heya, Jen Ives here. If you don't know - I'm straight now. I'm also pregnant and have 2 adopted kids and a husband in the army. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but a lot can happen in a short amount of time sometimes.
I just got back from Brighton, which used to be a nice town with a nice diversity of different people in it - including STRAIGHT people, but now it is absolutely overrun with TGBL people / Queeros (Which is absolutely fine, I'm an ally after all) but still it'd be nice if there were a few more safe spaces for pregnant straight mums and their families (like me). Despite that, I did manage to have a nice time - and The Actors Theatre looked after me for those 3 shows, and even though the audiences were mostly gays and lesbians they did get some of my observational, Live At The Apollo ready, straight material - because I am a great comedienne who can literally handle ANY audience.
Would I go back to Brighton? Yeah, I would - but I'd make sure to do a bit more research next time so I don't end up booking 3 days in a TBLG venue where MY audience (straights) are gonna be too scared to go.
Here's a clip from one of the shows. I tried my best to stay calm and not get upset about all the queeros who were there, but at the end of the day - an audience is an audience, and I'm an ally and I respect all people equally.
Yes, the show received a 5 star review - because it's a stunning hour of Live At The Apollo ready observational stand up. Even though the reviewer missed the point entirely and thought it was 'satire' which it isn't (i looked it up, and apparently 'satire' means 'pretending' and I'm not pretending anything) - 5 stars is 5 stars at the end of the day isn't it, and I'll take it. You can read that misguided review here: https://www.thereviewshub.com/brighton-fringe-jen-ives-im-straight-now-the-actors/
If you live in London and would like to come and see the show for yourself, you can catch it at the The Exhibit in Balham on June 16th. Tickets here: https://www.wandsworthfringe.com/whats-on-2024/doll (please note: the show is labelled as 'Doll' as I booked it in a long time ago, before I was straight, but the show is very much 'I'm Straight Now' so yeah, expect that).
For more Straight Updates (Straightdates / Upstraights??) you can follow me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/imjenives/
I will try and do another blog when my kids give me 5 flipping minutes for once.
Yuk, youre a MAN, no debate, its biological reality, you will never ever be a woman or anything like a woman. Glad and True.