The Actors Centre unveils season of queer theatre

A season of queer theatre is to run at The Actors Centre in London as part of its John Thaw Initiative to help artists develop new work.

Running from April to June in its theatre, the season will feature 16 shows at different stages of development including new writing from an array of queer theatre-makers.

They include Robin Simões Da Silva, who was in Spring Awakening at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre, and Charlotte Josephine, who wrote Bitch Boxer and played Mercutio in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest touring production of Romeo and Juliet.

Now in its fifth season, the John Thaw Initiative will be dedicated this time to supporting LGBTQIA+ artists and has been curated by LGBTQIA+ company Otherland, founded by Ross O’Donnellan and recent Monologue Slam UK winner, Georgia Frost.

Ross and Georgia said: “At Otherland, we have sought to create a platform for the queer community right in the centre of London. This season is a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community, with a focus on helping queer voices develop and share their work, whatever the nature of the material.”

The Actors Centre’s Will Mytum, co-producer of the Initiative, said: “The Actors Centre are delighted to be partnering with Otherland to deliver the next chapter of the John Thaw Initiative. By celebrating and empowering LGBTQIA+ voices, we hope to encourage a diverse and vibrant audience to experience a myriad of stories, and further illuminate the benefit of inclusivity and representation in the arts.”

The John Thaw Initiative is a programme that offers artists a platform to develop their work and take creative risks without any financial pressure. It is named after the centre’s John Thaw Studio which is dedicated to the late actor John Thaw whose wife Sheila Hancock was one of the founders of The Actors Centre.

Arab(itch) by Sara Dawood from 10 to 12 April is described as a mad marriage of drag, spoken word and cabaret, exploring the ways in which queer and Arab cultural identities collide. It welcomes you to bear witness to the pleasures and the pitfalls of what it means to be young, Arab and queer in the world today. It is directed by Serafina Cusack.

Clumsy Bodies presents devised show Dead Reckoning from 17 to 19 April. Based on interviews and archives from the trans and non-binary community, it is a journey with no map to follow, where they are making the rules up as they go along. It asks, “How, as trans and non-binary people, do we write ourselves full of joy? How do we write ourselves living?” It features Jess Rahman-González, with choreography by Marcus Bell.

Lost Kids Collective presents Swallowing Your Idols, written and performed by sound and vocal loop artist Xana, on 26 April. Having compartmentalised and built a world seemingly free from trauma, three iterations of the same human use their imagination to cope with being thrown into adulthood and facing their own accountability. Swallowing Your Idols is a “never-ending” episode told through music, hacked toys and poetry, a visceral exploration into the experience of aggressor, protector, victim, and the spaces of solace we create in order to choose to live each day.

Sticks and Mangos by Shaquille John, running from 1 to 3 May, is an in-depth look at a father-son relationship, immigration and the generation gap between attitudes of masculinity and homosexuality. Set in London 2018, the play centres around Trinidad and Tobago’s dissolution of Section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act 1986 last summer. A descendant of a law established since the colonisation of the islands in 1889, it has been argued that the Sexual Offences Act and prior laws birthed the strong and violent attitudes against the LGBTQI+ community in the islands of the Caribbean. It is directed by Mumba Dodwell.

Running from 6 to 8 May, Schlachtfest by Pedro Leandro features the writer playing Sam, a student who is meeting a teacher, called Nick, played by Edward Stone, after they find each other online. It is directed by Evan Lordan.

Talk Back Theatre presents A Girl, Standing by Kate Reid from 9 to 11 May. It features Madeleine Schofield as Rosie who is caught up in a world of social norms and can’t find a way to navigate her love, longing and lust when she is hit with the biggest decision of her life. The show is a snapshot into the life of one woman as she tries to navigate both the irritating trivialities of life and the wider complexities of the female experience. Also starring Kate Reid, Charlie Suff and Marco Young, it aims to throw light on how society views sexuality, gender and relationships through the eyes of one girl. It is directed and produced by Liam Blain.

Blowhole, written and performed by Benjamin Salmon, follows a perpetually single gay man who yearns for a life of sex, drugs and glamour but is a 23-year-old virgin who lives in London’s zone five. After an intense burst of unrequited love towards his gay best friend, he finds himself at a crossroads: whether he should pursue a lifestyle full of bullshit self-destruction, or instead exorcise the demons surrounding his grief, his sexuality and the very world he lives in. Running on 21 and 22 May, it is directed by Tom Wright who wrote My Dad’s Gap Year at Park Theatre earlier this year and Undetectable currently at King’s Head Theatre.

