Liverpool’s LGBT+ Festival Homotopia Now Open
Liverpool’s annual LGBT+ festival Homotopia opened in fabulous style on Friday night, marking the beginning of a month-long programme bursting with exciting and eclectic events and appearances at venues across Liverpool.
The festival, now in its 15th year, is an annual celebration of local, national and international LGBT+ arts and culture and runs until Saturday 1 December.
The theme of the 2018 event is I Will Survive.
Guest curator Cheryl Martin says: “Everyone loves that song – it’s a gay anthem.
“But the theme also reflects the fact people thought Homotopia was having a bit of a hard time. Yet here we are, with a programme as big and bad as ever – in fact Homotopia isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving.
“I think it’s a really strong programme, and it’s really inclusive.”
Theatre, music, visual art, contemporary dance, debate, youth and community participation, heritage and film all form part of the diverse programme from one of the key cultural festivals in the region.
Highlights for 2018 include Dietrich: Natural Duty, with the one-(wo)man show coming to Unity Theatre on Tuesday 6 November direct from Edinburgh Fringe. It promises an intoxicating mixture of theatre, cabaret and drag revealing the life of the legend Marlene Dietrich.
The Unity Theatre is also the place to be on Wednesday 7 November when the immersive show Rent Party pays a visit. Winning a string of five star reviews this part-show, part-party is inspired by the 1920s Harlem Renaissance rent parties.
Staying on the other side of the Atlantic, there is a return to the festival for maverick American writer, director, photographer and outrageous raconteur John Waters who appears at the Philharmonic Hall on Saturday 10 November with This Filthy World.
Waters previously entertained a packed audience at the Hope Street landmark in 2013, and his one-man show elevates all that is trashy in life in to a call to arms to ‘filth followers’ everywhere.
Ahead of his appearance, on Friday 9 November, Liverpool’s only queer cabaret night EAT ME will pay homage to the ‘Sultan of Sleaze’ at EAT ME#TO: A Commiseration of John Waters: A Life in Bad Taste, a three-course drag dinner cabaret extravaganza at District in the Baltic Quarter.
Artist and ‘forward facing fatso’ Scottee presents Fat Blokes at the Unity Theatre on Saturday 17 November. The dance show, made in collaboration withrenowned British choreographer Lea Anderson, is about flab, double chins….and getting your kit off in public.
LGBT+ activist and performance artist Travis Alabanza, one of the UK’s prominent trans voices, presents Burgerz – a powerful piece of theatre exploring the way trans people are seen in society and dissected in public. The show comes to the Hope Street Theatre on Sunday 18 November.
Meanwhile Ru Paul’s Drag Race favourite Jinkx Monsoon is joined by lyrical genius Major Scales to perform The Ginger Snapped at the Epstein Theatre on Wednesday 21 November, with music and mental health colliding in a witty, biting look at the dark side of Drag fame.
The pair will showcase music from their new album. However, Jinkx worries that her best years are behind her and in order to avoid a breakdown of diva proportions Major must act as both pianist and therapist to the Manic Miss Monsoon.
Other festival highlights include Queercentric Music Night at District on Thursday 22 November, where Liverpool Queer Collective present a night of sumptuous music and spoken word from LGBT+ musicians and artists.
And Homotopia will be supporting a World AIDS Day Vigil taking place in the Concert Room at St George’s Hall on Saturday 1 December; featuring speeches, poetry recitals and moments of remembrance for those who have lost their lives from HIV.
More information can be found on the website www.homotopia.net
Facebook: Homotopia Arts
Twitter: @homotopiafest
EVENT LISTINGS
Threesome
Sun 4 November – Sun 2 December
The Gallery, 41 Stanhope St, Liverpool L8 5RE
Tuesday – Sunday, 12pm – 4pm
Tickets: Free
Dietrich: Natural Duty
Tue 6 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
7:30pm
Tickets: £10.50/£8.50 (Concession)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Love The Life You Live, Live The Life You Love
Wed 7 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
5pm
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Rent Party
Wed 7 – Thu 8 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
8pm
Tickets: £10.50/£8.50 (Concession)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Hip, Hip I’m Gay!
Fri 9 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
7:30pm
Tickets: £10.50/£8.50 (Concession)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Eat Me #10: A Commiseration of John Waters
Fri 9 November
District, 61 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BE
8pm
Tickets: £20 (includes Eat Me Cabaret, 3 Course Dinner and Preach Ticket)
£10 Eat Me Ticket
£5 Preach Ticket
Book at www.homotopia.net
Emerging Talent: Scratch Night
Sat 10 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
5pm
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
John Waters: This Filthy World
Sat 10 November
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Hope St, Liverpool L1 9BP
7:30pm
Tickets: £27.50/£33.50
Book at www.liverpoolphil.com
Mina
Tue 13 – Wed 14 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
6pm/7:30pm
Tickets: £8.50/£6.50 (Concessions)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Rockbottom
Wed 14 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
9pm
Tickets: £8.50/£6.50 (Concessions)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Mop The House: A Short Guide to Vogue
Thu 15 – Fri 16 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
Thu 7:30pm, Fri 7pm/9pm
Tickets: £10.50/£8.50 (Concessions)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Wake Up Together
Fri 16 November – Sun 17 Feb ‘19
Open Eye Gallery, 9 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BP
Open Daily 10am-5pm
Queer Hub: Homotopia Special
Sat 17 November
Venue TBC
1pm-4pm
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
Book at www.liverpoolqueercollective.co.uk
Scottee: Fat Blokes
Sat 17 November
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Pl, Liverpool L1 9BG
7:30pm
Tickets: £12.50/£10.50 (Concessions)
Book at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Burgerz
Sun 18 November
Hope Street Theatre, 22 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BY
6pm
Tickets: £10/£8 (Concessions)
Book at www.hopestreettheatre.com
LGBT+ Women in Literature
Tue 20 November
Venue Central Library
7pm
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
Book at www.homotopia.net
Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales: The Ginger Snapped
Wed 21 November
The Epstein Theatre, 85 Hanover St, Liverpool L1 3DZ
8pm
Tickets: £21
Book at www.epsteinliverpool.co.uk
Queercentric Music Night
Thu 22 November
District, 61 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BE
7:30pm
Tickets: Pay On The Door
Alaska
Fri 23 November
Open Eye Gallery, 9 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BP
7:30pm
Tickets: £5
Book at www.homotopia.net
Drag Queen Story Time
Sat 24 November
Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool L17 1AP
11:30am
Tickets: Adults £4/Children £2.50 (Children under 3 Free)
Book at www.homotopia.net
Kings and Queens of The Underworld
Sun 25 November
Constellations, 35-39 Greenland St, Liverpool L1 0BS
7:30pm
Tickets: £10
Book at: www.earthmoves.or/club-orientation
Ancestral Constellations
Mon 26 November
Open Eye Gallery, 9 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BP
10am-5pm
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
Book at www.homotopia.net
Shorts and Sweet
Wed 28 November
Frederiks, 32 Hope St, Liverpool L1 9BX
7:30pm
Tickets: £5
Book at www.homotopia.net
2018: Where Are All The Lesbians?
Fri 30 November
Venue at a secret location (confirmed once booked)
6:30pm
Tickets: £5/£3 (Concessions)
Book at www.homotopia.net
Lez Be Avin It – Homotopia Special
Fri 30 November
Invisible Wind Factory, 3 Regent Rd, Liverpool L3 7DS
9pm
Tickets: £5
Pay On The Door
World AIDS Day Vigil
Sat 1 December
St George’s Hall Concert Room, St George’s Pl, Liverpool L1 1JJ
2pm
Tickets: Free