Laurie Belgrave // Coco Patron

What an honour to be bringing selected panels from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to THE AGE OF CONSENT at Aviva Studios in Manchester this Sunday 17 May–in collaboration with the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership, Positive East and The George House Trust. Make sure to not miss out the display 💓 Tickets are flying 🎟️💨

📣 LAST CALL BRIGHTON 📣 It’s tomorrow!!! Here’s our captain @coco.patron reminding you to snap THE AGE OF CONSENT tickets up before it’s too late. We can’t wait to kick off our tour in such a gay, sunny (at least the day we took this pic) and friendly city. See you tomorrow at @brightonfestival 👋 Let’s come together in queer rage, joy and solidarity. Tickets 🔗🔗🔗 >> bio

THE AGE OF CONSENT is going on TOUR this week!! 🤘🔥 Kicking off in Brighton @brightonfestival on 2 May, followed by Manchester @factory_international on 17 May and finally London @southbankcentre on 24 May. THE AGE OF CONSENT reimagines Bronski Beat’s debut album with a fabulous line-up of contemporary trans & queer artists, accompanied by a full 7 piece house band playing bold new arrangements of the record. This album had such an impact for queers and gays back in the 80s, and its legacy still carries on today. Music has always been a powerful tool of resistance, and this tour feels particularly important at the present time; especially with trans rights being under attack in the UK. Joins us for a musical celebration and let’s fight together for queer & trans liberation! Get your tickets while they last 💓

"The Age of Consent is a moment of joy and celebration and togetherness. It's more important now than ever." Ahead of The Age of Consent at Aviva Studios - a reimagining of Bronski Beat’s same titled and defiant debut album by The Chateau (@the_chateau_ ) - we heard from founder of The Chateau, Laurie Belgrave (@coco.patron ), and Head of Music at Factory International, Rivca Burns (@rivcab ). Both talked through the significance and importance of the album - a piece of musical and political history from 1980s Britain, marking a pivotal moment in LGBTIQA+ cultural history. Enjoy a powerhouse line-up and hear the album live and reimagined through the voices of ground-breaking queer and trans contemporary artists. The lineup includes Planningtorock (@planningtorock ), Tom Rasmussen (@tomrasmussen ), Bishi (@bishiofficial ), David Hoyle (@davidhoyleuniversal ), David McAlmont (@david.mcalmont ) and Nia Choir (@nia.choir ) backed by The Chateau Collective – a specially curated queer house band. 📍 The Hall, Aviva Studios 📅 17 May 🎟️ Aviva £10 Tickets available 🔗 Book your tickets now - click the link in Factory International's bio.

Officially kicking off rehearsals for THE AGE OF CONSENT UK TOUR 🎹 ✅ We can’t wait to show you what we’re cooking up... It’s going to be dreamy, revolutionary and queer AF! Peek @davidhoyleuniversal , @sanssoucismusic & @tomrasmussen with our musical director @tomfoskettbarnes and our very own captain @coco.patron . Get your tickets before they’re gone forever👇 2 MAY BRIGHTON @brightonfestival 17 MAY MANCHESTER @factory_international 24 MAY LONDON @southbankcentre 🔥 UK TOUR line-up: @davidhoyleuniversal @david.mcalmont @planningtorock @tomrasmussen @bishiofficial & @sanssoucismusic ⚡️LONDON special guests: @bethditto & @pinksingers 🔗 MANCHESTER special guest: @nia.choir

Thanks @brightonfestival for having me at the launch last night!! 🥰 Was an honour to see @the_chateau_ ’s The Age of Consent show properly announced for the festival alongside such incredible artists including Beverley Glenn Copeland, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson & Angelique Kidjo 💙 @brighton_dome feels like coming home, a venue where I saw so many shows as a young person that changed my life 🥹 Baby me front row at @scissorsisters in 2004 would be proud! (And yes I am on the live DVD 😂) See you queens in Brighton on 2nd May!! 💥 cc @the_chateau_ @southbankcentre @planningtorock @tomrasmussen @bishiofficial @tomfoskettbarnes & the whole crew 🩷 #brightonfestival

