Preview: Queer Contact Festival, Contact Theatre

Join Manchester’s Contact Theatre in celebrating LGBT History month with 11 days of events at this year’s Queer Contact Festival. The performers and artists will utilise a wide range of art forms including theatre, comedy, spoken word, dance, music and visual art to explore issues of gender and sexuality in a heteronormative, binary-gendered world. Working in collaboration with other long-standing cultural establishments, the festival spans several venues across the city including a one off, site-specific performance in a Manchester church. Bringing together the best in Mancunion, British and international talent, the festival promises a wealth of creative and insightful perspectives from its diverse group of LGBT performers. Well-known names include Erasure’s Andy Bell in a musical theatre extravaganza, transgender activists Kate Bornstein and Our Lady J, and Jackie Kay performing her award-winning poetry.

Ticket prices vary but with free events and lower prices, concession-based and group discounts, there is sure to be something for every budget.

Our Picks
We selected some new pieces commissioned for the festival that will be well worth a watch.

The Daily Grind 9th, 10th and 11th February 9:30pm

Laurie Brown’s candid solo show unpacks the realities of love and sex in a society where identity and relationships are ever-increasingly constructed through technology. With advances in internet and mobile phones converging to inundate us with social media, our lives are increasingly dominated by liking, swiping and sharing. Laurie think it’s time to analyse how this might be affecting our relationships with ourselves and each other.

A Place Called Happiness 10th February 8pm

‘Hi, I’m Debs,’ reads a flyer for Gatenby’s show, ‘I’ve lost my happiness. Can you help me find it? If you see me stop me and tell me where or what happiness is.’ Debs Gatenby, known
for her piece Hi, Anxiety, brings us thoughtful but ultimately feel-good comedy in her new solo show. After finding she had lost her happiness , Debs sets out to find it again, and this piece tells us about what she ended up finding on her travels.

4-14 February 2016