It’s the End of the World, written and performed by Tamsin Omond, is not just a play about the end of the world but also a slapstick performance involving a bike-powered generator, a gender queer and an LED stage light. With one performance on 28 May, this intimate solo show is about hitting the floor, the wall, the limits of your own imagination, recognising where you are and instead of finding the strength to “go on”, chilling out and letting yourself heal.

Deus Ex Machina Productions presents Works of Art on 30 and 31 May, an intimate new folk musical about grief, self-acceptance, and brotherly love. It features music and lyrics by Robin Simões Da Silva and a book by Pete Machale. It follows the story of two brothers after the sudden death of their mother: Reid is an aspiring artist and a young transgender man beginning to find his way in the world; Jackson is the smart and focused older brother, set on a career in medicine and beginning to re-navigate his relationship with his younger brother. The sudden death of their mother causes the brothers to lose their home, their family and their most important lifeline.

But But But, created by Pink Freud Theatre in collaboration with Izzy Joan, runs from 6 to 8 June. It is an exploration of the simultaneous dismissal and fetishisation of queer female sexuality. It is a show about coming out – not the big coming out, but the little ones, the daily ones. Mainly, it is about the things men say to queer women when they come out, the way that queer female sexuality is dismissed, the way that queer female sexuality is fetishised, the way that female sexuality is denied. It is a show about the rejection of an insistent male gaze that is certain it knows our sexuality better than we do. Riz Davis, Amelia Brown and Izzy Joan will explore their personal experiences in an alternative queer cabaret that will combine theatre, spoken word and music in “obscene” celebration.

Moves, created and performed by Charlotte Josephine, is a dance show about an “other’s” relationship with dance, with movement direction by Jennifer Jackson. Josephine says: “My relationship with dance has always been complicated, my bond with my body has been messy. I’ve been thinking, a lot, and talking, a lot, about where I sit in that LGBTQ alphabet soup and to be honest, I’m more confused than ever. All I know is that I really need to move. So some beautiful queer friends have lent me their dance stories. I’m going to move their moves in the attempt to better understand some of my own, and maybe inspire you to get up and have a boogie.” It runs on 10 and 11 June.

Silent Meat by David Levesley is an exploration of what it feels like to love, lose and feel alone in the 21st century, running from 12 to 14 June. A gay couple meets in what feels like a destined encounter, only for their faith in destiny to be put to the test. An American PR executive searches for the answers to the death of a girl she's never met. An elderly woman tries to reconnect with her childhood friend before euthanising herself with Mexican pet barbiturates. And, in Tel Aviv, a peppy vlogger moves in with her Israeli holiday fling, only for him to be called up to fight in Gaza.

The Luncheon, written and performed by Kace Monney and Luis Amália, on 15 June, is a surreal two-hander that explores space, time and matter over the course of one lunch. The duo takes you on a visually dense, experimental non-linear ride and make no attempts to make the abstract understandable. It promises sharp, highly choreographed fragmented “blink and you’ll miss it” shards of comedy, drama, joy, sorrow, racism, sexism, surrealism, classism and more, all through the lens of the acting industry and society at large.

Charlie George performs Dancing on the Ceiling from 18 to 20 June, described as a hilarious performance exploring “what it means to be both in a divided world”, celebrating alien, the other, the weirdo and the power of perception in all of us. A former circus freak turned stressed yogi, George came to comedy to find her voice – but it “turns out her voice is a lot like an 18th-century white man’s trapped inside the body of a queer brown lady”. It is directed by Ian Tidbury.

No Place Like Home by Alex Roberts on 25 and 26 June is a devised piece of theatre about acts of violence in LGBTQ+ nightlife venues. Inspired by real acts of violence, it mixes spoken word and a live score to ask the question: has there ever been a place all queer people can truly call home? Performed by Roberts, it is directed by Cameron Carver and was originally developed with Camden People’s Theatre.

Ending the season from 27 to 29 June, Mad Womxn in the Attic is written and performed by Camilla Harding. Camilla is stuck. She has been for longer than she can remember. This attic room which once held Miss Havisham and Jane Eyre's clandestine rival now keeps her, and her biggest fears, hostage. Join them on a mental journey through childhood, illness and a self-exploration of what it means to inhabit a body that doesn't feel like your own. Expect witches, spells, dancing, drag, tears, rage and a messy madness of a show. It is designed by Quinn Knight.

All tickets are £7 standard, £5 concession. To buy tickets and find out more about each production, visit https://www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-queer-season