A staged reading of the play originally staged in 1979 by pioneering gay theatre company Gay Sweatshop, directed by Jack Davies.

Followed by a Q&A including designer of the original production, Paul Dart.

Focusing on the 19th-century Utopian socialist Edward Carpenter, it explores the key relationships he had three working-class men who shared his life, all called George, alongside the early beginnings of the Labour party and the ideals that gave rise to it – and its later separation from sexual politics. Acclaimed at the time as the first piece of gay theatre to explore the inter-relationship of personal lives and the wider culture.

Noel Greig (1944-2009) was one of the key playwrights to emerge from the alternative theatre movement of the 1970s and 80s, who cut his teeth at the Brighton Combination arts lab, moved on to the Bradford-based agit prop socialist company The General Will, before joining Gay Sweatshop where in 1977, with Drew Griffiths, he wrote As Time Goes By, confronting the history of gay oppression over three time periods. He went on to write Poppies(1983) a moving and powerful exploration of the nuclear threat, masculinity and desire, as well as working extensively in young people’s theatre with numerous ground-breaking plays including Plague of Innocence (1989) about the AIDS epidemic.

Produced by Unfinished Histories, supported by New Unity.

Visit Unfinished Histories: Recording the History of the Alternative Theatre Movement where you can discover more about Gay Sweatshop, Noel Greig and numerous other companies and individuals.

This reading forms part of the events programme for the PICTURE THIS: ILLUSTRATING THE NEWS: THE CARTOONS & ILLUSTRATIONS OF GAY NEWS & CAPITAL GAY exhibition at Newington Green Meeting House

Staged Reading: The Dear Love of Comrades

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