96 Festival

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PRESENTED BY STONECRABS THEATRE

JOE CARSTAIRS

“It is the world that must change, not I.”

In the midst of the roaring twenties, Joe Carstairs emerged as a rebellious force, defying societal expectations to become a war hero and the fastest boat-racer of her generation. But steering against the expectations of her class and culture came at a cost, with the tides of destiny propelling her in unexpected directions.

Cut to present day, when Hik, a tenacious young playwright from humble origins, grapples with their own defiant spirit. After meeting strong-willed Tee at a writing workshop, they are presented with the opportunity to craft a play about Carstairs, but find their own identity questioned when tradition collides with progress. It seems their societal norms are not all that different from their idol’s 100 years earlier.

StoneCrabs Theatre’s new drama Joe Carstairs unleashes a highly charged fusion of physicality, words and music that brings one of the 20th century’s boldest queer figures into sharp relief. This unforgettable show will challenge conventions, spark inspiration, and leave you pondering the meaning of personal freedom in a world determined to conform.

SELWIN

4-22 JUN, 7:30 PM TUES–SAT 2:30 PM SAT MATINEE

TICKETS: £18 STANDARD, £16 CONCESSION, £10 PREVIEWS

FUNNY THOUGH

Clare is an actress known for falling over in The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. She’s also a stand-up comic just trying to get by.

Here is another cautionary tale about a bisexual in crisis (because there aren’t already enough of those.) The Comedienne makes questionable life choices and lives to tell the tale so that you don’t have to. Clare has done some tight ten’s (oo-er) at The Pleasance as a support act for Adrian Bliss, The Museum of Comedy and at Barons Court Theatre.

This is her inaugural hour-long solo show, so expect 60 mins of hot mess. If that doesn’t sell this I honestly don’t know what will.

Directed by: LAUREN LAMBERT MOORE

7 – 8 JUN, 9 PM

TICKETS: £13 STANDARD, £11 CONCESSION

JUST A MINUTE

Meet the intern. Alienated, delusional, and with a monumental crush on the straight boy in the office, our intern is the ultimate corporate flop.

Join him for one life-changing day as he attempts to suppress his queerness and rise through the ranks at the Greenwich Meantime Museum.

If you’re a recovering workaholic, a Colin the Caterpillar fanatic, or simply looking for a laugh – this is the show for you!

After a sold out run at the Dublin Fringe Festival, gathering nominations for Best Performer and the ‘Little Gem’ Award, Just A Minute comes to London.

This is a riotous new comedy written and performed by Conor Murray and directed by Emma Finegan.

‘Conor Murray’s vibrant, slicklydirected performance swings between hilarity & haunting introspection’Fringe Biscuit

‘Innovative, effective and quite ingenious’. -No More Workhorse

Written and performed by:

Directed by: CONOR MURRAY

8-9 JUN, 7:45 PM, 1:30 PM MATINEE

TICKETS: £15 STANDARD, £13 CONSESSION

PRESENTED BY BIGHEAD COMEDY

ROSA GARLAND: PRIMAL BOG (WIP)

Rosa Garland is a critically acclaimed clown who likes slime. She is the brain and body behind the sell-out queer cult hit Trash Salad (Soho Theatre, Pleasance).

This is a new WIP for people who want to see what happens when a clown explores kink, but don’t necessarily want to date Rosa to find out. If you fancy her you should defo still come tho.

14 JUN, 7:45 PM

TICKETS: £15 STANDARD,£13 CONCESSION

HELL YEAH!

We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Improvised!

Fun, femxle-centered, fearless and completely improvised. A supHer group of London’s hottest queer improv talent. With a cast of powerhouse award-winning/ rave reviewed queer performers, who in their own right sell out shows, push the arts forward and

are seen/heard on the BBC, Channel 4, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hoopla Impro and The Comedy Store to name a few.

Monica Gaga presents: Alicia Ingram, Laura Evelyn, Sally Hodgkiss and Amy Annette.

15 JUN, 7:45 PM

TICKETS: £9 STANDARD, £8 CONCESSION

QUEER DIARY

The night where LGBTQ+ adults read aloud from their REAL teenage diaries, poetry, fanfiction and more! A handful of brave queer folk take to the mic to re-tell tales from their formative years in the name of nostalgia, solidarity, celebration.

Join us for an evening of earnest journal entries, long-lost love letters, fabulous fan-fiction stories, terrible Tumblr posts, and possibly the odd bit of cringey poetry…

At Queer Diary the goths, the punks, the emos, the nerds, the glee-clubbers (and maybe a few populars?) come together as grown-ups, to share our younger selves’ innermost thoughts. We can’t promise to reunite you with your first crush, but we do aim to reignite that rush of adrenaline you got when they first noticed you.

Got something from your teens to share?

Queer Diary is an open-mic event, where you’ll be very welcome to get up and share ANYTHING you wrote in your youth!

Go to the Omnibus website to sign up!

“If a Queer Diary event was scheduled on the Moon, the most anti-capitalist queers would be befriending Bezos in hopes of securing a rocket ride.”

