Past Performance
The Past is a Wild Party by Noëlle Janaczewska | At The Loading Dock
10 – 27 July 2024
Presented by Siren Theatre Company
Trash and high art. Censorship. Gaps and silences. Girl on girl sex.
Following the successful tours of Good with Maps and The End of Winter, award-winning playwright Noëlle Janaczewska debuts an exciting new performance essay that takes us on a journey through archives, sexual politics, and a personal queer history.
Create your chosen family, fall a little bit in love with nineteenth-century poet Amy Levy, and immerse yourself in Lesbian pulp from the 1950s. This performance essay-cum-monologue mines the personal and historical power of Lesbian representation.
The Past is a Wild Party explores passionate friendships and whether a girl can be your boyfriend. Outing yourself – as someone with mental health issues. Reading The Well of Loneliness in your teens and looking for – let’s call it ‘technical information’ about girl-on-girl sex.
Creative Team
Director: Kate Gaul
Lighting Designer: Benjamin Brockman
Composer: Madeleine Picard
Cast: Jules Billington
Reviews
“This is an extraordinary piece of theatre.” – Paul Gilchrist, Theatre Red
“It is an enchanting one-person show, directed with great passion by Kate Gaul, who brings wonderful elucidation to the meaningful complexions of the text. Performer Jules Billington is extraordinarily precise with each physical gesture and verbal inflection, making sure that we detect all the nuances of this soulful meditation on a collective phenomena that encompasses tribulation, trauma and triumph. There is a memorable and immense benevolence to Billington’s approach that thoroughly captivates, and that keeps us attentive with open hearts and minds.” – Suzy Wrong, Suzy Goes See
“there are few opportunities to experience sophisticated and engaging performance essays in the theatre.” – Fiona Hallenan-Barker, Theatre Now
“In this optimistic space of Qtopia, this is a provocative and charming production well worth catching.” – Martin Portus, Stage Whispers
“The Past is a Wild Party is a commendable performance of engaging, informative, and beautiful theatre.” – Anja Bless, Theatre Travels
“Happily, this play is a rare case of less is more: there is so much to savour in The Past Is A Wild Party – including the tongue-in-cheek allusions of the title – and it’s guaranteed to intrigue and echo long after you’ve left the newly-created theatre.” – Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
