So Queerguru is making tracks to Manchester in the North of the UK. If that rings a bell to you non-Brits its the place where the original Queer As Folk was set back ii 1999 …..that’s how gay this gem of a city is.
We are heading there to check out a new Manchester-based queer arts company creating bold new work for a bold queer audience, in theatre, clothing, fine art and print. The company launched this year with an in-your-face collection of t-shirts designs, for those ‘who wear their heart on their sleeves and who they are on their chest’. And this is just the start of what ROUGH BOY are doing at the moment. Not content with launching a clothing label, they are also about to mount their first theatrical production JE SUIS CHARLIE.
It is a dark comedy about a satirical cartoonist, called Charlie, who hooks up with a young guy, Mike, who he finds on Grindr, only to discover his hook-up is a Christian fundamentalist who wants justice for Charlie’s blasphemy.
Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie) is the slogan adopted by supporters of freedom of speech and friends of the Press after 7th January 2015 massacre in which 12 people were killed at the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The phase identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hbdo shooting, and by extension, are a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed thrests.
The (not so rough) Rough Boys behind this told Queerguru “We want to create stories that are uniquely queer, for queer people not just about queer people – and now, since the hetero-normalisation of the gay lifestyle, being gay has become the new normal… So, what happens now, in a post-gay world?”
“Times are changing. It can’t help but be noticed that the gay agenda is different now. We are no longer the rare exotic creature to be looked at, as if from another world. There are certain stories our community needs to have told. And what about those of us who still want to feast with panthers? What do we have to feed our souls?”
Starrng Ben Rigby and Ben Bradfield, written by Nick Maynard, directed by Scott Le Crass & produced by Tony Walsh 28th – 30th March 2024 7.30pm with 5pm matinee on Saturday 30th March Location: 53two, Arch 19 Watson St, Manchester M3 4LP,
