Celebrating 2025 at Marlborough Productions

In our 16th year, Marlborough Productions; trailblazing catalysts of queer culture and producers of cutting edge live performance, are celebrating our biggest year yet! Our projects encompass Queer Heritage South, The Coast is Queer, Radical Rhizomes, Producer Gathering, New Queers on the Block and much more, we’ve cemented ourselves as leaders in queer excellence on stages across the UK, through community and sector facing work with audiences and communities both nationally and internationally.

We have supported 23 artists and companies with new commissions, and continued to support a further 6 to bring previously commissioned works to the stage.

Queer Heritage South was awarded one of the largest single investments in LGBTQIA+ heritage by the National Lottery Heritage Fund since the fund began to continue their vital work archiving Brighton’s Queer History.

Emma Frankland’s No Apologies premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning critical acclaim and multiple awards.

New Queers on the Block reached across the UK with events in Bradford, Blackpool, Hastings and Portsmouth.

We have been long been leading curators, producers and commissioners of LGBTQIA+ performance work across the UK, connecting with artists including Juno Dawson, Travis Alabanza, Emma Frankland, Harry Clayton-Wright, Symoné, Krishna Istha and many more in our 15 years on the cutting edge of queer culture. In 2025, our 15th year, we have supported a record number of artists, from commissioning the very early stages of ideas, through to Edinburgh Festival Fringe premieres, participating in the Southbank Centre’s inaugural KUNSTY festival, co-presenting the biggest and brightest queer literature festival in the UK and history, plus delivering heritage and community-focused work across the country.

Marlborough Productions Co-Creative Directors and Joint CEOs, Tarik Elmoutawakil and David Sheppeard said: “The relentless attacks on marginalized communities – racism, ableism, and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation – demand an immediate and also joyful resistance. Our artists and audiences offer a counter-narrative, building a powerful collective cultural movement with partners across the UK. The creative projects we’ve supported in 2025 are radical, rebellious, standing for inclusion, interdependence, and solidarity. Looking ahead we need more creativity to vision a better future for us all, support artists, support communities, get involved.”

Across 2025, we supported 23 artists and companies with new commissions over the past year, leading the way in queer performance across the UK with work in all stages of development. Trailing back through the careers of some of the UKs most successful queer artists, it’s hard not to see our touch throughout the progress of their careers. Offering a truly holistic approach to commissioning and producing live performance work, we are proud to support artists from beginning to the end of a project. From providing initial development funding, to support throughout the creation process, to booking and producing UK and international touring.

New Queers on the Block saw local champions in Bradford, Blackpool, Hastings and Portsmouth take on ‘Associate Producer’ roles and bring queer art and performance to towns and communities across the UK which are often underserved by queer culture. From August 2024 to August 2025, 24 public events and artworks across the programme reached over 12,000 live audiences and over 250,000 online audiences, with engagement from 217 participants.

In Hastings, Giddy Up curated by local producer Hannah Rose Fox and co-comissioned by Home Live Art saw performances from Lucy McCormick, Stacy Makishi and Wet Mess, alongside local LGBTQ+ artists, between April and November. Knees Up! in Portsmouth, produced by Downtown Pompey, celebrated UK Pride with queer cabaret galore. In Blackpool, Queer Amusements released Queers in Blackpool, an online documentary highlighting the town’s vibrant queer scene filmed by online sensation James Barnett (@makemeaoffer), and Garth Gratrix’s artwork ‘Mummy’s Boy’ became a permanent part of the Grundy Art Gallery, commissioned by Queer Amusements with support from the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Grundy Art Gallery. Bradford saw local producers Castles in the Sky present A Day & Night of Dance with Nikhita Devi & Bollyqueer, as well as a residency and co-commission for Theatre with Legs’ NEUROQUEER, and arts venue Theatre in the Mill co-commissioned Symoné’s Nullspace Motel and Highway to Infinity.

Queer Heritage South received £1.25 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our pioneering Queer Heritage South: Live Archive project. Following a successful pilot year last year, this donation – one of the largest single investments in LGBTQIA+ heritage since the fund began in 1994 – will continue QHS’s work to collect, preserve and future-proof LGBTQIA+ history across Brighton & Hove, working towards a major exhibition in 2027. My Queer Museum released their first video edition which had nearly thirty thousand views and Revealing St James Street, a performative heritage walking tour of one of Brighton’s most iconic streets, received £25,000 in funding from Historic England, and sold out its run at Brighton Festival.

Radical Rhizomes, a free to access, creative social network curated by and for Queer/ Trans/ Intersex Black and People of Colour, continued its regular creative hangouts and events, which have inspired the beginnings of many new works, creative collaborations and created a communal healing space for over 300 members. September saw Radical Rhizomes take over Brighton’s Ironworks with Rhize Up Fest – a public showcase of the network’s talents, including live performance, workshops and discussion focused on QTIBPoC community, creativity and wellbeing.

Afrofuturistic performance party, Brownton Abbey, which celebrates and elevates Disabled and Queer People of Colour, returned to Glastonbury’s Shangri La, the festival’s epicentre of counter culture, blending protest and party in a celebration of queer joy in all bodies.

Highlights on stage from the last year include Associate Artist Emma Frankland’s raucous punk theatre performance No Apologies, which made its World Premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, taking home multiple awards including a Bestie Award for New Writing and Bragi Award for Artistic Excellence, plus a slew of four and five star reviews. No Apologies is a radical mis-remembering of Nirvana’s iconic 1993 MTV Unplugged concert, exploring what the world would look like if Kurt Cobain was trans. Commissioned by Marlborough Productions, the show previewed at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, can be performed as a solo or with a five piece band and will continue its journey with Marlborough’s support into 2026 and beyond.

