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Gay Birmingham, Back to Back

A new site-specific theatre production, uncovering the lost histories of Birmingham’s queer people from the 1850s - 1970s.

Starts: 2011-11-17
Finishes: 2011-11-26

Availability:

Thurs 17 Nov, 8pm
Fri 18 Nov, 6.30pm & 8pm
Sat 19 Nov, 12pm, 2pm & 5pm
Tues 22 – Fri 25 Nov, 6.30pm & 8pm
Sat 26 Nov, 12pm, 2pm & 5pm

Tickets: £10 (+£1.95 booking fee)
Booking by phone – pre booking is essential – 0844 249 1895

Venue: Back to Back Housing, 55-63 Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 4TE.
Price: £10 (+£1.95 booking fee)

Introduction

Come and delve into Birmingham’s hidden gay past, as Women & Theatre present live performances within the National Trust Back to Back Housing on Hurst Street.
Women & Theatre are working in partnership with Birmingham LGBT Community Trust and The National Trust to develop a new theatre participatory theatre production exploring LGBT history from the 1850s – 1970s.

Developed from research, the show will take audiences on a journey through different stories and time periods whilst also physically taking them around the Back to Backs museum.

• In 1840s, audiences will meet Charles, a manual labourer, Birmingham born and bred, who spent most of his life in institutions, ending up in All Saints Asylum for ‘committing unnatural acts’.
• In 1920s, audiences will meet Fred ‘Freda’ Barnes: Saltley-born butchers boy turned Music Hall Megastar; flamboyant, disgraced and forgotten.
• In 1940s, audiences will meet Annette, wife and mother, as she looks back on meeting the love of her life in wartime inner city Birmingham. The memory lingers on…
• In 1970s, audiences will meet Leila, a young woman from 2011 searching to find evidence of Someone Like Her in the 1970’s. What can she piece together from the snippets she finds in the old tailors shop?

The performances will use both professional and community performers providing a unique participatory opportunity for local LGBT people to develop performance and production skills and to become more involved with the work of The National Trust.

History

This project follows on from Birmingham LGBT Community Trust’s successful Gay Birmingham Remembered project, looking further back in history and taking as a reference the four time periods of the Back to Back museum on Hurst Street, due to its physical location in the Gay Village.

Birmingham LGBT Community Trust recruited community researchers who have carried out research about what life would have been like for people during these time periods in the context of both their sexuality and general life.

W&T have begun the process of transforming this research into engaging site specific performance which will take place at the Back to Back Museum in November, as part of the SHOUT Queer Cultural Festival.

Notes

Outcome

Production Credits

Gay Birmingham, Back to Back is a co-production with Birmingham LGBT Community Trust and The National Trust and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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