Yorkshire Theatre Newsletter: What's On This Week (Sep 17-23)
Oh Look, They've Come For Chubby Brown. Plus The Yorkshire Premiere Of A New Dance Work By Matthew Bourne.
I would rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than watch a gig by blue comedian Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown. If you want an old-fashioned joke involving a nun, a flying helmet and diarrhea, he’s your man. But, I’ll be honest, it’s not my cup of tea.
That’s not the point.
His show at Sheffield City Hall, a venue he’s been playing for more than 30 years, has been axed by the moral gatekeepers of our new priestly class. It’s particularly disheartening that Sheffield’s ‘City Of Sanctury’ status is being put forward as the excuse. Sheffield is a tolerant, welcoming city and if they want to provoke ordinary residents into resenting asylum-seekers it’s difficult to imagine a more direct route than by using them to ban a popular and revered performer who most middle-class people can’t stand.
Councillor Terry Fox, leader of Sheffield City Council, then burnished his ‘utter dimbo’ credentials by citing council funding as another reason. He told Yor…