Marlborough Associate Artist Harry Clayton-Wright premiered Mr Blackpool’s Seaside Spectacular as part of the Southbank Centre’s inaugural KUNSTY festival, platforming independent artists at the boundaries of the bold, the queer and the uncategorisable across performance and cabaret. Taken from the seed of an idea to the stage by Marlborough Productions and created in collaboration alongside three of Blackpool’s finest delights, Mr Blackpool’s pilot tour included stops at Northern Stage with Curious Arts and Unity Theatre as part of Homotopia festival.

The Coast is Queer – the UK’s biggest and brightest festival of LGBTQ+ literature – celebrated its seventh year with one of its biggest lineups, including visits from Women’s Prize for Fiction writer Yael van der Wouden, a conversation between Scottish literary icons Ali Smith and Jackie Kay, and Juno Dawson’s Lovely Trans Literary Salon with Munroe Bergdorf. Over four days, the festival saw 1100 in attendance across four dates, appearing in highlights across LGBTQ+ and literary press. Workshops and community events welcomed writers and readers at all stages of their literary careers into the fold, from Zine Making to Developing your Non-Fiction, to developing Letters to my Younger Trans Self, and an intergenerational reading group.

Prancer the Dancer’s DanceDanceDiscoPartyFunShow, Marlborough Productions’ work for young people and their grown ups, which was co-commissioned and performed at the Southbank Centre and Brighton Festival, was also performed at the Royal Ballet and Opera. Plus, two new works for young audiences have been commissioned in 2025 including Flutterby’s Non Stop Party which was commissioned as part of Blackpool Grand Theatre’s Storytelling Festival and The Snow Ball which was co-commissioned by New Writing South.

Performances continued throughout the year in our home city of Brighton, with Diverse Alarums pairing leading LGBTQ+ cabaret artists, including Marlborough associate artists Emma Frankland and Subira Joy with academic researchers to create rip-roaring performance inspired by intersectional Queer histories; The Funny Hole saw exhibition meet live cabaret with distinctive work from Boogaloo Stu, Jane Dinmore and Ladypat; and Queer Bloomsbury’s sold-out cabaret celebrated bold performance and joyful activism joining together to remember, resist and reimagine. Commissioned and supported by Marlborough Productions, Symoné took their multidimensional dual performance experience’s Nullspace Motel and Highway to Infinity on tour, blending live art, dance and narrative gaming into an interactive, sensorial experience for audiences.

In their industry sector work, the Marlborough-supported Producer Gathering took new strides, with their growing database of practical, online resources for freelance Producers and artists, including Producer Directory – a database and connection tool for freelance artists to support and find each other. Through two new partnerships, including Satellite Events at Belgrade Theatre and Brighton Fringe  – The Junction, we reached over 150 early- and mid-career producers, creating space for learning, solidarity, and exchange. Its newest publication PAUSE: A Self-Care Support for Producers, co-produced by The Uncultured and Producer Gathering, with support from Artsadmin and Marlborough Productions, has recently been released, tackling the growing problem of burn out and over work in the sector, particularly among freelancers who face growing precarity and uncertainty within the industry.

Marly Meets Artist Support continues to offer 30 minute sessions with Creative Directors Tarik Elmoutawakil and David Sheppeard, available for any artist to book to discuss a burning idea or new project with an experienced sounding board of quality producers.

Mr Blackpool
Commissioned by Marlborough Productions, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and using public funding by Arts Council England. Initial research and development supported by Marlborough Productions, Shoreditch Town Hall, Homotopia, Cambridge Junction, The Old Electric and using public funding by Arts Council England.

Prancer the Dancer’s DanceDanceDiscoPartyFunShow, Imagine Festival 2025
Prancer’s DanceDanceDiscoPartyFunShow is co-commissioned by Marlborough Productions, the Southbank Centre and Brighton Festival.

Prancer the Dancer was originally commissioned by Marlborough Productions, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and Fatt Projects. Supported by Shoreditch Town Hall and Cambridge Junction.

No Apologies
No Apologies is commissioned by Marlborough Productions. Supported by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, The Old Electric, Northumbria University and Arts Council England.

Brownton Abbey
Partners/thanks to: Nomad Stage, Shangri-La Glastonbury

Queer Heritage South
Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
Powered by Marlborough Productions. 

Diverse Alarums
Presented by the Diverse Alarums research project and Marlborough Productions. Supported by Arts & Humanities Research Council, University of Roehampton, University of Sussex, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, and Arts Council England.

Symoné
Nullspace Motel is created by Symoné, in collaboration with Sammy Metcalfe & Reed Rushes. Produced by The Lasso Club.

Commissioned by UK Black Pride, Marlborough Productions and Theatre in the Mill for New Queers On The Block, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Cambridge Junction, Collusion & Electric Medway, with support from Arts Council England, South East Dance & Live Art Development Agency. Special thanks to Screen South, Shoreditch Town Hall & Blast Theory.

New Queers on the Block
New Queers on the Block is supported by Arts Council England, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. New Queers on the Block is a project created by Marlborough Productions.

Knees Up
Knees Up co-presented with Downtown Pompey.

Giddy Up
Giddy Up co-presented with Home Live Art.