Inspired by the true story of queer French author George Sand and the correspondence shared with her lover Marie Dorval, the world premiere of GEORGE explores a moment in the life and work of the 19th century free spirit who subverted the social and literary norms of her time, challenged gender and sexual expectations, and fought for women’s rights.
Created in reaction to how little the world knows of George Sand in comparison to her male counterparts (despite being one of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime), the show reimagines the romance between the two women and the creation of Sand’s most ground-breaking play, Gabriel, where a young gentleman sees his life and sense of identity change when he learns he was born a woman. Part of Omnibus’ queer arts festival, 96 Festival, GEORGE will be co-headlining with StoneCrabs Theatre’s Joe Carstairs.
1839. Marseille, France. When famous disobedient writer George Sand finds herself at a creative standstill with an empty wallet, her desperate need for an idea leads her quill to the most intimate and dangerous place she has ever explored: herself. Embarking on her most daring work yet with her play Gabriel, she is caught in a perfect storm between her lovers, her queerness and others’ expectations. The question is: how far will she have to bend to make her story heard?
Writer Léa des Garets said: “We’ve reinvented George Sand. I rediscovered her a few years ago: I knew about that writer, how she wore men’s clothes and had lovers of all genders and seemed to live freely… and yet I hadn’t heard or read nearly as much about her as I did about her male contemporaries! I found a soul sister, two centuries apart. Along the way, I found Gabriel​ (1839)​, which compiled everything that fascinated me about George Sand: her ground-breaking interrogations on gender, on women’s education, on equality, on sexuality… and I wanted to talk about her relationship with Marie Dorval. “The inseparables”, people called them. In the correspondence we have today, there are a few years missing. And there isn’t much written around ​the​ time​ she wrote Gabriel​ in Marseille​,​ in 1839… So, I thought: what if we could reimagine what happened then?”
Léa des Garets is a queer award-winning actor, writer and theatre-maker from France. Léa started her career in the performing arts as co-founder of Night Train Theatre Company beginning at the Edinburgh Fringe and touring in the UK and in Ukraine. She was one of the 10 mentees selected for PROJEKT EUROPA’s EMPOWER mentorship programme, which supports and champions migrant theatre talent in the UK. Through her company MQT Productions, Léa aims to give more visibility to hidden voices from the past and the present, focussing particularly on international voices, female-led narratives and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Omnibus Theatre’s 96 Festival is London’s only queer arts festival under one roof, with an eclectic fest of theatre, comedy, cabaret, music, art and activism that’s named in honour of the year when Clapham Common hosted the Pride after-party. GEORGE will be co-headlining the festival with StoneCrabs Theatre’s Joe Carstairs (4 – 22 June), an exploration of the power boat-racer, war hero and one of 20th century’s boldest queer figures.
