Bunker Talk #161: Jamal Gerald
Part of the Bunker Talk Series of Events
Jamal Gerald is a writer and performance artist based in Leeds. Since 2014, his practice has spanned Live Art, theatre, performance, short film, and poetry, exploring spirituality, ancestry, and the intersections of Blackness and queerness. His work is conversational, unapologetic, and socially driven.
He is the author of Dee Jumbie Dance: A Resurrection (2023) and has participated in the Channel 4 New Writers Scheme (2024/25). His writing has been published by Methuen Drama, Oberon Books, and the Live Art Development Agency.
Selected commissioned works include Idol (Transform / Theatre in the Mill, 2019), 3 Monday Midnights (Heart of Glass, 2020), and Baba Osain (Marlborough Productions, 2024), which was also supported by Factory International. His short play Pastor Fi Dead was presented at the Royal Court as part of Queer Upstairs (2021), and his monologue Dear Chief was commissioned by Eclipse Theatre for My White Best Friend – North (2021).
In 2025, he created A Joy Ritual, an interactive performance at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. Other touring highlights include You See…, a one-to-one performance which has been presented at Kampnagel (Hamburg), SPILL Festival, and New Performance Turku (Finland). His work has also been presented at venues, festivals, and showcases including Battersea Arts Centre, Barbican, Leeds Playhouse, HOME, Roundhouse, Contact, Midlands Arts Centre, and caravan.
Jamal has undertaken artist residencies at Alice Yard (Trinidad) and RISCO Festival (São Paulo, Brazil), and completed research in Montserrat funded by Arts Council England. He is a recipient of Jerwood Arts’ Live Work Fund (2021) and the Another Route Fellowship (2022), and was shortlisted for the Adopt A Playwright Award (2023).
Bunker Talks
This event is part of Bunker Talks. Bunker Talks invite artists and researchers to talk about who they are and what they do. Curated by the Performance Research Group at Manchester School of Art and the School of English, Bunker Talks explore geopolitical, ecological or economic concerns. The talks create space for critical encounters, presentations, provocation and dialogue as part of a civic conversation.
Originally conceived in the pandemic to explore how artists, writers, curators and researchers continued to make and share their work, live Bunker Talks now take place at The Salutation every month. Since 2020, over 150 talks have been hosted by Performance Researchers and colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. All talks are recorded, edited, captioned and then archived to create an online catalogue, capturing how artists, makers and curators think about the world today. Find previous talks here: https://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/bunkertalks/
Main Event Contact and URL
Michael Pinchbeck m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
Part of the Bunker Talk Series of Events
Jamal Gerald is a writer and performance artist based in Leeds. Since 2014, his practice has spanned Live Art, theatre, performance, short film, and poetry, exploring spirituality, ancestry, and the intersections of Blackness and queerness. His work is conversational, unapologetic, and socially driven.
He is the author of Dee Jumbie Dance: A Resurrection (2023) and has participated in the Channel 4 New Writers Scheme (2024/25). His writing has been published by Methuen Drama, Oberon Books, and the Live Art Development Agency.
Selected commissioned works include Idol (Transform / Theatre in the Mill, 2019), 3 Monday Midnights (Heart of Glass, 2020), and Baba Osain (Marlborough Productions, 2024), which was also supported by Factory International. His short play Pastor Fi Dead was presented at the Royal Court as part of Queer Upstairs (2021), and his monologue Dear Chief was commissioned by Eclipse Theatre for My White Best Friend – North (2021).
In 2025, he created A Joy Ritual, an interactive performance at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. Other touring highlights include You See…, a one-to-one performance which has been presented at Kampnagel (Hamburg), SPILL Festival, and New Performance Turku (Finland). His work has also been presented at venues, festivals, and showcases including Battersea Arts Centre, Barbican, Leeds Playhouse, HOME, Roundhouse, Contact, Midlands Arts Centre, and caravan.
Jamal has undertaken artist residencies at Alice Yard (Trinidad) and RISCO Festival (São Paulo, Brazil), and completed research in Montserrat funded by Arts Council England. He is a recipient of Jerwood Arts’ Live Work Fund (2021) and the Another Route Fellowship (2022), and was shortlisted for the Adopt A Playwright Award (2023).
Bunker Talks
This event is part of Bunker Talks. Bunker Talks invite artists and researchers to talk about who they are and what they do. Curated by the Performance Research Group at Manchester School of Art and the School of English, Bunker Talks explore geopolitical, ecological or economic concerns. The talks create space for critical encounters, presentations, provocation and dialogue as part of a civic conversation.
Originally conceived in the pandemic to explore how artists, writers, curators and researchers continued to make and share their work, live Bunker Talks now take place at The Salutation every month. Since 2020, over 150 talks have been hosted by Performance Researchers and colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. All talks are recorded, edited, captioned and then archived to create an online catalogue, capturing how artists, makers and curators think about the world today. Find previous talks here: https://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/bunkertalks/
Main Event Contact and URL
Michael Pinchbeck m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
Good to know
Highlights
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- In person
Location
Manchester Poetry Library
Manchester Metropolitan University
Grosvenor East, Cavendish Street Manchester M15 6BG
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