Queer Adaptations: Reclaiming Stories, Reimagining Shakespeare
Fri 2 May, 2025
Queer Adaptations is a bold season celebrating LGBTQ+ voices through imaginative retellings of familiar stories. It all began with a conversation.
In early discussions with our friends at 1623 Theatre Company (who produced Queer Lady M, performed in the Studio in April), the seeds for this season were planted. During lockdown, 1623 launched the Queer Folio project: an open invitation to LGBTQ+ artists to respond to each of Shakespeare’s plays through a queer lens. The result? A vibrant collection of short video works that reimagined the Bard’s canon with heart, wit, and boldness. The idea of LGBTQ+ artists reclaiming and reshaping these iconic narratives—stories that have been told and retold for centuries—felt not only powerful, but necessary.
Queer Adaptations is Shakespeare North Playhouse’s way of continuing that conversation. It’s a platform for artists and companies to take well-known characters, themes, and metaphors, and make them their own. To reframe them and breathe new life into them, drawing from personal identity, lived experience, and a wealth of creative expression.
This season isn’t just about visibility. It’s about amplifying voices that were too often erased from history or pushed to the margins. Through adaptation, we have an opportunity to reflect on the past, not just the stories told, but those that were silenced, and to reimagine a future where queer narratives are central, celebrated, and unapologetically present.
We launched a nationwide open call in August 2024, inviting artists and companies from across the UK to submit productions for this year’s season. Hosting these works in our Studio space, a home for theatrical provocation, experimentation, and unexpected encounters, has been an absolute joy. From performance art to reimagined classics, Queer Adaptations brings a dynamic range of theatre practices and performance styles that reflect the rich diversity of contemporary queer storytelling.
Importantly, this is queer work not just for queer people: it’s for everyone. These stories are universal in their emotion and bold in their imagination. They ask us to see old tales in new ways, and to open ourselves to voices that challenge, question, and illuminate.
Queer Adaptations is part of Shakespeare North Playhouse’s ongoing commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in our artistic programming. We believe in making space: space for joy, resistance, creativity, and connection.
