CABARET & CARING

Dolly Rocket on forging a new career in the pandemic

For the many performers who work across LGBTQ+ venues throughout the UK, the lockdown restrictions have had a particularly pernicious effect, stripping them of their livelihoods and the ability to exercise their creativity in front of their legions of fans.

But some have found other work which allows them to use their particular skill sets in ways they may not otherwise have even imagined.

One such entertainer is Brighton favourite Karen Sharman, aka Dolly Rocket, who found an opportunity dropped into her lap when Olly Carter, founder of LGBTQ+ friendly home help organisation Kingsway Care, asked her to come onboard as a companion for the elderly and isolated people the company works with.

The curvy cabaret diva, who has been on the scene for 40 years, had been despairing of what she might be able to do when the Hanbury supper club, where she is mistress of ceremonies, had to shutter again because of

the pandemic restrictions, despite owner Alex Proud having spent “a fortune” on making the place Covid-safe, including adding mezzanines, a balcony and a filtration system. “Yet I can go into a supermarket and do all sorts of other things where those measures aren’t in place. It’s messing up people’s livelihoods. I don’t see how we’re going to come back from this.

“We don’t know if our clubs are ever going to open up,” says Karen. “I have done this for 40 years – it’s all I do. I am 58 this year and I was considering that I would have my career until I couldn’t do it anymore. I thought, what else can I do? I have a certain skill set, but how do I take that into a job market at my age?”

She has done some online filmed story reading in costume for children, but beyond that there’s been no other avenue for her performance skills.

But then: “Olly contacted me and said he’d set up a care company and would I consider coming on as a companion.”

She undertook online training to get her Care Certificate but admits to having had some resistance to the idea of going back into a learning environment. “I have not been in education since I left school. I had undiagnosed dyslexia and I had a real resistance to it because of stuff from school. I’ve not done anything where I had to be tested. It was weird at my age.”

But having that piece of paper means she is now able to use her talents to help others, and she’s finding it rewarding on many levels.

Dolly Rocket

Photo by Tom Selmon

“I’m a companion for elderly and especially LGBTQ+ people. Basically elderly people who are isolated or lonely, so my job will be as a regular companion to go around and chit-chat to people. It’s perfect. I’m a very worldly person, I’ve been on the LGBTQ+ scene for 40 years and I’m LGBTQ+ myself. There are all kinds of people in Brighton; I thought it would be a good fit for me as another career. Also to give back and keep the wolf from the door.

“Olly is also going to do things like helping people get benefits and stuff. He’s set up a wonderful company, new and fresh looking at care in people’s homes.

“Because I am a singer I do sing to some of my clients. I am able to use the skills I have from my work as a performer – whatever is going on in your life you switch to a persona to a certain degree. If I am depressed I can switch into a persona that allows me to be magnanimous etc and that’s quite important. They are transferable skills.

“It’s very important that all sorts of people do the job [of caring], [understanding the needs of] LGBTQ+ people and to know differences. If I was trans man or woman in my later years I would not want to be in my home with someone who was judgemental of my lifestyle.

“It’s really important to be able to support them. I have wigs etc in my home; it’s obvious that my lifestyle is a bit unconventional to some. Olly is very mindful of who he brings in. People with a broad world view, no judgement. It’s not something that’s been addressed and it is essential. I look forward to meeting people in my community that are older I would not normally get to meet.”

Having done the care training, Karen is also able to take care of children and people with disabilities. “It’s serendipity it fell into my lap. I was thinking ‘what am I going to do with the rest of my life?’. This is not dependent on whether I can still sing or look good. It’s something that can run alongside and open up another avenue of work.”

Of lockdown life she says: “It’s been really difficult. People are going to want to get out as soon as they can. I have been lucky enough to have some government grant but I don’t know how people are surviving. People are all thinking ‘what are we going to do?’. We are all in a storm in different vessels – some hanging on to a plank of wood and some in a yacht.”

D www.kingswaycare.com

Dolly Rocket

Photo by Tom Selmon