FULL LINE UP
ANNOUNCED FOR COLLABORATIVE LGBTQ+ THEATRE FESTIVAL LAUNCHED BY HOPE MILL
THEATRE & SUPERBIA AND SUPPORTED BY ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
RUNNING THIS
MONTH, TURN ON FEST IS A SHOWCASE OF LGBTQ+ ARTS AND FEATURES FOUR NEW
COMMISSIONS
The full line up
has been announced for TURN ON FEST, a new LGBTQ+ theatre festival running for
three weeks this month at Hope Mill Theatre – a collaboration between the venue
and Manchester Pride’s cultural programming arm Superbia, and theatre company
Mother’s Ruin.
This month will see a full programme of theatre,
spoken word, music, vogue, scratch nights and much more at the Ancoats venue,
which recently began operating as a charitable organisation.
TURN ON FEST will be a showcase
of Manchester-based LGBTQ+ artists, theatre, cabaret, panel discussions,
development workshops and much more. It is the first arts festival to be hosted
by Hope Mill Theatre – already a thriving venue for established LGBTQ+ work.
It includes a variety of programming from
Superbia, Manchester Pride’s year-round cultural programme designed to curate,
fund, support and promote LGBTQ+ events. The festival is supported by Arts
Council England.
The festival includes four new
commissions, which are also announced today.
These are as follows:
Monday 20th January, 5:00pm.
Twisted Bollywood. Pay
What You Feel. With LGBT marriage legalised would it be possible to
arrange a queer marriage? What would the conversation be, between two mothers
who are tasked to arrange their children’s marriage? Twisted Bollywood will
workshop and devise the possibilities and share with the audience their
findings.
Monday 20th January, 7:30pm As British
as a Watermelon. Tickets £8/£6 (conc). In As British as
a Watermelon, Mandla gives a glimpse into the life of a previously illegal
human, picks apart trauma and the long-lasting effects of shame. They become
obsessed with watermelons and self-preservation in this spoken word exploration
of displacement.
Tues 21 January, 7.30pm: Mind Games. Tickets
£8/£6 (conc). Based on true events, Mind Games is an exploration of what goes on behind closed doors through
music and dance. Performed and Written by Jason Andrew Guest.
Thursday 23 January, 7.30pm:
Nobody's Watching. Tickets £8/£6 (conc).
Five dancers from Manchester’s LGBT
community return to dance to tell stories on their own terms. Five new
solo pieces are stitched together with music and audio commentary focusing on
the empowerment of dance and the complex relationship of the LGBT community to
the formalities and traditions of the dance world. These artists are
reclaiming an art form for themselves with a new approach that honours their
own bodies and their own inspirations.
Also featuring in the festival, and in celebration of a decade of
producing regional Queer performance, Mother’s Ruin will present Mother’s Ruin: Speaks and Mother’s
Ruin: Shows – on Saturday 18 and
Saturday 25 January at 7.30pm. Two consecutive Saturday nights of glorious
Queer cabaret and performance by LGBTQ+ artists from Manchester and beyond.
Another highlight will be Manchester-based Qweerdog Theatre,
presenting Absolute Certainty? playing
from Tuesday 28 January to Saturday 1 February. A favourite from the Greater
Manchester Fringe, it is being revived for TURN ON FEST.
Joseph Houston, Artistic Director
of Hope Mill Theatre, said: “We are proud to be hosting our first ever arts
festival at Hope Mill Theatre opening our doors to a wider demographic of
LGBTQ+ artists in Manchester.
“We are also thrilled to be
supporting four Manchester-based artists with a funded commission of a new
piece of theatre. After a call out - which received an incredible response - we
worked with Superbia to choose a group of four artists to work on an idea and
see it through to a short staged piece of work. From dance, to spoken word to
the idea for a new play, we can’t wait to share these exciting pieces which
hopefully one day will be seen through to a fully realised production.”
“We hope that the festival will
eventually become an annual event for our great city.”
Greg Thorpe, Project Manager for
Superbia at Manchester Pride, said: "Superbia at Manchester Pride works
with LGBTQ artists all year round and we are so excited to support this new
platform to share their work at one of our favourite venues in the city.
We will be co-curating the TURN ON FEST for 2020 and we know it will be a
thrilling and necessary addition to our queer arts calendar."
Turn up, turn heads, see a turn,
take a turn!
Follow
@TurnOnFestMCR
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