What do we mean by "queering" theatre and how can it help us?

beth: notably, this conversation started on the steps of shoreditch town hall over a couple of cigarettes and blossom falling from the trees. this felt incredibly apt, to be just outside of the main space and our thoughts to be woven through the performance of a habit. we spoke about intimacy and consent, and how other people's readings of us inform our own identities. we spoke about being "man-ed" by the world, and the implicit, nonconsensual permission to touch that comes with. we spoke about training ourselves to ask others if they would like a hug rather than assuming and then also being ready for a possible answer of "no" - and being loudky thankful for those "no's" when they arise. by asking for consent from others, it empowers them to say no and to ask for consent in other circumstances and eventually and connects us all to the needs of our bodies. we spoke about being so distanced from our bodies and how to make our way back. we spoke about how intimacy and consent practices should be embedded from the beginning into a creative process, and how helpful that is. Like accessibility awareness, is it useful to us for it to be a "separate thing" we tack on, or should it be embedded the whole time? to me, this entire conversation - without mentioning queerness explicitly, is queer.

back inside, we gathered on the floor. I'd like to pose the main concepts we found together that feel like actively queering a space or process:

- to disrupt, to challenge, to question: a queer person existing disrupts norms. how can we disrupt entrenched theatrical processes?

- Naming The Thing (being explicit about what actions, systems and processes are at play. for example, "i need processing time before i can respond", or "we are performing a play to an audience. they are there. what are we saying to them?")

- being aware of the external system (for a queer person, that might be identifying the impact growing up in a cis-heteronormative society. in theatre practice, it might be naming that the funding model means we only have X amount of rehearsal time. we need to get the job done, but how can we allow ourselves a sustainable way of working within that?)

- acknowledging the performance/self-awareness (similar to being aware of an external system - i am far more interested in a piece that knows it is being performed in the form of theatre to a theatre audience, than a piece that tries to hide that system. This is equivalent to a circus performer showing off the wires they are hanging from)

- intentionality (we spoke about the whys of a piece being vital. we make this choice on purpose. we are aware that queer performance traditions, cabaret, drag, burlesque etc, have history, and if we are playing in them we are doing so on purpose. "self-fashioning" was a gorgeous phrase to come of this. the putting on of performance on purpose with justification)

some further provocations include our relationship to form. blending theatre with any other discipline feels queer, taking what is there and forging something new. we spoke for a while about joyfully following true impulses and that a joyful process does not need to mean the only content is Happy. instead, how do we feel fulfilled, open and capable at tackling whatever a play poses to us? is queer joy just permissioning someone to be how they are? can we look at traumatic/challenging content from a joyful place?

Lex: queerness, to me, is about complications, dichotomies, contradictions, and how multiple things can be and are constantly true all at once even if they are seemingly in opposition, co-existing, fluid and changing.
we spoke about being in the not knowing, and being okay about that - a constant curiosity, about ourselves, about others, about theatre, and how we can build/forge/collage structures that allow those things. can focus on the not-knowing, the play, the risk, the connection, the exploration, revitalise what is magic about creative practice ?