Critically acclaimed Pipeline Theatre Company launched the start of their national tour on Thursday 24th September, bringing their new show about prejudice, compassion and cultural differences to rural venues.
The brand new show George and the Drag Queen, supported by Create Tour Connect, started in Cornwall and tours to 36 areas across the country until 12th December.
The show
Set in a village fete with three actors playing multiple characters, the provocative, humourous and emotionally complex story introduces first aiders George and Maddy and Lebanese drag queen Elias, who is waiting to hear if it is safe to return to his homeland.
Against a backdrop of quintessential Englishness, the show exposes the complexity of the modern debates around migration, gender identity, and community and how people can be caught between loyalty and fear.
The company
Cornish based Pipeline Theatre Company has toured nationally since 2013. Writer Jon Welch draws on his own upbringing and Pipeline designers Jude and Alan Munden’s work with a local refugee charity. Young asylum seekers from the charity recently took part in a photography project looking at cultural differences, and their images will be on display as part of the tour.
Jon said: “I wanted to explore the idea that ‘nice’ people can sometimes adopt unpalatable ideas, but that when people have been displaced, traumatised and their lives threatened, the idea of arguing a ‘point’ melts away. I want audiences to be uplifted and to feel things in ways they weren’t expecting.”
Part of Create Tour Connect
This national tour is the south west commission from Create Tour Connect, led by Applause Rural Touring, working with Artsreach and local partners. CTC is funded by Arts Council England.
Applause Executive Director Dawn Badland said: “Create Tour Connect supports theatre companies and artists to bring original stories to places where access to the arts is limited. Stories should challenge us as well as entertain and Pipeline has a track record of doing just that.”
