Pri review – when gay activists stck a al wh mers | Pri | The Guardian

Contents:

• PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS
• MATTHEW WARCH: WHY I MA A ROM ABOUT GAY ACTIVISTS AND STRIKG MERS

PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS

In September 2010, the wrer Stephen Berford was about to leave a meetg wh film producer David Livgstone when he was asked: "Is there any story you are burng to wre?" "Well, there is one," he replied, hatg at the door, "but no one is ever gog to make ." He acknowledg now that this is a le you n only e once a pch and explas that he went on to tell the story of mers the Dulais valley South Wal durg the 1984-5 strike – the longt Brish history – and a gay and lbian group om London that donated more money (£11,000 by December 1984) to their e than any other fundraiser the UK, along wh a mib emblazoned wh the logo LGSM: Lbians and Gays Support the Mers.In a when a gree of homophobia was the norm, LGSM drove a uple of mib om Hackney Communy Transport and a clapped-out VW mper van to a bleak mg town South Wal to prent their donatns, uncerta what sort of wele to expect. "The story had bee a legend the gay muny. Three years later and the film, shot Banwen, Wal, and London, and directed by Tony-wng Matthew Warch (rponsible for Matilda the Mil, and soon to be artistic director of the Old Vic), is fished.You might assume a rom about strikg mers and 80s gays was unlikely to be big box-office, but the same was probably said of Billy Ellt.

It is really illogil to say, 'I'm gay and I'm to fendg the gay muny but I don't re about anythg else…'."In Pri, he is betifully played by Ben Schzer wh spontaney, sweetns and swagger – a heartbreaker. Berford says he was the harst character to repture, not least bee: "In Wal, they still talk about Mark Ashton as if he were Joan of Arc."In the homema LGSM documentary, we also glimpse a tall, handsome fellow wearg groovy leather troers, shakg a donatns bucket outsi Gay's the Word bookshop London's Marchmont Street – this is Jonathan Blake.

She explas how the gay muny ted the mg muny: "Their stggle is siar to our own." This is Siân Jam, a young mer's wife, now MP for Swansea East. Cliff, an olr mer ( the film, a killgly funny and affectg Bill Nighy) appears the documentary sayg: "The lbians and gays have been super duper."LGSM members and mers dancg at the welfare hall the Dulais Valley, Wal. "We need a character who, like the dience, arriv bewilred at a Gay Pri march.

MATTHEW WARCH: WHY I MA A ROM ABOUT GAY ACTIVISTS AND STRIKG MERS

Now his ey she as he remembers the Welsh mers who me to London to march wh Gay Pri June 1985.

One hope is that the film might revive polil tert bee the activism of the left has been siled, the tra unns are weak, gay rights issu aren't there."Like many of those I terview, they say the film ma them weep and they see , part, as a memorial to Mark Ashton.

Our first sightg of him is wh fox fur and whistle outsi Gay's the Word book shop. "Wh the South Wal mers at the 1985 Labour party nference, we put gay rights on the agenda.