Brish actor Terence Stamp revels gay in role | Rters

Contents:

• BRISH ACTOR TERENCE STAMP REVELS GAY IN ROLE
• GAY AND LBIAN HUMANIST

BRISH ACTOR TERENCE STAMP REVELS GAY IN ROLE

LONDON (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Renown for datg some of the world’s most betiful women, Brish 1960s film in Terence Stamp said he was as surprised as anyone to bee a gay in after playg a transsexual woman the film “The Adventur of Priscilla, Queen of the Dert” the Atralian LGBT+ movie, which this year celebrat s 25th anniversary, Stamp played Bernatte, wng plds for the sensivy he brought to the Osr-nomated actor, who held the tle of the world’s bt-lookg man the 1960s, said that to be approached by “gay guys on the street... Directed by Sydney-born Stephan Elltt, “Priscilla” trac the adventur of two drag queens and a transsexual woman as they cross the Atralian outback performg for enthiastic crowds while also facg homophobic 1994 film was a global smash, garnerg Goln Globe and BAFTA bt actor nomatns for Stamp and wng an Osr for bt stume said he was ially wary of signg up for the film, not bee of s ntent, but due to a bisg enunter wh Atralian paparazzi when he prevly vised the untry wh his then-girliend, mol Jean once filmg had started, he was hooked.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMelville’s novel and Brten’s opera are poignant remrs of the bety and relevance of gay BelcherMr. Belcher is an edor the Hong Kong office of Kageyama — Teatro ll’Opera di RomaIs “Billy Budd” the ultimate morn gay antihero who almost didn’t speak his name? This year marks the centennial of the random disvery of Herman Melville’s novella by a scholar who was rearchg a bgraphy of the thor, and for a century “Billy Budd” has been analyzed and theorized as the ultimate battle of nocence, envy, voyrism and latent homosexualy.

In an era when the “Will & Grace” reboot nstut a re-analysis of gay nscns, the -the-shadows subtleti of Melville’s tale are thrillg to Benjam Brten’s opera of “Billy Budd, ” wrten more than 25 years after the novel was unearthed, returns to the Royal Opera London this month a new productn that has mmerized dienc Madrid and Rome over the last few years. Although “Billy Budd” n be seen as another dreary tale of good-vers-evil masked as a tragic gay love story, s place gay lerary history is unniable. But is the opera “Billy Budd” and the 1962 film that sealed s place gay history at a time when there was ltle such popular culture to hold onto.

GAY AND LBIAN HUMANIST

And they mt ntue to face ath and war after their beloved Billy has been taken om “Billy Budd” the opera has long been seen as a te watershed moment gay history. Forster, no stranger to gay lerature and the closet (read “Mrice, ” tentnally published after his ath, for stable boys climbg through young men’s bedroom wdows) the recent roster of opera stars who have played Billy is a beefke roll ll: Nathan Gunn, Rod Gily, Teddy Tahu Rhos and Jacqu Imbrailo, the dreamy South Ain barone the new Royal Opera productn, which starts Tuday and ns to May is also somethg rehg about a chos of men sgg of their love for the doomed Billy, for whom they have ped durg months at sea, as seen om the prent-day perspective of Grdr hookups on shore leave. “Billy Budd” taps to male love that most men — gay, straight and all the blurred l between — often would rather avoid: how to exprs love over objectifitn, or affectn that is eper than a football slap on the shoulr or an “I love you, man!

” moment after a uple of Kageyama — Teatro ll’Opera di RomaMuch has been wrten about the gay subtexts of Billy and his lty shipmat, but as this productn of “Billy Budd” prov, Melville’s hidn story hnts to this day as the tle character go om the promise and power of youth to an unfairly doomed soul. It’s not jt another one of the gay tragedi that fed so much of lerature, theater and film the 20th century. “Billy Budd” is grief acknowledged and eply felt for a gay character — a rary the century after was wrten.