– DIVA Magazine

16 JUN, 7PM

TICKETS: £6

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

An evening of music by Brixton-based contemporary classical composer Robert Hugill for Pride 2024

Following their premiere last year, they feature two cantatas that take us from the twilight world of the 19th & early 20th century homosexual to a desperate search for eternal life, alongside songs celebrating love in all forms.

The performers are tenor Ben VonbergClark (precentor at St John the Divine, Kennington), baritone Jonathan Eyers (a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio) and pianist Nigel Foster (artistic director of the London Song Festival).

Out of the Shadows moves from the earliest tentative admissions of same sex attraction, to cruising in a bath house in Imperial Russia to Walt Whitman’s unashamed admission of his sexuality.

Et expecto explores the search for eternal life in different forms, from the certainty of the Latin creed, to explorations of cryogenics, the body-snatching of Burke and Hare and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, before resolving in the homoerotic pantheistic transcendentalism of Walt Whitman with its celebration of Death itself.

“Hugill’s music has a moving serenity” - Opera Magazine

“Quite a feat! ... It lingers in the memory”- Classical Source

16 JUN, 7PM

TICKETS: £15 STANDARD, £13 CONCESSION, £6 UNDER 25’S

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF GIANTS

An autobiographical play about being a rockstar (‘s sister). A woman looks back on her youth as a struggling actress in early ‘00s London-a comic retelling of minimum wage jobs and auditions for laxative adverts.

Unprepared for the sudden success of her younger brother (traditionally the weedsmoking black sheep of the family), she’s forced to face her own failure. Dodging exes, sycophants and drinking dry the free bar; she eventually lands herself in rehab. And while smashed against the proverbial rocks, realises and then accepts her sexuality. Finally free to soar from the shadows she must mend her broken relationships…and begin casting some shadows of her own.

Lucie’s brother, Carl Barât of NME award-winning band, The Libertines was at the vanguard of the 00s indie music scene.’ Standing in the Shadows of Giants‘ is a comic, heartfelt retelling of her experiences as a struggling actress whilst living with a rising rockstar. The show features original music co-written with both Carl Barât and Peter Doherty, as well as some guest (audio) appearances. Multihyphenate Lucie Barât originally trained as an actress. In 2009, she founded the award-winning independent press and production company, Little Episodes, under the mentorship of Little Brown Book Group. Together, they published five anthologies and staged numerous plays and events. Lucie is also a skilled screenwriter, singer/songwriter and performance poet.

“Powerful” - The Irish Times

“Zips along like a theatrical express train. A confident, talent-rich performance of writing, singing and acting.”

- Reviews Hub

24–29 JUN, 7PM, 2:30 PM (SAT MATINEE)

TICKETS: £15 STANDARD, £13 CONCESSION

PRESENTED BY QUEER DIARY CIC

HASBIAN

Hasbian (has-bee-un) noun A former lesbian.

Beth Watson’s real teenage diary comes to life in the Groovy Chick-style animated world of Hasbian: A queer coming-of-age comedy set to a soundtrack of y2k pop classics (S Club, B*Witched, Destiny’s Child) and indie angst anthems (Placebo, Weezer, Garbage)

How did Beth go from a childhood dreaming of The Wizard of Oz, to cringey Cruel Intentions-obsessed adolescence?

From proudly identifying as a teenage lesbian, to discovering that boys are also appealing?

Using animated magazine cut-outs of iconic teen movie stars, an all-star 00’s fantasy cast steps in to “play” Beth’s friends (and crushes), who are reimagined as the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Natasha Lyonne and Ashton Kutcher. Hasbian tells the true story of growing

up queer in Brighton (the UK’s Gay Capital) under Section 28 (1988-2003 law prohibiting teaching “homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”).

Dripping in equal measures with heartfelt earnestness , sharp irony, and humour that bubbles up in the place between youthful confidence and pubescent selfdoubt, Hasbian fills audiences with buzzy nostalgia, while exposing queerphobia in the most liberal of cities.

From the creators of Queer Diary –the night where LGBTQIA+ adults read their real teenage diaries on stage. With original animated projections by Edalia Day.

All performances feature projected captions, and artistically integrated Audio Description created with AD consultants Quiplash, and Dramaturg Koko Brown. Supported by Arts Council England.

Written and Performed by:

Produced by: BETH WATSON

JOSEPHINE SHIPP

25–29 JUN, 8:30PM

TICKETS: £15 STANDARD, £13 CONSESSION

PRESENTED BY MQT PRODUCTIONS & IN ASSOCIATION WITH EXCHANGE THEATRE

GEORGE

1839. French writer George Sand defies all rules through what she writes, what she wears and who she f*cks. But what will she sacrifice to be truly seen?

Marseille, France. 1839. 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.

How far will she have to bend to make her story heard?

“GEORGE by Léa des Garets is an artistic treasure (…). It confirms that regardless of the era, the illusion of societal norms could never tame the mind of a free soul.”-Out News Global

25 JUN–14 JUL, 19:30 (TUE-SAT), 16:00 (SUN)

TICKETS: £18 STANDARD, £16 CONCESSION, £10 PREVIEWS

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