Theatre production at Shoreditch Town Hall

The lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) performance project, Outbox, which focuses on telling forgotten and unheard stories from the gay community, will be presenting its new, original production - ‘Reach Out And Touch Me'.

Following on from the success of its first performance, a youth focused production called ‘SSA: Same Sex Attraction’, Outbox turned its attention to older LGB people with ‘The Front Room’ which looked at the isolation they can face within their communities. Now in it’s third year, the upcoming production will follow on from where The Front Room left off and look into what it takes to be part of a community, how far people will go to connect and what truly defines lesbian and gay culture.

Ben Buratta, Project Leader & Director of Outbox comments: “Reach Out and Touch Me is the most ambitious, bold project we have undertaken. For our third project, we wanted to produce something that truly engaged the audience and made them feel part of the LGB community, even for a short space of time. The basement of Shoreditch Town Hall is an undiscovered maze of rooms and corridors, which the audience will travel around to discover different aspects of the gay community and how it feels to connect within that. It is the perfect space for an audience member to explore the hidden, exciting, underground nature of the gay scene.”

Outbox forms part of Central School of Speech and Drama’s continued commitment to outreach, social and community inclusion and is funded by The Big Lottery Fund to work with lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people promoting intergenerational links through theatre. Noticing the lack of social mechanism for younger and older LGB people, the aim of Outbox is to create theatre that brings these people and their ideas together.

The Outbox performance project produces one show in London and another city per year as well as six national workshops for young LGB people.