Feeling emosh today to be announcing the return of The Age Of Consent show with @the_chateau_ 🥹💙 this time for a UK tour culminating in the Royal Festival Hall @southbankcentre 🤯🤯🤯 Anyone who knows me, knows that this show is my baby, involving some of my most favourite people in the world, both honouring music that shaped me as a queer person, as well as celebrating the queer & trans voices of the future 🩷🩷🩷 So many people to thank who have been part of this journey, but a particular shout out is due to the incomparable musical hero that is @tomfoskettbarnes , and my darling @lulumanning_ for shaping the show into what it is today. Also to team @southbankcentre @actheduchess @beese.Jane for believing in the show from the start, and of course @jimmysomervilleofficial & @bronskibeatofficial for giving us their blessing & support 🥹🫂 Many more announcements to come, but we’ll see you on tour babes!!! 🔥😎🚌🏳️‍⚧️ Let’s gooooooo !! Poster by @sweat.ing Photo by @_he_photo

Looking back on TheirStories X @theaidsplaysproject , October 2025, celebrating the life & work of Colm Ó Clúbhán @thestandardlondon 💙 Actors 🎭 @calamlynch & @darragh.hand Panelists 🗣️ @prishita_eloise (chair) @alastair_curtis @maryevansyoung Derek Evans Performance by 🎶 @_nickymusic Curated by 📝 @coco.patron & @alastair_curtis Stunning photos by @_he_photo 📸 Thank you to all who joined us for this very special collaboration between TheirStories & The AIDS Plays Project, and especially to those who knew Colm, who came and shared stories of his life 🥲 It was an honour not only to stage his work, but also to be surrounded by those who knew and loved him 🩷 More photos to come….

NiCKY returns to The AIDS Plays Project on Monday to perform music from their new EP ‘with’, including ‘I Saw You’ - a track that revives lyrics co-conceived by Ó Clúbhán during his time with the Brixton Faeries in the 1970s. The song stands as a testament to Ó Clúbhán’s enduring influence on a new generation of queer artists, and forms an essential part of our tribute event, co-curated with Their Stories at @thestandardlondon . “My interpretation of ‘I Saw You’ is a love song about cruising. I was invited to rework lyrics originally conceived by the queer Irish playwright Colm Ó Clúbhán and the theatre group the Brixton Faeries. This was for a re-staging of Ó Clúbhán’s play Reasons For Staying, produced by The AIDS Plays Project. The original version of ‘I Saw You’ was featured in Gents, an agitprop play about cottaging.” Tickets for Monday’s event are now sold out, but do follow the link in our bio to join the waiting list. ‘With’ is released digitally on 28th October via PRAH Recordings. Photos by Celia Croft and Henry Mills. // NiCKY (aka Nicky Harris) is a London-based artist, composer, musician, and former clown. They have built a reputation for writing heartfelt and unique songs reflecting their life experiences. Tracks from their acclaimed solo debut EP ‘by’ have been played on BBC6 Music and NTS. In 2024, they performed End of The Road and All Together Now among other festivals, and composed the live score to Ms Sharon Le Grande’s satirical musical Tomorrow Is Already Dead at Soho Theatre. NiCKY has contributed to London’s live music and queer performance scenes for over a decade. A prolific collaborator, they founded legendary anarchic cabaret performance Club (2016–19), devised and hosted the Dive Lounge on New York based radio platform Montez Press (2023), and regularly host the queer community event SiNG with NiCKY at the Retro Bar. They accompanied countercultural icon Hermine Demoriane in a one-off happening at Ginny on Frederick Gallery in February, and recently composed several songs for a new production of Colm Ó Clúbhán’s play Reasons For Staying produced by The AIDS Plays Project.

