#trwl

The Trouble With Love headers

She started to turn away, but his hand touched her arm.

“Ask me,” he commanded.

Emma shook her head, feeling both terrified and the most alive she’d felt in years.

He waited patiently until her eyes met his. “I remember us, Emma.”

Back away from the Quality Street, pop onto the laptop and get yourself some tickets for the #trwlmanchester stage event at the Contact Theatre which is part of #queercontact. There will be a pre and post show event at Taurus Bar too as part of #pridehousemcr. All profit from the stage tickets goes to LGBT Russia groups.

To Russia With Love: Street & Stage

24 Hours of Performance Protest, 7-8 February 2014

    To mark the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Manchester's LGBT theatre community are presenting 24 hours of protest and performance to draw attention to homophobia in the host country.   The aim is to send a message of love and support to the LGBT community in Russia. The event will feature To Russia With Love: Street an alternative opening ceremony in the gay village and To Russia With Love: Stage a performance of new writing at Contact, on Oxford Road (as part of the Queer Contact 2014).

  The event is being produced in partnership by Hope Theatre Company, VADA LGBTQ Community Theatre, Working Progress Theatre Company and writer Chris Hoyle.

  TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE: STREET, 7 February 2014

  Manchester’s LGBT community present an Alternative Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. 

As the Sochi ceremony begins, LGBT sports and community groups will lead an alternative ‘Parade & Protest’ through Manchester’s gay village. The event will send a message of support and solidarity to Russia’s LGBT community.   It will also give Manchester’s highly visible LGBT community an opportunity to come together to highlight homophobia not just in Russia but across the world.

  The alternative ceremony will feature an athlete’s parade along Canal Street lead by LGBT sports groups and a glittering ceremony at Taurus Bar, where medals will be awarded. The night will also include special guest speakers and performers and all proceeds will be donated to Russian LGBT charities.

Friday 7th February 2014, 7pm – Taurus, 1 Canal Street, Manchester. M1 3HE.  FREE.

  TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE: STAGE, 8 February 2014

  An evening of striking, funny and inspiring new drama to highlight homophobia and promote LGBT rights in Russia.

  The region's most exciting theatre companies, dramatists and performers join together for this one-off event, showcasing new writing in response to the growing oppression in Russia.  The work is inspired by true stories of people living under Russia’s homophobic laws and explores the impact on identity, love and family.

  This unique performance features four specially commissioned pieces of drama including work by Stephen Hornby (Loving Her); Chris Hoyle (The Newspaper Boy, Tinned Up); Rob Ward (Away from Home); and a new verbatim piece by Adam Zane (Outloud/Yesterday When I Was Young).

  Saturday 8th February 2014, 8pm - Contact, Oxford Road, Manchester.

Tickets  £9/£5 with group discounts from: www.contactmcr.com/torussiawithlove

      PRODUCING PARTNERS

Hope Theatre Company have been presenting LGBT work for nearly ten years including The Laramie Project and the UK premiere of Laramie - Ten Years Later, together with touring the groundbreaking play Out/LOUD - the U.K.’s longest running anti-homophobia play for schools. www.hopetheatrecompany.com

  VADA is a non-profit LGBTQ community theatre company and was established in 1996. It facilitates creative exploration and new writing for anyone of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning identity. www.vadatheatre.weebly.com

  Working Progress Theatre Company was established in 2011 dedicated to creating new exciting and challenging theatre that relates and responds to contemporary society. In 2012 the company debuted with the award winning Loaded (Jo Kirtley Pritchard) at the 24:7 festival and followed it up with this year’s critically acclaimed Away From Home (Rob Ward and Martin Jameson) www.workingprogresstc.com

  Writer Chris Hoyle is one of the region’s most exciting writers. Previous productions include The Newspaper Boy, Tinned Up and forthcoming working 2014 includes The Other Team and The Polari Mission Live. twitter@hoyle_chris

  COMMUNITY PARTNERS

  Taurus Bar: Situated in the heart of the Gay Village on Canal Street, Manchester, where the canal meets the community. www.taurus-bar.co.uk

  The Lesbian & Gay Foundation (LGF): The LGF is a vibrant charity with a wide portfolio of well-established services and a rapidly developing range of initiatives meeting the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. www.lgf.org.uk

  www.canal-st.co.uk  The definitive guide to LGBT Manchester - the gay village, bars restaurants, charities and support groups.

Contact: Contact is an award-winning theatre and arts venue on Manchester’s vibrant Oxford Road with young people at the heart of everything it does. It presents professional theatre, dance, spoken word, music, cabaret, live art and comedy across its spaces, surprising places, and online. As part of Contact's ongoing commitment to diversity, Queer Contact presents and produces events throughout the year for LGBT communities.

The University of Salford: Salford is an ambitious University contributing enormously to the local economy and transforming individuals and communities through excellent teaching, research, innovation and engagement. www.salford.ac.uk

  Artistic Director and Press Contact:

Adam Zane on 07984 446074  or [email protected]

  For more information on the venue for ‘To Russia With Love: Stage’ please contact: