To celebrate LGBTQIA+ history month, Pitlochry Festival Theatre will be premièring online Queer, There and Everywhere, a new Sound Stage audio production on Thursday 23 February at 2pm & 7pm. Tickets for the new production are free.
Queer. Joy. Queer Joy. A statement or a protest? What does it mean to be Queer in 2023? How do we find joy with so many barriers socially, politically, internally?
Join 15 emerging queer artists aged 16 to 25 from across the UK, Europe, and Canada as they reflect on their personal experiences as LGBTQIA+ young people and investigate the queer history of their home countries.
This hour-long performance features monologues, poetry and songs knitted together to create one queer celebration for LGBTQIA+ history month. Each artist reflected on their own journeys of self-discovery and strength as well as investigating the ‘queeroes’ of the past.
As a virtual collective they explored the power of ‘queer joy’ and how they each felt strength in celebrating the joy of self-expression and self-acceptance felt by LGBTQIA+ people in the past and the present.
The performance includes personal moments of coming out, experimenting with gender expression, stories about lesbian pirates, queer facts about Robin Hood, spotlights on key moments of queer victories in the western world and finding community.
Queer, There and Everywhere has been created by Emma Barr with support from Prime Theatre and Pitlochry Festival Theatre. The production’s composer and sound designer is Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Associate Director Ben Occhipinti.
Creator Emma Barr said: “Queer, There and Everywhere has been a heart-warming project to work on. It’s a privilege to witness personal stories turned into art and to be able to give young queer artists a professional stage for their work. I’m grateful to Pitlochry for the opportunity and Prime Theatre for their support!”
LGBT+ History Month is for everyone; whether you work in education, a museum, library or art gallery, a business, a service, or you are a member of a network/social group or an individual.
It is celebrated every February across the UK, and was founded in 2004 by Schools OUT co-chairs, Paul Patrick & Professor Emeritus Sue Sanders. It was first celebrated in February 2005.
Each year Schools OUT sets a different theme for LGBT+ History Month and provides free resources for education settings, businesses, services and organisations to help them celebrate and usualise LGBT+ lives in their full diversity.
This project is funded by Creative Scotland’s Four Nations Fund.
Queer, There and Everywhere will première on Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage on Thursday 23 February at 2pm & 7pm. Tickets are free and can be booked at www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com or by calling call 01796 484626.
