HELIOTROPIC

A cabaret opening turned into a confession about a stolen drag act...an old woman with dementia waiting for her son to visit her... and the Demon of Homosexuality preaching to all the children of God... In this solo piece somewhere between a drag show and a ritual of remembrance, Haris Ackermann explores the themes of chemsex and queer survival, drawing on aesthetics of butoh and Spanish copla to offer an intimate experience of the dissolved temporalities of grief, between the failure of memory, the impossibility to forget and the necessity to keep ‘facing sunward’. Blending together musical references from Sara Montiel and Fairuz to Genesis P.Orridge and Diamanda Galas, the piece develops a poetic reflection on gay culture, community-building and collective resilience.