THE PERVERTS PODCAST

An audio cabaret recorded at the legendary Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London, with a live audience. Hosted by Milk Presents’ Leo Skilbeck, there will be onstage glamour and backstage goss, celebrating our ‘perverted’ queer history. Leo will be joined by expert historians to introduce a scandalous artefact from selected queer archives. In each episode a glittering cabaret star will perform a specially created act. Expect words, songs, chat, comedy and campery!

This podcast series was created by Milk Presents and produced by She Wants A Dog (Pippa Frith and Kate Chapman) and features five episodes with a range of guest artists and historians discussing and responding to a selection of objects from queer archives. I recorded all the episodes and edited and produced the series, working closely with Leo Skilbeck. The theme music was composed and performed by Seriol Davies.

Episode 1: Mzz Kimberley

Host Leo is joined by cabaret legend Mzz Kimberley at the RVT to talk about her very first dress, red and beautifully detailed by hand, which is now an artefact in the Museum of Transology.

Episode 2: ShayShay

Non-binary drag artist, writer, director and ‘femme vers top’ ShayShay joins Luke as special cabaret guest with expert input from academic Jacob Bloomfield, honorary research fellow at the University of Kent.

Episode 3: Ginger Johnson

The inimitable Ginger Johnson joins Leo and prolific filmmaker and activist Campbell X, who is on hand for historical context and episode expertise.

Episode 4: Annie Siddons

A 28,000 year old stone dildo is the queer artefact in the spotlight as Leo is joined by prolific writer, performer Annie Siddons to talk desire, sex toys, enhancing bodies and queer labelling.

Episode 5: Georgois Bourgeois

The weird and wonderful world of 1980s Gay small ads is uncovered in this episode. Leo is joined by Georgois Bourgeois, one half of extra-terrestrial duo Bourgeois and Maurice.

Episode 6: Kate O’Donnell

Join Leo Skilbeck and Campbell X in the historical New Union Inn, Manchester, as they chat with the legendary Kate O’Donnell about gender reassignment surgery, dilators, and loving our trans bodies. Supported by Trans Vegas.

Episode 7: Jay Mitra

Join Leo Skilbeck and Campbell X in the historical New Union Inn, Manchester, as they chat with poet and artist Jay Mitra, uncovering a historical “personal massager”, and Jay performs an intimate poem. Supported by Trans Vegas.

This podcast was released on 24 Februaruy 2022. It is available from your usual podcast distributors such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts etc. Funded by Arts Council England and supported by Derby Theatre.

Episodes 6 & 7 were recorded in November 2022 at the New Union Inn, Manchester and supported by Trans Vegas.