Queer Up North brings Must and Road Movie to Library

The Library Theatre is home to two productions being presented as part of this year’s Queer Up North International Festival – a brand new production of Road Movie, a personal and highly affecting road trip written by Godfrey Hamilton and performed by Mark Pinkosh, and MUST – The Inside Story, a poetic new show from New York performance artist Peggy Shaw.

A travelogue through the vast American urban and rural landscape, Road Movie tells the story of Joel, who travels west across the United States to be reunited with the lover who pulled him from the gutter one fateful drunken night. The journey takes in poignant tales of love and loss, creating a compelling and unnerving of mid-1990s America at the height of the AIDS crisis.

This tour-de-force one-man show was first seen at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival where it won a prestigious Fringe First award, before making its Manchester debut the following year, when it won Mark Pinkosh a coveted Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards Best Actor award. This new production is directed by Jonathan Best.

Mark Pinkosh leads a two-day workshop on solo performance at the Zion Arts Centre in Hulme on Tuesday/Wednesday 26 May between 12noon-5pm. Places, which are free, are very limited – for more information, please email blaze@queerupnorth.com or visit the Queer Up North International Festival website.

Also at the Library Theatre and inspired by the new version of Road Movie, on Saturday 22 May at 3pm the Library Theatre hosts HIV & Culture, an in-depth look at the changing face of HIV and culture since the first Queer Up North International Festival in 1992. The 90-minute event takes in a discussion, film clips, and short readings. Tickets £3 – book at the festival box office in 0843 2081430 or visit the festival website.

The second event at the Library Theatre as part of the festival is MUST – The Inside Story, which sees legendary New York performance artist Peggy Shaw, who co-founded the world-famous Split Britches Theatre Company in 1980, take the audience on a journey across the landscape of her own body.

Presented in collaboration with innovative London-based live performance company Clod Ensemble, MUST challenges gender stereotyping as Peggy, a 65-year-old lesbian grandmother, embarks on an extraordinary trip taking in experiences of the medical profession, life, love, death, and even giving birth, on the way to the Woodstock Festival in 1969. This evocative, innovative and highly personal show is accompanied by live music from a trio comprising a pianist, a double bass player, and a violinist.

Road Movie is at the Library Theatre from 19 – 22 May and MUST runs on 25 and 26 May. For further details, visit the Library Theatre website.