Following their spectacular 50 Queers for 50 Years piece in the Pride in Hull parade this weekend, leading arts and performance company Duckie will return to Hull this Saturday (29 July) to present A Duckie Summer Tea Party.
Duckie helped kick off Hull UK City of Culture’s LGBT 50 celebrations in style this weekend at the first ever UK Pride. After taking up residency in Hull, Duckie spent the last couple of months working with members of the LGBT community to create 50 handmade LGBT+ icons.
For those of you who didn’t get to see the icons, Duckie are bringing a selection of them to Queen Victoria Square, where Duckie MC Amy Lamé and her hostesses will serve tea and cake alongside the London Gay Big Band; Britain’s Got Talent performers The Sugar Dandies; queer femme feminist performance artiste Bird la Bird; theatre director, writer and filmmaker Topher Campbell; and female drag queen Victoria Sin with drag troupe The LipSinkers.
Throughout the day, visitors will also be treated to a moving and riotous new dance piece by award-winning choreographer Gary Clarke. Into the Light, produced by Yorkshire Dance, will present a fast-forward version of LGBT history, in a performance commemorating the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK. Looking back at landmark events in LGBT+ history over five decades, from a world in which homosexuality was illegal through to present day, the performance brings together eight contemporary dance artists with over 40 people from Hull ranging from under 16s to over 60s.
The event, which starts at 1pm, is free and unticketed and everybody is welcome. The fountains in Queen Victoria Square will be switched off all day to ensure everybody has a safe and enjoyable time.
As the tea party draws to a close, the doors to City Hall open for I Feel Love, part of the BBC’s Gay Britannia season. The concert, will be presented by Scissor Sisters’ front woman and Radio 2 presenter Ana Matronic and BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills. It will feature a stellar line-up of artists including Will Young, Alison Moyet, Marc Almond, Bright Light Bright Light, Noah Stewart, Tom Robinson and West Yorkshire’s LGBT choir Gay Abandon.
The concert features live performances of ground-breaking gay songs What Makes a Man a Man, Lavender and I Am What I Am as well as LGBT party anthems YMCA, Born this Way and I Feel Love, plus readings ranging from Oscar Wilde to Alan Hollingshurst.
Doors open at 6.30pm featuring Readers Wifes DJs followed by the concert running from 8pm – 9.30pm. Audiences should allow time for security checks upon entry. Tickets for the concert have sold out but everyone can enjoy it at home broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 and Red Button on TV.
Party the night away at the official LGBT 50 after party at Fuel. Hosted by Duckie, the party will feature Readers Wifes DJs, The LipSinkers and Victoria Sin. Tickets available at www.hull2017.co.uk. Later, everyone at home can listen into Ana Matronic broadcasting her Disco Devotion show live from Hull at midnight on BBC Radio 2.
Martin Green, Director of Hull 2017, said: “Duckie opened our LGBT celebrations in sensational style and the closing day will be an equally exuberant experience. A Duckie Summer Tea Party will be a fabulous family-friendly feast of colour, costume and choreography while the adult-only after party will be more mischief and mayhem.”
Simon Casson, Producer of Duckie, said: “Hull certainly knows how to welcome visitors to the city. We’ve had fantastic support, not only from the LGBT+ community helping us to build the icons and carry them through the streets of Hull, but also from the Pride in Hull crowd, whose reaction on Saturday was incredible. We can’t wait to return with our tea party, which promises even more stardust and sparkle.”
A Duckie Summer Tea Party and I Feel Love are part of LGBT 50, a week-long festival of music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, photography and more, marking the 50th year anniversary of the start of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK. The festival is presented by Hull 2017 in association with Sewell Group and is supported by Spirit of 2012.
Other events during the week include House of Kings and Queens, a specially commissioned exhibition of photography by Lee Price. Captured in Sierra Leone, where homosexuality remains illegal, Price’s powerful images offer a glimpse into The House where inhabitants can live without oppression, exposing what it means to be gay in Hull’s sister city Freetown. The exhibition opens at Humber Street Gallery on Thursday 27 July, the actual 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences act entering law.
Pride in Hull has also teamed up with Hull Independent Cinema, to bring the very best of LGBT film to the city. The Pride in Hull Film Festival, which takes place in parallel with the British Film Institute’s national LGBTQ Gross Indecency Programme, includes a special preview screening of the critically acclaimed God’s Own Country, which is due to be released in cinemas on 1 September.
Full details about the LGBT 50 programme can be found at www.hull2017.co.uk/lgbt50.
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