lectures

Writing Queer Performance

Birkbeck

May 9

Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

Event linkcalender

Queer performance is expected to live a brief, bright life and not circulate as text for reading, record or reproduction. Indeed, it rarely begins with a coherent script at all, often being developed instead via devising, co-creation and ad hoc practices, taking the form of outlines, notes and diagrams, with a script sometimes only emerging during rehearsals or following the creation of a performance. This event features a panel of performers and writers to explore the various ways contemporary queer performance is written and documented, and what is at stake in writing anything down at all. Contributors will also present excerpts of each other's newly published texts, to test the possibility of performing another artist's often deeply personal work. The event coincides with the launch of Writing Queer Performance: Contemporary Texts and Documents (Methuen Drama, 2025), ed. Fintan Walsh.