Coming soon to Hull Truck Theatre, Riot Act will be a solo verbatim show, created entirely, word for word, out of interviews with three key-players in the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement; Michael Anthony Nozzi; a survivor of the Stonewall Riots, Lavina Co-op; an alternative ‘70s drag artist, and Paul Burston; ‘90s London AIDS activist.
Following several UK tours and a special West End performance, this critically acclaimed audience favourite is a breath taking, rip-roaring, white-knuckle ride through six decades of queer history, taking the audience right up to the present day. Provocative, tender, truthful, funny, political and personal, these are stories of queerness, sexuality, activism, addiction, family, childhood, love, sex, drag, community, togetherness, conflict, identity, youth, ageing, loss, fierce queens and a Hollywood diva.
Prior to the production of Riot Act, creator and performer, Alexis Gregory will be holding a Free writing workshop where he will explain his approach to the piece, as a writer and storyteller. He will also answer any questions from the group. The event will focus on truthfully representing hidden queer lives, ‘turning’ historical events into a theatrical piece, and how Alexis re-shaped real-life experiences via his dramatist’s point of view, and how he aimed to subvert audience expectations with all of this.
Alexis will talk about the ethics and responsibility in creating work that is based on real lives, perhaps also referring to his other verbatim piece, ‘Safe’ which centred the LGBT youth homelessness crisis, which involved four young subjects. Alexis will discuss the process, and wider response to, getting these challenging works in front of an audience, and having it connect with audiences and indeed programmers and bookers. This is a great opportunity for participants to make friends, develop new skills and have fun exploring new writing and engage in conversation with likeminded people in a safe space. Workshop participants will, in this supportive and encouraging environment, have a chance to choose a section from ‘Riot Act’ and work on their own ‘mini-adaption’.
The FREE workshops will take place: Thursday 28th April at 7:00pm. Places are limited to 25 people so early booking is recommended.
Alexis Gregory, Creator & Performer on Riot Act, said:
“‘I’m so pleased to be bringing Riot Act to wonderful Hull. I was last in the city around 2017 and performed a taster section from the show at the Polari literary event, and I’m really pleased to now be bringing the full show to the legendary Hull Truck Theatre. The show is a wild ride through three real-life lives, and six decades of queer history. It’s educational, accessible, hard hitting, inspiring and very funny. I’m also really looking forward to the workshop and meeting local LGBTQ community members and our allies. We’ll be discussing, and working on, putting queer lives on stage, and each workshop participant will have a chance to create their own mini–Riot Act too”.
Riot Act will be at Hull Truck Theatre on Friday 29 April 2022.
More information and tickets available here: www.hulltruck.co.uk.
