LGBTQ+ Inclusion Events

Two Come Home
Friday 23 January, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre

It’s winter in a small, isolated town in the Appalachian mountains. Ex-con and recovered addict Evan lives a simple and solitary existence until some old ghosts return to unbury a decade’s worth of pain.

Direct from an acclaimed off-west end run at The Cockpit Theatre, having received 5-star reviews and a whopping seven Fringe Theatre Award nominations, Two Come Home is an unflinching tale of poverty, addiction, and homophobia. A unique combination of true crime, romance, and family drama all set to a haunting live soundtrack.

A Two Woman Hamlet
Wednesday28 - Thursday 29 January, 7.30pm
Lakeside Theatre

It’s Hamlet, but not as you know it. Two women (and a skull) take on 23 roles between them in 60 minutes, in a spectacularly fun and surprisingly moving theatrical event. This is an unpretentious adaptation, with joys in it for those familiar with Hamlet and those new to the story.

Following the critical success of the original production by Sherman and Friends at the Capitol Fringe (Washington, DC, 2018) and Edinburgh Fringe (2022), The Yorickans developed a fresh take on this irreverent adaptation for a sold-out run at Colchester’s Lakeside Theatre in March 2025.

The team then took the show on tour, performing at the Camden and Colchester Fringe Festivals and the Wickham Theatre in Bristol last year. The Yorickans are delighted to bring the show back to its home turf, now with the two original principal actors (Sharmila Peake and Deanna Strasse) switching over to the other track.

Fun, fast-paced and with a feminist heart, A Two Woman Hamlet is truly a different show with every performance!

A History of “Mayhem and Regress”: Black LGBT Lives and the Colonial Structuring of Rights in Brazil with Lucas de Souza Oliveira
Thursday 5 February, 4.00pm - 5.30pm
Room 6.345

This seminar outlines my research trajectory, connecting my completed Master’s dissertation and my ongoing doctoral project. Set within a Brazilian context shaped by the modern/colonial world order and guided by the national motto “order and progress”, my work adopts an epistemological approach that centres those embodying “mayhem and regress” in this society: Black LGBT people living in favelas. My Master’s research examined the ADPF das Favelas, a case brought before the Federal Supreme Court which addressed police violence in Rio de Janeiro as a persistent breach of Brazil’s constitutional principles. Drawing on Black and LGBT decolonial thought, I explored how the case’s legal reasoning aligns - or fails to align - with the lived realities of Black LGBT residents of favelas. Noting how these lives remain largely unacknowledged even within this ostensibly progressive case, my doctoral research turns to the Supreme Court’s criminalisation of “homotransphobia”. Through analysing the Court’s interpretation of “race”, I argue that the legal framing of LGBTphobia as a form of “social racism”, while celebrated as progressive, paradoxically reinforces colonial racial hierarchies and the marginalisation of Black LGBT people.

Between Prayer and Mercy: Intimacy and Violence in Ocean Vuong’s Queer Poetics with Dr Lara Mazurski
Wednesday 11 February, 1pm - 2pm
Online - Join here

Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship webinar. This talk examines how poetry can theorize queer survival in the shadow of anti-LBGTQIA+ violence. Focusing on Ocean Vuong's collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds and poems including “Seventh Circle of Earth” (written in response to the 2011 immolation murders of Michael Humphrey and Clayton Capstaw) and “Into the Breach,” I explore how marginalized communities create a language of intimacy and citizenship when state and social protections fail. Drawing on José Esteban Muñoz's notion of queer futurity and Sara Ahmed’s phenomenology of orientation, I argue that Vuong constructs what I call a “devotional eroticism,” a counter-theology of desire that claims queer intimacy and violence. Vuong transforms destruction and negation into forms of witness. Vuong’s collection makes visible the precarity of queer life, from elegizing victims of violence to exploring the psychic wounds of same-sex desire marked as sin. His appropriation of religious language, such as prayer, devotion, and revelation, reclaims the very discourses used to condemn queerness and turns them into celebrations of love. Situating queer touch as both transgressive and joyful, Vuong offers a poetics of survival that challenges binaries between desire and violence, turning trauma into possibility.


Scratch Night LGBTQ+ History Month takeover
Wednesday 11 February, 6pm - 8pm
Lakeside Theatre

Join us for our monthly Scratch Night, at the Lakeside Theatre bar!

Whether you’re a performer or an audience member, join us for a lively evening with a café full of friendly people.

Our compère will be the amazing Alice K Stephens! There’s no theme and work in all stages of development are welcome, think Open Mic Night, but with a more performative focus!

Everyone is welcome to attend, and this is your chance to shape the performing arts scene on campus!

Request your performance slot or turn up on the night!

Valentine's Day Speed Dating
Saturday 14 February, 5.00pm - 7.30pm
SU Bar

Ditch the dating apps and try something a little more old-school this Valentine’s. Join us in the bar for a night of speed dating, good vibes, and easy conversations.

