GARY CLARKE COMPANY’s acclaimed dance theatre show,DETENTION begins the autumn leg of its UK tour later this month, with performances in Newcastle, Oxford, Doncaster, Blackpool and Brighton.
In 1988, a piece of legislation from Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government devastated lives… Forcing people from the LGBT+ community into a place of secrecy, fear and shame at a time when the country was in industrial turmoil and the gay community was being ravaged by the onslaught of AIDS.
DETENTION is a bold and moving new work by GARY CLARKE COMPANY, following the multi award-winning COAL and critically acclaimed WASTELAND, exploring SECTION 28, which ‘prohibited the promotion of homosexuality’. The show premiered in Nottingham in May to audience and critical acclaim.
Gary Clarke’strademark of powerful and personal working-class storytelling draws once again on the public and private stories and testimonies of those communities affected, including for DETENTION a rare insight into the LGBT+ Switchboard Logbooks.
DETENTIONbrings together Clarke’s vivid and theatrical physical dance language performed by a company of exceptional professional dancers, an evocative narrator /actor and five members of the LGBT+ community, selected locally for every venue aged 40+ and directly affected by Section 28.
DETENTION also brings together once more the production and creative team that made COAL and WASTELAND such major hits with both critics and audiences. Producer and long-time collaborator Annabel Dunbar; Dramaturg Lou Cope; Set and Costume Designer Ryan Dawson Laight and Thatcher voice over artist Steven Nallon (Spitting Image).
New collaborators include award-winning lighting designer Joshie Harriette, sound composer Torben Sylvest, film maker Kamal Macdonald, script and text deviser Adam Zmith and several recorded music tracks by the iconic band Test Dept including Movement I, Jerusalem and Myfanway.
Performing in DETENTION are dancers Gavin Coward (also Artistic Associate),Alexandra Bierlaire, Alex Gosmore, Mayowa Ogunnaike and Imogen Wright and actor Lewey Hellewell (Narrator) with El Perry (Thatcher on film)and Sarah Squires (Teacher on film).
What an incredibly beautiful and also inspirational real life stories of the struggles and challenges that the LGBT community experienced during 15 years of section 28.
It was expressed through dance and movement and very well narrated. It’s 90 minutes long with no interval so you experience so many different emotions throughout this incredible production it makes you think about what so many people experienced. Way back in 1987 I was actually working at the Conservative Party Conference In Blackpool before I started my career. It’s featured in this very performance and it was when the government at the time discussed section 28. I was working for the Winter Gardens and not the Conservative Government but it in a way linked me to what has become one of the biggest injustices in modern day history..!
Thank you for reading 🙏🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
