The National Theatre will mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales by staging its first Queer Theatre event series from 6th – 10th July 2017.
A group of world class actors and directors will look at how theatre has charted the LGBT+ experience through a series of rehearsed readings and post-show discussions in the Lyttelton Theatre.
Launching the initiative, playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney said of directing a rehearsed reading of his play Wig Out!: “I feel grateful to be returning to the UK and reading this piece. As we continue better to understand ourselves and how we perform in the world I hope this investigation back into the ‘ball scene’ will be as exciting as it is important. #Alllove&Allpride.”
Director Stephen Daldry said: “As a teenager Bent was the first play I ever saw on the London stage. Amazingly at a theatre I went on to be the director of. It was a devastating experience for a young gay man from a small market town in Somerset. I can honestly say the experience changed my life. The play went on to take London by storm.
“I am thrilled and honoured to direct a rehearsed reading of Martin Sherman’s explosive play to mark this important anniversary.”
The NT’s Queer Theatre event series is hosted in partnership with Pride in London and includes productions of Neaptide, the National Theatre’s first full-length play by a female playwright; Wig Out!, a big, bold and riotous play looking at gender, drag and fabulousness; Certain Young Men, a show illuminating the differences within the ‘gay community’; Bent, a drama based in a pre-war Nazi Germany camp; and The Drag, the play that scandalised 1920s New York and was banned after ten performances.
The Queer Theatre event series will coincide with the 2017 Pride weekend and tickets will be on sale from Friday 5th May; tickets include entry to each post-show discussion.
For more information on the Queer Theatre event series, click here.