'Hear Us Out' project to celebrate LGBTQ+ elders

Hear Us Out, a digital performance courtesy of New Writing South, is to premiere on Thursday, November 26, celebrating LGBTQ+ elders.

The programme’s artistic director, Dinos Aristidou, has utilised new writing and verbatim speech to create the project, where performers of all ages listen to the collected stories of older LGBTQ+ people through headphones and perform them ‘live’ to camera, exactly as they hear them. There is no attempt to copy accents but the personalities of both performer and storyteller form a distinctive bond. The pauses, sighs, laughter, stutters and stumbles of the original recordings are embraced and preserved.

This digital celebration of LGBTQ+ life has been created with Brighton filmmakers My Genderation and composer Angèle Veltmeijer. The performance features memories of teaching during the Section 28 years, drag alter-egos, same-sex weddings, obtaining Gender Recognition Certificates, the impact of Aids, ongoing LGBTQ+ activism, and joy.

Dinos Aristidou, said:

Each performer transformed their personal space into a rehearsal room/zoom, stage, set and wardrobe – wonderful! We could not have planned for the closeness, the warmth, or the playfulness this glimpse into real LGBTQ+ life would add in our new digital world.

Hear Us Out, the digital performance, premieres on Thursday, November 26 and will be available online shortly afterwards. Tickets for the premiere are FREE and can be booked online.

For more info on the Hear Us Out project, visit: http://hearusout.live/