Fruit Salad presents The Coming Out Edition
by Abbie Morrice
I talked to Stephen Devlin, queer comedian and organiser of Fruit Salad – a brand new queer performance night in Aberdeen that he dubs “A delicious mix of all things queer, adding a little bit of colour to the granite city” – asking about why this event has come around and what we can expect if we go along.
Why did you want to start Fruit Salad?
I’m from Glasgow originally, and Glasgow has a huge scene and loads of events for the LGBTQI+ community and coming up to Aberdeen, there’s one bar…I don’t feel like we have a focal point here. This goes beyond the university too; I want it to be for anyone in Aberdeen who identifies as any part of the LGBTQI+ community. So, I can see the need to have a space just for us to come together without so much of the expectation that a club places on you. And the community is so much more than that. And I think, if not now – when? I’m very aware of my privilege; I know some of the right people…
...Do you almost feel a responsibility to do it?
Yes! Absolutely!
So, you’ve promised comedy, music…what else can we expect?
Comedy music and also poetry! And name stickers where you can write your pronouns! We’ve also got Taexali coming along – Aberdeen’s first gay men’s rugby team!
What do you have planned for the future of Fruit Salad?
Ideally, I’d love to have alcohol-free events, a queer people-of-colour performance night, and editions like ‘L’ for a lesbian performance night. And then go through all the letters. The important thing for me is that it is an LGBTQI+ community and not just a gay community. I’d also love to do Sober Single Mingle editions, cause I think there’s a need for sober queer events like that. The ultimate aim of this is to build a big community.
What would you say to someone who said you can’t discriminate against straight people as performers?
Re-Analogue, Speakin’ Weird, Breakneck, Comedy Society, Lit Soc…you’ve got every opportunity you want to go and perform. I’m not saying queer people are not allowed at these other events, but your voice becomes one of a many. This is a place just to hear queer voices; to shine a light on queer people. We want to celebrate the queerness; some of that gets diluted when you’re in with heterosexual and/or cisgender performers. At Fruit Salad, you can really be the queerest person you want to be. I have no problem getting on stage at other events, but if you’ve only just come out and/or are younger, the people at Fruit Salad are the people you can say that to because we’re just the queer community and our allies.
Fruit Salad will be presenting quarterly performance nights, and other events are to be confirmed. You can like the Facebook page – Fruit Salad Aberdeen – to keep up with events, announced performers or get in touch if you’d like to perform. The first event takes place on April 5th at Spin at 8pm, and there’s a dress theme – Pride!
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