I have been lucky enough to attend all three Mama G family pride events over the years and each year the event appears to adapt and evolve. The first of my annual visits took place during the tail end of COVID which meant that the audience were encouraged to distance themselves from one another and so there was a very limited audience gracing the Stanley Arts Hall. If you want to hear more about this event you can read my review at https://rhysreviews.com/2021/07/06/mama-gs-family-pride-celebration/ with my personal highlight was being able to meet and interview the wonderfully iconic Lorraine Bowen for our YouTube channel (which is available at https://youtu.be/fjQ6-CJF2oA. After the children had left, Mama G also organised a more mature version of the event taking place in the evening which you can read about https://rhysreviews.com/2021/07/06/moma-gs-after-hours-pride-celebration/. The second event celebrated the relaxation of COVID guidelines with a plethora of audience participation and buckets full of dancing! While we were given tables and chairs to relax at, I personally spent the majority of the time on my feet dancing which the children seem to absolutely love! You can read more about our second adventure to Stanley Arts at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/06/27/mama-g-family-pride-event-number-two/. This year’s event however had a much more fayre style feel to it!
In From the moment I stepped into the amazing Stanley arts hall, I knew that this event was going to be different. It was clear that the venue itself had gone through a lot of remodelling since the previous year as I was greeted by a sparkly new cafe area complete with a fully stocked bar! While this was an event targeted primarily at kids, it is also important that the parents do not become completely uninterested so I thought it was a fantastic idea to have a bar closer to the event so that parents can enjoy a few affordable drinks while the children are entertained. It seems like the idea of family-friendly fun was embedded throughout the show as there were a collection of storytellers/dancers but also the sprinkling of discrete mature comedy! The hall itself was framed by a series of market stalls that sold everything from mugs, and books and pins to information on the charity Rainbow migration and health checks! Instead of bulky tables clogging up the dance floor area this version of the event had everyone sat towards the front of the stage which meant that everyone had more space to have fun! (with chairs available if needed of course) At one point the event even spilled outside into the lovely courtyard where the children were treated to a football skills workshop by the LGBT+-friendly football group the left footers!
Despite the more market vibe, however, it was clear that Mama G had spent ages carefully selecting an array of talent to keep everyone entertained throughout the day. One of my favourite acts of the entire event was a representative from Ballet in the Park who managed to get every single person up on their feet dancing to the iconic Padam by Kylie Minogue. I have to be honest, I have fairly limited experience in the art form of ballet but even I know that this can be an extremely precise and intense dance genre and so seeing someone break down these complex steps into fun, accessible and easy-to-understand steps was so impressive!
Going into this third annual pride event I was expecting to see some live singing, dancing and storytelling but I was not expecting to see a drag king playing the recorder! Frankly Heartless graced the stage in a wonderful pirate-inspired outfit which on its own looked amazing but also made sense as Franky had thought about every detail of the performance to make sure there was a coherent running throughout the entire number. Every song in the performance (including professional pirate from the muppet’s Christmas Carol) also fitted into the pirate theme which is something the kids can relate to and understand. Franky decided, bravely might I add, to include a great sense of audience participation and managed to perfectly navigate any issues they encountered. It’s not easy facilitating audience participation at the best of times never mind an audience full of shy, young children or non-English speakers but Franky took this in their stride! Almost two years ago we were invited to review a brand new picture book version of the pantomime Dick Whittington (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2021/12/05/dick-whittington-book-review/) which stared Danielle Springer who also performed as a part of this years family pride line-up! Danielle is clearly a very talented vocalist and decided to dedicate her entire set to love which is important now more than ever, especially during pride season. The highlight of this performance would have to be her rendition of Part of your world from the little mermaid (which we recently reviewed the remake of which is available at https://rhysreviews.com/2023/05/29/the-little-mermaid-2023-movie-review/) as Danielle’s voice worked perfectly with the classic Disney optimising but also as this was performed at a pride event it paid homage to the supposed queer elements of the original story!
Not only did this event focus on the idea of entertainment and fun for the whole family, but it also had focused on education and learning! There was a hilarious quiz hosted by BGT semi-finalist Dame Dotty and the brilliant Carly Smallman (who I was lucky enough to interview for my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/DY8SmJ_yQns) that contained a pride flag colouring round that shone a light on the spectrum of queer identities and the flags that represent each group. I have to be honest I did not know a lot of flags however it was a great opportunity to learn so that we can all be better allies in the future! The entire event was headlined by the queen of storytelling herself Mama G who delivered a wonderful original performance. The most impressive thing about this performance was the ease in which Mama G was able to juggle storytelling, puppetry, a light-up rainbow and musical cues! The story began as a tale of the rainbow losing its colours and a fabulous bird named Gilbert (after the designer of the original pride flag) educated everyone on the meaning of each colour used. Interestingly Gilbert had the voice of the wonderful drag icon Mrs Kasha Davies who appeared on Ru Paul’s drag race season seven and most recently all stars eight. This fabulous story of the meaning of and colour restoration of the pride flag led flawlessly into the highly anticipated pride March around the outside of the venue! The ‘parade’ is always a highlight of these events as I think it is so powerful to see adults and children marching around being proud of who they are and the dance sessions in the courtyard are always overflowing with happiness and joy!
Overall, Mama G appears to have family pride events down to a fine art with each event being slightly different to encourage people to come back every year. The carefully constructed line-up had something for everyone to enjoy including storytelling, dancing to quizzes and magic! The event supported the incredible rainbow migration as well as highlighted local queer-friendly businesses which can only have a positive effect on those involved. I would rate this event 5 out of 5 stars!
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