Join us for an evening of powerful theatre, personal storytelling and conversation exploring love, memory, resilience and the power of queer voices across cultures.
Bringing together artists and LGBTIQ+ communities from the UK, Colombia and Mexico, for one night only we invite audiences to explore how creativity can preserve memory, challenge injustice and imagine more hopeful futures. Through theatre, shared experiences and discussion the event will reflect on the ways stories connect communities across cultures while honouring the distinct histories from which they emerge.
Experience the world premiere of the first English translation of Bodies Condemned by Oblivion (Cuerpos Desahuciados por el Olvido) by Colombian playwright Jhonnathan Velásquez, presented as a rehearsed reading by LGBTIQ+ actors from Oxford. Set during Colombia's armed conflict, the play follows two young men forcibly recruited into guerrilla forces. As they navigate war and displacement, they must also reckon with their love for one another.
The evening continues with a sharing of original work from local community members developed in workshops led by Jhonnathan Velásquez and Mexican author Julio Díaz Calderón, connecting local stories with wider conversations about queer memory, violence and resistance. The work shared is rooted in lived experiences of love, identity, discrimination, joy and belonging.
The evening will conclude with an open discussion featuring artists, actors and academics who will explore the role of queer storytelling, artistic collaboration and art as acts of remembrance, resistance and hope—and invite you to be part of the conversation.
Whether you're passionate about theatre, interested in queer histories and contemporary voices, or simply curious to experience something thought-provoking and moving please join us for an evening of shared reflection and dialogue. Everyone is welcome.
This evening of queer memory emerges from the DPhil research of Emma Pritchard, which explores how LGBTIQ+ communities use storytelling to respond to experiences of violence and discrimination, particularly after conflict. Through their fieldwork in Colombia they had the opportunity to attend early dramatic readings of Bodies Condemned by Oblivion, and built a collaboration with Jhonnathan Velasquez and Julio Calderón that gave rise to this project celebrating cross-cultural narration of queer experience.
Please note, the performance of Bodies Condemned by Oblivion will be a rehearsed reading; images are from a previous production in Colombia.
Structure of the 28th October show
The evening offers a conversation between queer experiences across cultures, contexts and times. It opens with the dramatic reading of Bodies Condemned by Oblivion, followed by monologues developed in a workshop with local members of the LGBTIQ+ community here in Oxford. After an interval, there will be a Q&A with the artists, academics, actors, and translators, giving a window into the process through which works like this come together.
Historical Context
Drawing on experiences collected by the Colombian Truth Commission, Bodies Condemned by Oblivion reflects on the Colombian Armed Conflict for a queer perspective, drawing together various experiences of violence committed against people with diverse forms of sexual and gender expression. Through over 70 years of violence that touched all parts of the country, the conflict had a profound effect on historically marginalised communities. The play centres around a particular moment within the conflict, the massacre of Bojayá, which took place on 2nd May 2002. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) launched a pipe bomb which hit the church of Bellavista, where the population of the town had sought refuge. The tragedy of this massacre did not end with the explosion, many families have spent years unable to identify their loved ones, or give them a proper burial. In November 2019, the remains of those who could be identified were finally returned to their families, after many years of exhumations and forensic investigation, finally allowing for a process of collective grief and dignity for the victims of the massacre.
Without drawing equivalence between different experiences of violence, the play examines how conflict, prejudice, and the mechanisms of exclusion have contributed to the invisibilisation of particular lives and memories. Through theatre, the work invites recognition of queer experiences in the armed conflict, and reflects on memory, resistance, and the right to exist and be remembered.