Colm Ó Clúbhán’s first play, Friends of Rio Rita’s (1985), took its title from the LGBT slang term ‘Friend of Dorothy’ and from the drag queen Rio Rita in Brendan Behan’s The Hostage, whom Ó Clúbhán described as “probably the only gay character I know of in Irish drama.” The play is set in a London flat shared by two Irish gay men, Finbarr and Mick. Ó Clúbhán himself played the role of Finbarr in the first performances at the Oval House in 1985, organised by the Irish Gay Theatre Group.  Ó Clúbhán was an Irish playwright whose work gave voice to the experience of being queer and Irish during a time of intense social and political marginalisation. He emigrated from Dublin to London in 1973, where he became part of the queer community in Brixton. Over the next decade, he wrote half a dozen plays exploring exile, sexuality and Irish identity. These include Dermot Begley’s Last Chance (1985), Beyond Kansas (1986), Fair Game (1988), A Rip in the World (1988), and Flesh and Blood in a Well-Fed State (1988). Reasons for Staying (1986) was revived by The AIDS Plays Project at London Performance Studios in March this year. In March 1989, Ó Clúbhán died of an AIDS-related illness at the London Lighthouse. He was 34 years old. An obituary by his friend Stephen Gee appeared in the LGBTQ+ press. Gee described Ó Clúbhán’s funeral at the London Lighthouse as a “defiant and rude celebration of his life.” “His ashes will be scattered in the Irish Sea, somewhere between Ireland and England,” Gee wrote, “which is where he feels he belongs.” A bench in Brockwell Park, Brixton, is dedicated to his memory. Tickets for our celebration of the life and work of Colm Ó Clúbhán, co-conceived with Their Stories at @thestandardlondon , are now sold out. Follow the link in our bio to join the waiting list.

Just 5 days to go until TheirStories & @theaidsplaysproject team up for an evening of conversation, performance & music, celebrating the life & work of Colm Ó Clúbhán @thestandardlondon 💙 Excited to be announcing our chair for the conversation section of the evening - @prishita_eloise ! Prishita is a writer, workshop facilitator and grassroots organiser exploring the transhistorical cultures and political realities of the queer community. Their essay/manifesto, Roses for Hedone: On Queer Hedonism and World-Making Through Pleasure, published as part of indie press 404 Ink’s Inklings series in May 2025, explores queer hedonism not as a transient individualistic phenomenon, but rather as a collective and futuristic transformational energy. Previously Politics Editor at BRICKS Magazine, Prishita is a campaigner at Greenpeace UK and sits on the Advisory Board of Split Banana, who deliver inclusive RSE workshops in schools and colleges. Prishita’s advocacy in pursuit of queer liberated futures, a Free Palestine and a dismantling of all oppressive structures is informed by their Brown, trans, migrant and multicultural identity. Joining Prishita will be The AIDS Plays Project founder @alastair_curtis , plus Mary Evans Young & Derek Evans, two of Colm’s lifelong friends & collaborators 🫂 Tickets are sold out, however you can join the waiting list in case of returns. If you have reserved a ticket but can no longer attend, please return your ticket to the waiting list via DICE so we can fill the places! 🎟️🎟️🎟️ 🗓️ Mon 27th Oct 📍 The Library Lounge @thestandardlondon ⏰ Doors 6.30pm / Event starts at 7pm 🎟️ Sold Out - Waiting List open via link in bio 🏳️‍🌈 Co-curated by @coco.patron & @alastair_curtis 📸 Prishita by @eivindhansen

For one night only, TheirStories and @theaidsplaysproject will join forces on 27th October, to celebrate the life and work of Colm Ó Clúbhán @thestandardlondon 💙💙💙 This special evening will feature a performance from “Friends of Rio Rita’s”, his rarely seen, semi-autobiographical play from 1985, plus Director @alastair_curtis in conversation with Mary Evans Young and Derek Evans, two of Ó Clúbhán’s closest friends. The event will conclude with a special musical performance by @nickyharris92 . 🇮🇪 Colm Ó Clúbhán was an Irish playwright whose work gave voice to the experience of being queer and Irish during a time of intense social and political marginalisation. He emigrated from Dublin to London in 1973, where he became part of the queer community in Brixton. Over the next decade he wrote half a dozen plays exploring exile, sexuality and Irish identity, including Friends of Rio Rita’s and Reasons for Staying. He passed away from AIDS-related illnesses in 1989, aged just 34. 🤍 Tickets are free but strictly limited, reserve your place via the link in bio 🎟️ 🗓️ Mon 27th October ⏰ Doors 6.30pm 🗣️ Event starts at 7pm 📍 The Library Lounge @thestandardlondon Event curated by @coco.patron & @alastair_curtis