An evening of queer works in progress from Manchester’s emerging theatre-makers
Join directors Clodagh Chapman, Ellie Harrington and Maisie Holland at the John Thaw Studio Theatre on July 22nd for an evening of queer theatre in development. Featuring extracts from three exciting works in progress, alongside a selection of short performances from local artists, this triple bill offers audiences a chance to encounter new work at a vital stage of its journey.
The programme includes:
Doing What A Lemon Pip Does by Lucy Whelan | Directed by Maisie Holland
“Then someone reported my tomatoes. So I went to war.”
Jenny is a classic 2020s twenty-something, with no clear direction or purpose. She loves her girlfriend, Jo, and tolerates her mother, Dot, but she’s not too sure about her job, her passions, or much else. At least she wasn’t before someone reported her to her building conglomerate for illegally growing tomatoes on the roof of her rental property. What follows is a mad mission to turn the rooftops of Manchester into a wild space. But tomatoes were one thing; a city-wide rooftop garden is another altogether, and Jenny soon finds that rewilding even her own building is enough of a challenge to throw her life and relationships into turmoil.
Castrati by Rosa Gatley | Directed by Ellie Harrington
Eleanor is out of her depth. As the newly appointed administrator for the world-renowned but remote choir of St Michelle’s Cathedral, she is a long way from her old life and grateful for it. Responsible for the possessions, schedules and whims of the choir, she is dismayed to discover it is made up of twenty-four pre-pubescent boys. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old chorister Albert is hiding a terrible secret. His voice has started to break, meaning his days in the choir are numbered. Desperate not to be cast out, he resolves to hide his new voice for as long as possible.
As Eleanor and Albert strike up an unlikely alliance, they do all they can to run from the inevitable. But between the echoing walls of St Michelle’s, there are very few places to hide.
Quimera. Adapted and Directed by Clodagh Chapman.
A man disappears into the mountains. His children wish into the void. His wife says goodbye. Quimera, an almost hundred-year-old text, is part of Federico García Lorca’s body of formally-inventive short plays. This free adaptation reimagines the text for the present moment, and asks what it means to read a text from a queer author in the present. Funny, moving and thought-provoking, these three works explore identity, belonging, change, resistance and the spaces we create for ourselves and one another. Together, they offer a snapshot of exciting new queer theatre in development and the artists helping to shape its future.
