New Queers on the Road

Watch the trailer

In the autumn of 2018 an unprecedented road trip of queer-led performances took place. The tour aimed to bring inspirational LGBTQ+ performance to new audiences and New Queers on The Road – The Film, commissioned by The Space, charts those performances.

From new contexts and unchartered territories, to discovering kindred spirits while bonding with local communities, New Queers On The Road from The Marlborough Theatre is directed by Rosie Powell and features interviews with artists and performers Stacy Makishi, Marikiscrycrycry, Rachael Young, Hester Chillingworth, Ophelia Bitz, Bellez, Reid Dudley-Peirson, Oozing Gloop, Sea Sharp and Subira Wahogo – as well as the touring team and audiences at each location.

New Audiences

This tour’s aim is to bring inspirational LGBTQ+ performance to new audiences and through watching the film, viewers are able to experience New Queers on the Block for themselves, with extracts from each show to give a flavour of the live experience.

Rachael Young’s show, Nightclubbing, centres around experiences that Black women face whilst at the same time celebrating the inimitable Grace Jones. Artist Hester Chillingworth appears as their performance persona SHORTY, a deconstructed drag-child, who frays and plays at the edges, looking through the eyes of a non-binary child. Marikiscrycrycry’s bold new work He’s Dead is also featured, a powerful dance piece which explores Black melancholy, the late Tupac Shakur and stigmas surrounding depression. The final of the touring artists is Stacy Makishi, who manages to reference David Lynch, Oasis and baby vegetables all on one delicious ‘bonsai bite’.

Women appear on stage lined up together, New Queers on the Road, The Marlborough Theatre
New Queers on the Road, The Marlborough Theatre

The locations featured in the film are Brighton, Bradford, Blackpool, Hastings and Folkestone. In addition the Marlborough commissioned local artists from each destination to develop new work – specifically artists who’d never made a show before. They are interviewed in the film about their experience and how New Queers on the Block inspired and enabled them to get on stage sharing different perspectives.

Overall the film allows viewers to experience work from the internationally renowned artists involved, glimpse behind the scenes at what it takes to bring a show of this kind on tour, to view the relationships formed with local audiences and the importance of ensuring that queer visibility goes way beyond the norm.

The film will premiere online on Wednesday 13 March.

New Queers on the Road – The film forms part of the Marlborough’s signature Touring and Artist Development Scheme: New Queers On The Block.

About this artist

Marlborough Theatre has been run by Community Interest Company Marlborough Productions since 2010. Their programme comprises a huge variety of Live Art, Theatre, Performance Art, spoken word, comedy and live literature from home grown emerging talents to nationally acclaimed artists & companies, specialising in forefronting LGBTQ+ narratives. The NQOTB scheme is developed and presented in partnership with Theatre in the Mill (Bradford), Live Art Bistro (Leeds), Home Live Art, Coastal Currents (Hastings), Quarterhouse Folkestone, ]performance s p a c e [, AB&B, Left Coast and QUAD (Blackpool). Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and with support from Jerwood Charitable Foundation.