Shown In China!

My photographer friend and collaborator, Vincent Assante Di Cupillo, has had an exhibition of his work this October in Shenzhen, where he lives and where we both travelled last year, at the China (South) Industrial Photography Gallery in Bao An. A lot of the pictures he showed were from our work together, as you can see here.

And then he had another - see here....

STAGE WORK

My professional "stage" debut at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, in a short play by Esther Wilson called "the Big See" went very well. I enjoyed myself too!

Thanks to Esther for a great play - she has just completed "The Quiet Little Englishman" a commission in the Dingle.

CABARET

I "curated" one of the Potting Shed nights on the MV Fitzcarraldo in Liverpool Docks on 20th June, "A Night Of Fierce Desire", with me as hostess and my guests included Trash Nouveau from Copenhagen. They were sensational and very provocative, "in your face" - like the whole evening. I also had the pleasure of performances by Diva Hollywood, Goldie Webb, House of Suarez and Sean Question.

I'll hope to have pictures up here soon.

It was all great fun, and ended with a sexy singalong. See here for more Details

My Cabaret Year ended with a lot of performances. I did a night as Queen Of Culture for the lovely Kath LaBird at Bethnal Green Working Mens Club in London in December, quickly followed by the last Potting Shed cabarets of the year, in Manchester at the Deaf Institute and on the boat in Liverpool. My "12 Queenly Jottings for Christmas" went down very well, and I'm now getting down to writing the Cabaret Book for Walk The Plank - watch this space!

TRAVEL

My first big overseas adventure of 2008...

Performing at Warehouse9 in Copenhagen.

I did four performances,-

- "Kou" my Chinese work, in the "Transgender Odyssey" version

- "Impro For Copenhagen"

- "Chamberwork 2" - Details of how to find out about it are here.

- and I carried out my walking piece "The Garden Is Everywhere" around Copenhagen city centre.

The weather was good, everybody at the Warehouse was wonderful, and I went back in August to perform more Impro with Alex Decoupigny as part of a big Conference and Festival

QUEEN OF CULTURE

On Wednesday 4th June between 2 and 3 p.m., in my capacity as official '08 Queen Of Culture, I chaired a discussion on Tenantspin based at FACT in Liverpool about the Capital of Culture Year so far.

It went well. You can catch a review of it here and a link to the archived broadcast on here. It was fun and more Queenly debate followed in November and maybe some in the New Year.

Blueoat Opening - 14-16th March 2008

As Liverpool Queen Of Culture I renewed my acquaintance with the Bluecoat over the Opening Weekend, offering a chance to meet me and photograph me.

On Saturday 15th March from 11.00 – 2.00 I wandered the new spaces inviting visitors to “Make A Fashion Pose” with my suitably fashionable body. Those who did take a picture will be receiving a copy of it as a souvenir.

On Sunday 16th I was “in residence” in the Bluecoat downstairs tea-shop from 1.00 – 5.00 p.m. offering visitors a free cup of tea in exchange for a cultural chat.

Below are some of the photos taken of me on the Saturday, and a picture of me with the Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, a "local lad".

I was in the celebrity crowd who came "out of the Box" at the opening event for the Liverpool '08 year at St George's Hall back in January. The rock stars and television personalities got to the front of the Platform first so the rest of us didn't get much of a look in, but it was an amazing experience, and - who knows? - it might have been the start of a new time in the city's life. Watch this space.....

Tuesday 12th February - I ran a workshop on Gender called "Hello Boys!" at the Tate for 13-25 year-olds.

You can see pictures of all the the work I have carried out on my Performance pages.

For my very latest outings you can always check my "Appearances" page,-

Mandy