Posted on 3 Oct 2018

Returning to Birmingham next month for its ninth year and taking place at venues across the city, SHOUT presents 10 days of the very best in queer and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* theatre, visual arts, comedy, music, film and live performance.

Thirty years after Section 28 banned local authorities and schools from ‘promoting’ homosexuality, SHOUT 18 celebrates LGBTQ relationships, families, identities, voices and histories. Highlights of the festival include a performance by a lycra-loving cabaret sensation, a new documentary film exploring the history of lesbian activism in the UK, an immersive show inspired by the Harlem Renaissance Rent Parties of the 1920s, and a chance to rediscover the forgotten history of Birmingham’s 1980s LGBT magazine, In The Pink.

Here are a few of the festival’s highlights...

 

Festival Opening Event:

La Gateau Chocolat

When? Thursday 8 November, 8pm                                                                                                      Where? Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
The festival opens with Icons, an evening of music from opera and lycra-loving cabaret sensation Le Gateau Chocolat. Accompanied by his own seven-piece Cocoa Orchestra, Gateau walks the tightrope between his public and private lives. Bringing his distinct powerhouse vocals to an eclectic mix of pop, opera and rock, he celebrates his personal icons through a songbook that includes the music of Kate Bush, Whitney Houston, Meatloaf and Pavarotti.

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Invisible Women

When? Tuesday 13 November, 6pm
Where? Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
This new documentary film tells the incredible story of Angela and Luchia, two pioneers of the UK civil rights movement. From starting the Gay Liberation Front in the north, to taking on Margaret Thatcher and Section 28, this is their story - told for the very first time. The screening includes a discussion with Angela, Luchia and the film’s director and producer.

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Rent Party (Darren Pritchard Dance)

When? Friday 16 November, 8pm

Where? A.E.Harris, Jewellery Quarter
This is an immersive show inspired by the 1920s Harlem Renaissance Rent Parties. Like in the ’20s, audiences are invited to come to a party to help raise the month’s rent. Dancers, singers, musicians and poets create a kaleidoscopic picture of what it means to be young, gifted, black, poor and gay. Being broke never looked so fierce!

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Sex Education

When? Monday 12 November, 8pm
Where? Old Joint Stock Theatre
One parent refuses to talk about sex, the other buys their child gay porn DVDs. Harry Clayton-Wright’s Sex Education brings together ‘startling performance and moving storytelling’ with a no-holds-barred interview with Harry’s mum and some good old-fashioned gay porn that his dad bought him when he was 14. A show for anyone who’s ever wondered why they want what they want.

Full listing of events HERE