The Q photo on Stagedoor

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Part of The Takeover Sight Unseen Season

Show Ended

Date & Time

Show ended

Mon 10 Apr - Sun 16 Apr 2023, 6pm & 7pm

Runtime: 1h 10m

Recommended By

One of the criticisms increasingly levelled at the solo artistic director model of leadership, which still predominates in British theatre, is that it can lead to tunnel vision, in which programming may be done to some extent by a team but is strongly influenced by the person at the top of the theatre. It’s inevitable, not least because it tends to be that individual who is the face of the organisation and who is held accountable for the success or failure of a season. But what happens to a theatre’s output when four guest artistic directors from widely varying theatre backgrounds curate their own mini-programmes of work? Step up the King’s Head where Tom Ratcliffe, Tania Azevedo, and David Cumming are taking the reins for a short time each. The experiment kicks off with Isabel Adomakoh Young choosing a season of shows that include Unleash the Llama with Five Years with the White Man about the black satirist ABC Merriman-Labor, who wrote the first ethnographic account of the White Man; the drag king piece King Dynasty from the queer Pan-Asian company Bitten Peach; Alice McKee’s Perverts about threesomes and internalised shame; and much, much more.

About The Q

A rapid-fire, state-of-the-nation satire, & the very first play to be set in the context of the most absurd yet moving spectacle of 2022: the queue for the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II. A poignant & powerful play, packed full of laughs & tears, bringing together adulterous doctors, ailing drag queens, wannabe (Christian) rockstars, manic-depressive housewives, & placing them all in the queue formed to mourn a beloved, lately-departed monarch. This show is part of Sight Unseen, a season curated by Isabel Adomakoh Young for The Takeover. Age Recommendation: 15+