How It Works
Let’s go feral!
Feral: ‘in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication’
Be part of a new feral cohort who will consider: how we learn (from each other) about what makes performance queer; how we talk about queer performance; how we make performance; and, above all, how we might develop a network of queer thinkers.
We gather a feral ‘cohort’ of enthusiasts, developing artists, practitioners, audience members. There’s a call-out, and we’ll ask you to tell us a few details about you, and also what interests you about queer performance! We aim to keep this process pretty low-effort, and it can come to us in any form that takes your fancy: as a phone recording, cartoon, zine, video, tiktok, piece of writing, etc.
We’re particularly keen to hear from people who have not (yet) had access to, or have been let down by, or have chosen not to enter into, Higher Education. We want to stress that this is open to anyone in the community interested in queer performance. You don’t have to be an artist or an academic!
Photo: Chris Tynan
Photo: Chris Tynan
Throughout the festival, our ‘timetable’ includes shows to see together, hangout/discussion sessions where we do some collaborative thinking about what we’ve seen, workshops and other activities with invited guests. At the heart of Feral Queer Camp is gathering together a group of queer people interested in queer performance to watch it and talk about it. As a feral cohort, we supplement this by learning more about queer performance and queer theory, and we build a vocabulary and curriculum together. (And no, we don’t actually camp in the wilderness. Although we would love to.)
As camp captains, Alyson and Steve recognise the elitism of the performance-making institutions we are a part of. We aim to take whatever resources we can get our hands on in our institutions and take them out to the queer community at large. This can mean money, access to spaces and equipment but, above all, we take our skills and knowledge out of the building, to have conversations about queer performance with queer-identifying people who make it and/or love to watch it!
Photo: Chris Tynan
Photo: Chris Tynan
Ideally, we generate some writing about the work we’ve seen and the discussions we’ve had. We see this as a way of creating a critical mass of writing about queer performance that is actually done by queer people, rather than mainstream reviewing platforms. We also see it as a way of giving back to the artists, archiving their works as an act of care for the queer performance field.
Throughout the year, we might host catch-up sessions – Feral ‘salons’ – where we can maintain the connections we’ve built throughout FQC and potentially build new ones!
Photo: Chris Tynan
next Feral Queer camp:
Midsumma Festival 26th Jan – 4th Feb 2024
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