Turn On Fest Opens at Hope Mill Theatre Celebrating LGBTQIA+ Arts

Now in its 4th year, Turn on Fest - Hope Mill Theatre's annual LGBTQIA+ arts festival - returns with a diverse and exciting line up, which culminates with the headline event featuring Jill Nalder and Nathaniel J Hall.

Hope Mill Theatre has curated another festival line up featuring an incredible array of LGBTQ+ artists and companies, with a focus on grass roots Manchester artists and new development work.

The 2023 event will build on the previous years' work and develop the festival's mission to grow and celebrate LGBTQIA+ local artists in Manchester. After a sell out In Conversation with Russell T Davies hosted by actress Julie Hesmondhalgh in 2021, the festival will end with an In Conversation with Author and Activist, Jill Nalder, talking about her book 'With Love from the Pink Palace', the inspiration behind Davies's hit drama series, It's A Sin.

Joseph Houston, Artistic Director of Hope Mill Theatre, said: "We are thrilled to be bringing another exciting line up of LGBTQ+ artists to Turn On Fest 2023. When we launched the festival back in 2020, we were passionate as an organisation about creating space for LGBTQ+ artists to explore, develop and make noise. The festival this year offers an extremely varied line up of grass roots Manchester artists, inspiring themes, and an opportunity for the Queer Community to come together and listen and learn. We are also honoured to end the festival with the wonderful Jill Nalder sharing her inspiring story and inspirations behind her book, hosted by It's a Sin star and fellow activist Nathaniel J Hall."

Turn On Fest - full line up of events:

Saturday 14th January - Alien Nation

Presented by Hope Mill Theatre's Young Company, Turn On Fest's Launch Night event is based on the book Alien Nation by the Proud Trust, this piece explores gender, gender expression, gender roles, and an explanation of different gender identities. Join Frank the friendly alien for a journey through space. Frank lives on planet boy, but when he discovers Clarice on Planet girl they both begin to question the rules!

Sunday 15th January - 'Queer Social' Networking Evening

Join the Turn On Fest team for the TOF Queer Social, a networking evening for LGBTQIA+ artists in Manchester to build connections and make ideas a reality. The evening will feature a scratch performance from Sid Akbar, from his current piece-in-development 'Besharam [Shame-LESS]'.

Monday 16th January - Ladyfriends

Annie and Christabel are dating. Historians dispute this on the grounds of 'inaccuracies' and 'lack of scholastic rigour' and 'the over-interpretation of the fact that women shared bedrooms'.

Ladyfriends is a high-octane romp through love letters, third dates, and lesbian period dramas - via the (probably) true stories of Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst. Rammed with live music and film, it digs up real-life queer history to ask the age-old question: "are we dating, or are we just really good friends?" Expect confetti, PowerPoints, and power ballads.

Tuesday 17th January - Bobbie's Open Mic Night

Hope Mill Theatre's very own Box Office and Front of House supervisor is holding a top surgery fundraiser as part of TOF.

Wednesday 18th January - Qweershorts

Qweer Shorts is Manchester's newest LGBTQ+ theatre event. Starting life in 2021 as a night for writers to test out new queer writing, Qweerdog is thrilled to be bringing this new night to Hope Mill Theatre. Qweer Shorts' biggest and boldest line-up yet, begins with three previously seen pieces - Jump by Nick Maynard, Glint by Scott C Sickles and Natter by Joe Henry - all appearing alongside several brand new, diverse, queer pieces, chosen especially for Turn On Fest 2023!

Thursday 19th January - Quentin Crisp- Naked Hope

Written and performed by Mark Farrelly Directed by Linda Marlowe

Following his performance of Jarman, Mark Farrelly's hugely acclaimed solo play comes to the Hope Mill Theatre. From a conventional upbringing to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was one of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century. Openly gay as early as the 1930s, Quentin spent decades being beaten up on London's streets for his refusal to be anything less than himself. His courage, and the philosophy that evolved from those experiences, inspire to the present day.

Naked Hope depicts Quentin at two phases of his extraordinary life: alone in his Chelsea flat in the 1960s, certain that life has passed him by, and thirty years later, giving a performance of his one man show An Evening with Quentin Crisp in New York. Packed with witty gems on everything from cleaning ("Don't bother - after the first four years the dust won't get any worse") to marriage ("Is there life after marriage? The answer is no"), Naked Hope is a glorious, uplifting celebration of the urgent necessity to be your true self.

20th Friday January - Development Evening;

Hope Mill Theatre continue its support for work in development by Greater Manchester artists. Four LGBTQIA+ Artists will be chosen to share their work in development as part of the evening.

Supported by Manchester's LGBT Foundation.

Saturday 21st January - A Conversation with Jill Nalder

2023's Turn On Fest closes with the headline event, A Conversation with Jill Nalder: Actor, Activist, Author and inspiration behind Russell t Davies' critically acclaimed drama It's a Sin, and the character of Jill Baxter. Jill will be joined by It's A Sin start Nathaniel J Hall to share the real life story that inspired the brilliant television drama, and talk about her book, Love From The Pink Palace.

For more information on Turn On Fest please visit https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/events/

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