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Queer Up North International Festival has revealed the first glimpse of the line up for their May 2010 event. Europe’s first queer arts festival, based in Manchester, celebrates its 18th anniversary this year. Organisers have decided to commemorate the milestone by re-presenting key works from past years alongside their usual programme of world or European premières, and new commissioned work.

2006 performance Susan and Darren has been reworked to reflect the changing relationship between dancer Darren Pritchard and his party loving mother, Susan. Starving Artist’s award-winning signature piece Road Movie, originally performed in 1995, will also be revisited especially for the festival.

Among the new performances scheduled is Must: An Inside Story, presented by Peggy Shaw in collaboration with the Clod Ensemble. Shaw is a legend of the New York performance art scene and will here  share her view of the medical profession from her current perspective as a 65-year-old lesbian grandmother. Elsewhere, Christopher Green – better known as Southern Belle Tina C – will host an 18th birthday party featuring Stockport housewife Mrs Barbara Nice, a new strip routine from Ursula Martinez and karaoke from Kazuko Hohki and her Frank Chickens.

Queer Up North faced closure in 2007 due to Arts Council cutbacks. The decision was reversed after an appeal and the festival is now once again building on the success of previous years. Organisers had further cause to celebrate this year when their co-commissioned, anti-homophobic bullying work, FIT, was made into a film and sent to every secondary school in the country.

The 2010 festival runs from 18 to 31 May at venues across Manchester, including the La Gayola Spiegeltent. The specially erected mobile dance hall is set to host cabaret, burlesque and musical performances over the closing weekend of the festival. The full line-up will be published in the next fortnight. See here for more information.

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