DIY: 2019 – Cade and MacAskill: The Making of Pinocchio

A playfully theatrical DIY for trans, intersex, non-binary and genderqueer artists exploring notions of realness through the desires of a wooden puppet to be “a real boy”.

Deadline for applications: Thursday 27 June
This DIY is supported by The Marlborough Pub and Theatre

Project summary

We’re currently excavating Disney’s Pinocchio as an imperfect trans narrative. We invite genderqueer artists to respond to this old weird cartoon with us, conjuring up new queer versions, that might contain multiple autobiographies and complex representations of trans and non-binary experiences. Responding performatively we will experiment with different approaches to the idea of realness both theatrically and in our own gendered expressions, questioning the politics of the ‘real’ identity and what it means to us in terms of queer activism.

Are we trying to mould ourselves into existing categories in order to be seen as real or legitimate? Or are we in the act of creating new identities and demanding they be recognised as real? Legitimising new ways of being? Or is our queer strategy to dismantle the idea of the real in terms of identity?

This DIY is an opportunity to bring together a group of queer artists to explore some of these questions and create performance material together. We will make space to share autobiographical experiences, and listen to a range of perspectives on broader ideas about societal transformation and queer strategies for moving forward. And mainly, we will be doing our best wooden puppet drag, enacting our fantasies, and recreating Pinocchio to speak to our contemporary climate.

How to apply

We are looking for genderqueer, trans, intersex, and non-binary artists to apply. It is important that you are able to generate performance material and feel comfortable performing in front of others in the workshop scenario. We’re open to artists at any stage of development.

Please create a video that is no more that 4 mins long. In the video please do the following:

• Briefly describe your practice/performance experience
• Tell us why you are interested in this DIY
• Tell us what “being a real boy” means to you.

Please upload the video to Youtube/Vimeo and follow the link below to upload.

Dates, times and location

Dates: Friday 20 – Sunday 22 September, 2019
Location: Brighton, The Marlborough Pub and Theatre 

The artists

Cade and MacAskill are Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill, who are renowned queer live artists based in Glasgow, creating and performing their unique works nationally and internationally in a wide range of contexts. Their work, together and individually, straddles the worlds of contemporary theatre, live art, queer cabaret, film, children’s performance, site-specific and socially engaged practices. They’re currently touring MOOT MOOT, commissioned by Fierce, The Marlborough and The Yard which will be seen at Edinburgh Fringe 2019 as part of the Made In Scotland showcase and British Council Showcase.

They were awarded the inaugural Diane Torr award from Take Me Somewhere and The Work Room, and are being supported by Kampnagel, Hamburg; Tramway, Glasgow and Fierce, Birmingham to develop a new work. Cade and MacAskill regularly perform together in their anti-genre live art concept band ‘Double Pussy Clit Fuck’ which assaults audiences across performance, club and music contexts.

For questions about this DIY, please contact the artists.