"Eight monologues by eight different writers are delivered by eight different actors – each one giving thought-provoking resonance to their words. A reminder, if it were needed, that the reopening of a theatre can lead to the reopening of minds." Chris Arnot

"Queers is a good choice of play for our times. This series of eight monologues, each by a different author... is well suited to the moment when coming together carries risks that are mitigated by behaviour and controls... Each presents a sensitive, nuanced, sometimes angry, bitter-sweet portrait of lives lived, sometimes to fulfilment, sometimes not... a long journey which, given the hostility that still exists in the world, is by no means over." Nick LeMesurier

The first post-lockdown live performance at the Criterion is staged over five nights to a socially distanced audience and is currently sold out. Our updated Covid safety protocols related to this production can be found here.

Production photographs and reviews can be found here.

Tickets can still be purchased for the additional online streamed performance which will be available on Youtube for 24 hours from 00:00 on Sunday 4th October. This is a filmed recording of a live performance from the dress rehearsal, so will include all sound effects and music, as well as being produced in our professionally-lit theatre space. An email with the YouTube link will be sent out with all information to every ticket purchaser, not later than Saturday morning. 

'Queers' is a wonderful collection of beautifully-written monologues, all by different writers, which celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British LGBTQI+ history, as seen through the eyes of different individuals.

A young soldier returning from the trenches of the First World War recollects a love that dare not speak its name. Almost one hundred years later, a groom-to-be prepares for his gay wedding. 

They were curated by Mark Gatiss and broadcast on BBC Four in 2017 and also staged at The Old Vic in London.

Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these  monologues for male and female performers cover major events – such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent – through deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories.

This play contains strong language and content of a sexual nature.