You’ll have short, timed chats with a range of people - just enough time to see if there’s a spark, make a connection, or at the very least have a laugh. No pressure, no awkward long silences, just a relaxed and welcoming way to meet new people.

Whether you’re looking for romance, a crush, or just a fun Valentine’s experience with a drink in hand, this is the perfect excuse to put yourself out there.

Music Bingo Takeover
Saturday 14 February, 8pm - 10pm

SU Bar

Join us in the bar for a special LGBTQ+ History Month edition of Music Bingo - celebrating queer icons, anthems, and the music that’s shaped our community. Swap numbers for songs as you mark off your bingo card to a soundtrack packed with LGBTQ+ classics, proud pop moments, and crowd-favourite bangers. Sing along, shout it out, and get ready for a night that’s equal parts celebration, nostalgia, and chaos. No music knowledge needed - just bring your mates, grab a drink, and celebrate LGBTQ+ history the loud, joyful way.

Community Market: Donation
Tuesday 17 February, 10am - 4pm
Square 3

LGBTQ+ History Month Lecture Talk: Queerness, Monstrosity, and the Supernatural: Joachim Trier’s Thelma
Tuesday 24 February, 4pm - 5pm
CTC.2.02

Joachim Trier’s Thelma (2017) depicts a young queer woman with a growing range of telekinetic powers, including the ability to teleport people and objects, control others’ thoughts, and exert influence over the natural world. Drawing on scholarly work in the fields of queer studies and monster studies, this talk will focus on the complex relationship between queerness, monstrosity, and the supernatural in the film. While the trope of queerness as a form of monstrosity is by now an established convention of horror cinema, Thelma complicates this familiar identification through the ambiguous portrayal of its protagonist, who is framed simultaneously as a queer youth, a monstrous being, a supernaturally gifted individual, a prospective superhero, and even, perhaps, a holy or divine person. The talk will consider the extent to which Thelma may be understood in terms of each of these roles, how the film integrates them with one another, and what conclusions we might draw from this.

Pride
Wednesday 25 February, 6pm
CINE10
Free Showing of ‘Pride’ in CINE10 (LTB10)

Pride is a powerful, feel-good pick for our LGBTQ+ History Month celebration — and it’s coming to the stage as a new musical in 2026. Written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus, the story follows LGBTQ+ activists who supported Welsh mining families during the 1984 UK miners’ strike, highlighting queer activism, allyship, and solidarity.

Real Boy
Friday 27 February, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre

After moving to yet another new school and unexpectedly making friends with a hypermasculine trans ally, a gender-questioning teenager must fight back against bullies, friends and his mother to finally embrace his identity as a trans boy. Will he succeed or succumb to his people-pleasing ways?

LGBTQ+ Drag Sip & Paint!
Saturday 28 February, 6pm - 9pm
Sub Zero

Get creative with a side of chaos at Drag Sip & Paint - a fabulous evening of art, drinks, and drag excellence. Join us in the bar as our stunning drag host brings the laughs, the looks, and the vibes while you sip your drink and create your own masterpiece. No artistic skills needed - whether your painting is a work of genius or beautifully unhinged, it’s all part of the fun. Expect bold colours, big personalities, and plenty of audience interaction in a relaxed, welcoming space where you can let loose and enjoy something a little different.

Much Ado About Nothing
Thursday 12 and Friday 13 March, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre

Love. Deceit. Soirées. Shakespeare.

Step into the roaring ’20s filled with love, deceit, and soirées, for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Against a backdrop of the 1920s highlife, follow four lovers and their blooming relationship as they try to overcome bitter rivalries and life-threatening gossip.

After returning from the war, Count Claudio falls in love with Hero, his host’s daughter. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedick exchange cutting words in a game of wit. While the former pair’s relationship grows, Beatrice and Benedick are duped into thinking the other loves them.

But Claudio and Hero’s relationship isn’t safe from deception either. A cunning plot by the nefarious Don John seeks to tear their budding romance apart, bringing Hero’s reputation down with it.

Dust off your masquerade masks and be our esteemed guest for this journey. With extravagant soirées, a host of quips and jabs, and a game of social deception, there’s something for everyone in this take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Heal All Wounds
Thursday 19 March, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre

Ten years, two couples, one shared past. In the modern day, married couple Isaac and Gabriel prepare for what should be a simple evening: a dinner party. On the guest list are Gabriel’s colleague, Anna, and her husband, Luke. The table is set, the meal is prepared, and the wine has been corked, all the preparations for a lovely dinner. It seems like nothing could go wrong. That is until Isaac opens the door and sees Luke for the first time in a decade.

As the evening unfolds, polite conversation becomes a battlefield of unspoken memories. Neither Gabriel nor Anna knows that Isaac and Luke share a secret past in conversion therapy where their budding love was punished, their identities dissected, and their faith manipulated.

As the two confront each other behind the backs of their partners, they are reminded of intense feelings of shame and fear. Told through flashbacks to the past, Isaac and Luke can no longer run from their history. Has time healed their wounds or are some traumas too great to overcome?