Queer performance is an influential and continually evolving area of contemporary theatre and artistic practice. From drag and performance art to playwriting, dance and extended reality (XR), queer artists are challenging conventions, exploring identity and imagining new possibilities for the future of performance.
Socially engaged, experimental and interdisciplinary, queer performance draws on diverse histories, experiences and creative approaches. It encompasses work across stages, screens, streets, dance floors, galleries, fields and festivals, offering opportunities to question established narratives and explore new forms of artistic expression.
Dr Phoebe Patey-Ferguson, academic, artist, producer and former Programme Director of Queer Performance at Rose Bruford College, reflects on the significance of the discipline:
“Queer performance is where I consistently see the most exciting ideas for what theatre and art should be, but also for what the world should be and what the future should look like.
This distinctive new course is a space to hold radical imaginings for where contemporary performance practice might be going next — as well as celebrating the diverse histories of queer makers and thinkers.
From drag to performance art, playwriting to XR, we are launching an MA that is as inventive and multidisciplinary as the fabulous community which it celebrates.
Queer performance is already everywhere — on stages, screens, streets, dance floors, galleries, fields and festivals, and now it finally has its own dedicated space in the academy at Rose Bruford College.”
The importance of LGBTQIA+ voices in performance
Queer performance provides a platform for LGBTQIA+ artists to explore identity, community and lived experience, while contributing to wider conversations about representation, culture and society.
Rose Bruford College alumnus and BAFTA-nominated actor David Carlyle, known for his role in It’s A Sin, highlighted the importance of supporting LGBTQIA+ voices in the performing arts:
“Anything that strengthens the voice of the LGBTQI+ community is fantastic and vital. I am so grateful to have trained as an actor at Rose Bruford and am proud to be an alumni of a College that is fierce in its championing of queer voices.”
The contribution of queer artists extends beyond individual performances. Their work has helped shape contemporary theatre and performance, influencing creative approaches, challenging artistic conventions and opening up space for new perspectives.
Preserving and studying queer performance histories
Alongside its contemporary creative influence, queer performance offers an important area of academic research. Documenting, archiving and critically examining queer artistic practice helps to recognise its contribution to theatre history and ensures that the work of LGBTQIA+ artists, makers and thinkers can be studied and understood by future generations.
Rose Bruford College Honorary Fellow and award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker Travis Alabanza, known for Sound of the Underground and their work with the Royal Court, reflected on the value of bringing greater academic recognition to queer performance:
“What’s so exciting about this programme is that it’s offering the chance for our work to be archived, studied and dissected – to build rigour around a practice that has been influencing others for so long.
Queer performance is a space where the most risks are taken and the most adventurous work is made, and I’m so excited at the prospect of a course that gives other people a chance to find the beauty that I’ve found in it.
And I love the team at Rose Bruford College who are doing this — so who better!”
The relationship between creative practice, research and archiving is particularly important in a discipline shaped by diverse communities, alternative histories and experimental forms. Recognising these contributions helps build a richer understanding of the development of contemporary performance.
An evolving and interdisciplinary art form
Queer performance continues to evolve across artistic disciplines, bringing together theatre-makers, performers, writers, academics and researchers. Its approaches are varied, encompassing established performance traditions as well as experimental and emerging forms.
By celebrating the histories of queer makers while supporting new artistic ideas, queer performance continues to challenge assumptions about what theatre and art can be, whose stories are told and how audiences experience performance.