Horror film-inspired show in tour stop at university

Marikiscrycrycry will hold a workshop and two performances during the second and final weekend of the Right Queer Right Now (RQRN) festival next month. 

The new shows include a horror-themed choreography piece, based on the character The Goner, looking at themes including alienation, migration and violence. It follows someone who is doomed with no chance of survival—bound to death, a lost and hopeless case. It is the brainchild of Malik Nashad Sharpe, a choreographer and movement director whose work features dance and dark fantasy.

The performances are on 2 March from 19:00 to 19:55 in the University of Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill (TiM) Studio. A Marikiscrycrycry workshop is on 3 March from 15:00, while a performance will take place on 3 March from 18:30 at the same venue. 

Shabina Aslam, Artistic Director at Theatre in the Mill, said: “Marikiscrycrycry is a wonderful addition to the exciting the line-up for Right Queer Right Now. 

“We feel especially grateful that the TiM Studio at the University of Bradford has been chosen as one of the venues of Marikiscrycrycry’s UK and international tour.

“We look forward to these performances dazzling the crowd at our festival.”

Marikiscrycrycry will also hold performances in the USA, Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark during the tour, which will end with a series of shows in London in May 2025. 

Malik said: “It feels really amazing to be able to go back to Bradford and to show a new work to the audiences that are there. 

I developed most of my last show in Bradford and so it feels really exciting to be able to come back there because I had such fond memories of my experience and I felt very inspired. I love the city 

“We made the show Goner with the intention of it touring widely. Usually when I make the show I do ask this question, it’s not like every show I make I’m expecting it to tour or even wanting it tour widely.

"But this show it felt very deliberate to try to make something that was challenging, accessible, that was easy to bring on the road but also not minimalistic, it’s a part of a kind of ongoing strategy that me and my strategic producers have developed just for the next (kind of) few years of my work.”

RQRN will be held on campus over two successive weekends in February and March to coincide with LGBT+ History Month in February.

The first weekender of shows and activities is between Friday 23 February and Sunday 25 February. The festival will conclude with a second weekender from Friday 1 March to Sunday 3 March.

Theatre in the Mill has teamed up with Sonia Sandhu, Bradford Producing Hub’s LGBTQIA+ Arts Instigator, and Alice Parsons, Director of Bradford Queer Film Festival and Founder of OUT OUT, to curate and produce this year’s RQRN event.

Go to theatreinthemill.com/rightqueerrightnow for more information on the festival.
Tickets for the Marikiscrycrycry performances are available, priced £8 for a full priced ticket and £4 for a student or low waged (people will not be asked for proof of this).

Go to estore.bradford.ac.uk/product-catalogue/theatre/theatre/right-queer-right-now/goner-3-march-2024 to book tickets for Goner.