What’s on our shelves: From Fair Verona to the Pixar Experience with Pride

Exhibition: Tenderness and Rage at the Wellcome Collection

Portsmouth Pride was sadly cancelled this year, with gales and rain making safely holding the event impossible. A huge shame for the Pride planners, performers, protesters, partiers and passers-by, but we’ll be back with bells on next June!

On 13 June I attended the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network hangout, which started with a tour of the Tenderness and Rage exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London. The exhibition explores personal stories of HIV and AIDS through protest and care, from 1980s London to today’s global experiences. 

We had the honour of a guided tour from the exhibition curator Adam Rose who provided great insight into the exhibition materials and the lives of the people who contributed them. The exhibition opened last month and will be available until May 2027, with a special ‘Wellcome Collection Lates’ event to be announced later in the year. It’s a touching and important exhibition; if you can, visit, make a placard, and listen to the visual stories it holds. 

PS: The name of the exhibition came from an introduction to A Last Supper of Queer Apostles: Selected Essays (2024), an English-translated collection of works by queer Chilean writer Pedro Lemebel. I happened to read the book last month and highly recommend it for Lemebel’s accounts of queer life, resistance and the AIDS crisis that don’t come from New York City, San Francisco, or London.

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth

Theatre: Romeo and Juliet by Oddsocks Productions 

To my shame, before this year I didn’t know that just down the road from me in Lea, Derbyshire, a husband and wife team and their daughter have been producing live, often outdoor, theatre for decades and touring it round the country to great acclaim. We were lucky enough to be involved in bringing their latest production, Romeo and Juliet, to Crich this weekend with a hugely attended performance of this Shakespeare favourite. Yes, ultimately tragic, but such comedy along the way… and particularly from this talented cast of just four actors (plus one unwitting audience member as the Apothecary to supply the poison!). It really did feel the way I think Shakespeare intended his theatre to be – a lively, engaged, inclusive audience, wit and laughter, adlib and contemporary reference, and a bang up to date thematic relevance.

Bravo to Oddsocks theatre and whether you’re near Workington or Winchester, Hereford or St Helier, check out their schedule this summer as they are well worth packing a picnic for!

Andrew Auld, Commercial Director – Open Fifth

Book: Leeward by Katie Daysh

Explosively launching us into this historical fiction gay romance with the conflagration of the French warship L’Orient in the Battle of the Nile and then transporting us across the Atlantic to 17th century Caribbean waters, this intensely detailed account of the slow-burn nascent love story between Captain Hiram Nightingale and Lieutenant Arthur Courtney has all the swashbuckling adventure and stormy seas you might desire whilst effortlessly conveying the gore of naval warfare, the politics of colonisation and the slave trade, the rhythm of tall ship seafaring and the danger of hidden MM love at that time.

It won the Times’ Historical Novel of the Year in 2023 and I have reserved books 2 and 3 in the series at my local library as I can’t wait for more from Nightingale and Courtney!

Andrew Auld, Commercial Director – Open Fifth

Exhibition: Mundo Pixar Experience London in Wembley Park

My daughter really wanted to visit the “Pixar place” whilst we were in London. As we were attending a concert at Wembley Stadium and this venue is just beside it, it would have been rude to not let her go. We had bought our tickets in advance and arrived at the venue. As soon as you walk inside, you are immersed into the Pixar world. The experience begins with a short welcome film and then you move between different rooms as you come face to face with the Pixar film characters. There are many photo opportunities and the staff are also very happy to take photos of your party.

If you like Pixar films then this is a great exhibition. You meet the main characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Cars as well as the other main Pixar movies. The attention to detail in the set is phenomenal – e.g. tea cups and books on shelves, just exactly to mirror the scenes. It takes about 60 minutes to walk around. Can imagine that there may be queues for photos at busier times but we were lucky to be there when it was nice and quiet.

Fiona Borthwick, Head of Sales and Account Management – Open Fifth

And the category is: Helen’s Updates

It’s too hot and I’ve been on holiday and am generally a bit scatty so I can’t for the life of me remember half of the things I’ve been reading, watching or listening to.

I know I’ve read loads, I was on holiday for two weeks at the end of May / start of June and in the first week all I did was read. 

However, I have needed a LOT of gentle comfort so I reread two old favourites – The Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn – both brilliant, comforting and a joy to read. I read LOADS of my tripe romances on holiday and since.

I’ve relistened to Cabin Pressure by Jon Finnemore and Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.

In terms of new things:

I saw Teddy Swims at Belsonic in Belfast.

I finally read Katabasis by RF Kuang.

I enjoyed them but I don’t want to review them as I don’t feel I’m in the head space to be fair enough to them. 

A colleague said I ramble in these things the other day…rude. Accurate but rude

Helen Symington, Sales Executive – Open Fifth

Theatre: Come Alive by Simon Hammerstein (Creative Director)

I had a mini break in London for my daughter’s 18th birthday where I really enjoyed being in the city as a tourist rather than rushing between meetings.

We had an itinerary which included the main sights, Pixar experience and of course the main event – Harry Styles concert. However when we walked out of the tube station at the hotel, we were greeted with a sign that advertised Come Alive: The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular currently performing at the Empress Museum which was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel.

I had a quick look online and discovered that we could get some last minute tickets sitting one row apart. So glad we did – it was amazing! The venue is set up like a circus venue and there are pre-show acts and things to look around. Inside the theatre setting is a big top with all seats having a fantastic view of the main area. It is not a big venue so everything can be seen very clearly. The cast interacted with the audience, joining them at seats and encouraging participation. The circus acts themselves were tremendous and every song from the film was included as they told the story. My only criticism – not long enough!

Fiona Borthwick. Head of Sales and Account Management – Open Fifth

TV Series: I Kissed a Girl. season 2, BBC Three / iPlayer

The Minogues have been busy… Kylie has announced her 2027 world tour, and Dannii is back on our screens with a new season of I Kissed a Girl, the BBC dating show for gay, lesbian, bi- and pan-sexual women. The first four episodes dropped on Monday, and now that I’ve binged them, waiting a week for more feels like an eternity! 

Sadly this looks to be the end of the show for now, with the BBC citing budget reasons for their cancellation. So make the most of the Masseria’s drama, and remember that rewatches of I Kissed a Boy (which I WOOSHed in 2025) and The Ultimatum: Queer Love will always be there for you xo

Another recommendation is for the TV series Proud (2026), created and directed by Karol Klementewicz and available on HBO Max / Now TV. The English-dubbed Polish drama follows a young, peroxided gay model forced to change his reckless, carefree living after tragedy strikes and he finds himself with huge new responsibilities. 

And I’ve not read nearly enough to review it yet, but I’ve started reading Cher: The Memoir, part one. If I can judge a book by its sprayed edges, it’s going to be fabulous. 

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth