The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions
TED HUFFMAN, PHILIP VENABLES
Deutsche Erstaufführung
Audacious music theatre celebrating individuality and freedom.
The Ramrod empire is in decline – and outside its patriarchal structures, the faggots and their friends are having a good time. They live undisturbed in free communes, able to celebrate who they are: with art, music and uninhibited sex. Based on Larry Mitchell’s cult novel from the late 70s, Philip Venables and Ted Huffman have created a wild musical spectacle that ignores boundaries just like the characters on stage do, drawing on music and dance from the Baroque period, from Broadway and rave culture. The performers are actors, storytellers and musicians all rolled into one and are continually swapping roles. A musical adventure that does away with gender and genre norms, replacing them with individuality and lust for life.
Commissioned by Factory International, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele, the Southbank Centre, Ruhrtriennale and NYU Skirball in association with Holland Festival. Produced by Factory International for Manchester International Festival. Under exclusive licence and courtesy by Nightboat Books, New York G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag GmbH
Audio introduction
Find out more about the the production in our audio introduction.
„It’s been a long time since the last revolutions and the faggots and their friends are still not free.“
Cast
- Composition
- Philip Venables
- Direction
- Ted Huffman
- Musical Director
- Yshani Perinpanayagam
- Choreography & Costume Design
- Theo Clinkard
- Set Design
- Rosie Elnile
- Lighting Design
- Bertrand Couderc
- Sound Design
- Simon Hendry
- Dramaturgy
- Scottee
- Assistant Director
- Sonoko Kamimura
- Associate Musical Director
- Jamie Man
- Costume Collaborator
- Sophie Donaldson
- Production Manager
- Steve Wald
- Sound Associate
- Josh Bobby
- Lighting Associate
- K. J
- Company Manager
- Bonnie Poole
- Stage Management
- Jambi Darnton
- Assistant Stage Manager
- Bláithín McReynolds
- Wardrobe Supervisor
- Evie Akerman
- With
- Valerie Barr ,
- Kerry Bursey ,
- Jacob Garside ,
- Kit Green ,
- Conor Gricmanis ,
- Mariamielle Lamagat ,
- Eric Lamb ,
- Themba Mvula ,
- Yshani Perinpanayagam ,
- Meriel Price ,
- Collin Shay ,
- Daniel Shelvey ,
- Joy Smith ,
- Yandass ,
- Lauren Young
- Production Manager Ruhrtriennale
- Maike Schuster
- Technical Project Manager Ruhrtriennale
- Georg Bugiel
- Technician
- Harald Adams ,
- Konrad Anger ,
- Steven Böhm ,
- Willi Eidam ,
- Desirée García López ,
- Severino Jurischka ,
- Andreas Korogonas ,
- Torben Krol ,
- Franzi Luhn ,
- Ole Meißner ,
- Gerd Mikuscheit ,
- Fernando Quartana ,
- Janine Reich ,
- Uwe Renken ,
- Stephan Schneppel ,
- Alma Schraer ,
- Ralph Schwarzenauer ,
- Petar Skrivan ,
- Johannes Voltz ,
- Ian Weinfurtner ,
- Michael Wünsch ,
- Christoph Wüst
- Dressing, collaboration costumes
- Paula de la Haye
Message from the makers of this performance
We recognise that "faggot" is a provocative word – one that for many isn’t easy to read or hear. When Larry Mitchell wrote and published the book in 1977, he sought to reclaim the word in a loving, supportive and positive way. This follows a long process of reclamation by parts of the LGBTQIA+ community of words that have previously been seen as only negative – including using the word queer as a collective term.
The inclusion of the word in this production marks that intention and is a deliberate choice by the creative team. Since the book was published in 1977, conversations about gender diversity within the queer community have also evolved, and this is reflected in both the language the show uses and the casting.
Directions and arrival
Jahrhunderthalle Bochum
An der Jahrhunderthalle 1
44793 Bochum
Festival Stories
