porn star and social media sensation, immortalised in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Frock Destroyers, tells Alice about her fifteen minutes of fame - which have lasted 18 months and counting. We talked about what makes a Cock Destroyer, Sophie reveals her fave of the pair’s viral videos, and pays tribute to the sisterhood and...
Presenter Alice Beverton-Palmer flips the script, and for the first time on The Dorothy Project, interviews a queer man about the women in his life. And what a way to start! Simon Jones’s life has taken him from being a teenage Madonna stan in a tiny Norfolk village, to winning a teen magazine talent search, and now shaping the careers of gay icons such as Geri Halliwell and Jade Thirlwall. In his eponymous PR company, he’s worked with multiple Spice Girls, All Saints, Louise Redknapp, Dannii Mi...
She wandered into Bloc bar one night with a camera, and hasn’t left the queer scene since. Alice Beverton-Palmer talks to music and drag photographer Corinne Cumming ( @capturedbycorinne ) about how drag became her creative muse, finding your queer family, and what it’s like to be a female photographer in the straight club scene (spoiler: it’s shit) Corinne regularly shoots the world’s most famous drag queens, from Alyssa Edwards to Bianca Del Rio, but she’s equally at home capturing London’s al...
Born into a family of major Bollywood producers, Shelly never got the chance to join them - she was “married and packed off”, and only began her own film career once her children were in school. One of those children turned out to be gay - and Shelly’s experience raising a gay child inspired her to make Ek Ladki. We talked about her Trojan horse tactics to bring an LGBT story with a message of acceptance to the biggest possible audience, complete with huge stars including Sonam and Anil Kapoor. ...
In the first episode of Season Two, Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana helps host Alice Beverton-Palmer choose a drag name - and has advice for single Dorothies looking for a guy. With a gay father and godfathers, Ana is a born Dorothy. She fulfilled her destiny in lavish style - moving to San Francisco as a teenager and then later New York City, where she performed at and hosted burlesque and drag nights. She met Jake Shears while he was dressed as his character "Jason the Amazing Back-Alley Late T...
In this trailer, host Alice Beverton-Palmer is BACK with a sneak peek of who you'll meet in Season Two of The Dorothy Project. The first episode, with Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana Matronic, lands this Thursday January 9th. Subscribe now so you don't miss a second!
In the last episode of Season One, Alice talks musical theatre and diva worship with Lucy Moss. Along with her creative partner Toby Marlow, Lucy is responsible for the musical Six - a runaway hit at Edinburgh, in the West End, and soon, Broadway. Six brings Henry VIII’s wives to the stage as a kickass girlband and lets them set the historical record straight. (It’s amazing.) The pair’s other project, Hot Gay Time Machine, which they wrote with friend and collaborator Zak Ghazi-Torbati, tells th...
Liv Morris and her friend George Heyworth formed Bourgeois & Maurice on a bit of a whim back in 2007, and things have really escalated since. As a duo, they’ve released four studio albums, made a web series, a podcast, numerous theatre shows, and they’ve also won Time Out’s Alternative Eurovision competition twice. In the last twelve years Bourgeois & Maurice have performed around the world, and at prestigious London venues including the Royal Opera House, Southbank Centre and Sadler’s W...
Catia Ciarico is a programmer and producer at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a historic venue which hosts a unique mix of club nights and performance. She’s responsible for programming everything from Belinda Carlisle to The Chemsex Monologues. Catia trained at drama school and as a clown, before becoming a stand-up comedian. But it was when she found producing roles that Catia really hit her stride. She’s worked with Swank, one of Britain’s biggest street theatre companies, as well as producing and...
A Dorothy Project first, as Alice speaks to our first male interviewee - Andrew Lumsden, who was a key part of the UK Gay Liberation Front in the 1970s. They discuss the life and work of his Gay Liberation Front comrade Mary McIntosh. TLDR: she sounds like an absolute baller. Mary was an academic as well as an activist, and her contribution to the rights held by British gay men today is massive. In 1968, she published an academic paper arguing that homosexuality is not a psychiatric or medical c...
Alice talks to queer scene supremo Amy Zing. Along with her best mate Glyn Fussell, Amy co-founded the influential club night Sink The Pink. Since its inception in East London over a decade ago, Sink The Pink has outgrown venue after venue, becoming one of the biggest alternative club brands in the country and helping bring drag into the mainstream. The Sink The Pink team have gone on to develop the hugely popular queer pop music festival Mighty Hoopla, and club night Savage. After moving from L...
Actor Nicola Coughlan is a Galway native (she just does a very good Derry accent) who plays Clare Devlin in the global smash hit sitcom Derry Girls. She also starred in 18th Century brothel drama Harlots, and has just started work on the huge new Shondaland production Bridgerton, alongside Dame Julie Andrews. On stage, Nicola was lauded for her work in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Donmar Warehouse. Off stage, she’s a MASSIVE Dorothy. Nicola campaigned for marriage equality in both the Re...
Nicki French is a singer and actor. She represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, finishing 16th with ‘Don’t Play That Song Again’. Nicki has since become a stalwart of the Eurovision fan scene, including the annual London Eurovision Party, to which she brings up to 23 costume changes. Her new EP of Eurovision covers, ‘Let’s Play That Song Again’, is out now. Nicki’s cover of fellow Eurovision entrant Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ was a top five hit in the UK and U...
Holly Shortall co-hosts the hit pop culture podcast Popsessed with her friend, the broadcaster, journalist and DJ Conor Behan. She is also an HIV activist with ACT UP Dublin. My first interviewee from outside of the UK, Holly is a favourite of UK and Irish Gay Twitter, which is how I came to know her. She lives in Dublin, and works in marketing and communications (yep, everything I’ve just mentioned is side hustle.) We talked about finding your tribe online, her work with ACT UP ( actupdublin.co...
Professor Chloe Orkin is the Chair of the British HIV Association. She is a Clinical Professor of HIV Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, on secondment to the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University College London. She is a Consultant Physician at the Royal London Hospital where her clinical duties include running a busy HIV and HIV/ HCV research unit. Professor Orkin led the ‘Going Viral’ blood-borne virus testing week campaign, and under her leadership BHIVA has be...
Fanny Minka is quite possibly the world's only travel-blogging drag queen. Originally from Australia, she was influenced by the release of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the tender age of 13 and has been a radical diva in transit ever since. A Londoner for the past 15 years, Fanny has been part of Sink The Pink's drag family for nearly six of those. She spends any spare time (and money) travelling and writing about it on her blog, Minka Guides. Fanny is unusual among drag queens for a few rea...
