An Evening with Dross | Homotopia Festival 2025

7:30pm

In a time defined by division – what might happen if we allow ourselves space to dream? How do the stories we tell to & about ourselves shape the world around us? How might the voices of our queer ancestors forge our future?
Having cut her teeth across the UK cabaret circuit developing a unique performance style that blends spectacle with deep vulnerability, these are the questions at the heart of Dross’ solo theatrical debut. It’s a show about radical empathy, deep listening & re-membering ourselves.

Weaving a thread that is equal parts biography and fantasy – AN EVENING WITH DROSS is a kaleidoscopic multimedia patchwork that seamlessly blends film, physical theatre and lip-sync – ‘elevating the craft of Drag into a place of collective hallucination’.
Dross’ physical performance is the locus of this work, acting as a conduit for forgotten and familiar voices from queer activism & cultural history. Here, the Drag Queen is repositioned as a living archive; a way-finder in a constellation of contradictions.
Audiences have called it a ‘masterclass in the art of lip-sync’, a ‘queer séance’, an ‘intelligent and thoughtful reflection on LGBTQ+ identity and community’ & ‘beautiful, smart and hilarious in waves.’

The project was developed with the kind support of FACT Studio/Labs & Homotopia QueerCore artist development programme. First scratched as part of the Homotopia QueerCore showcase at the Everyman Theatre, & then at QUARRY, Liverpool in August 2023. Since then, working iterations/excerpts of the show have been presented at Shakespeare North Playhouse, Preston Fringe, & at None of the Above Cabaret: In Conversation with Travis Alabanza.

The completed work has been presented as part of Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival, The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University & at The Divine, London. We are looking to tour the work nationally from Autumn 2025 into 2026.
DROSS is a neurodiverse, queer performance maker, activist, producer and scholar, living and working in the Liverpool City Region. She was Director & Co-Producer for EAT ME (Liverpool’s radical queer performance collective & production house) from 2019 to 2024. Most recently she starred in Katarzyna Perlak’s art film The Land Beneath Sleeps Lightly presented for Liverpool Biennial 2025.

She has produced, hosted and presented work in an array of queer performance contexts nationally – including galleries, clubs, festivals & theatres. In 2023 she hosted the Liverpool Eurovision Finale party at Pier Head for 20,000 revellers. She has recently produced the sixth month drag and queer performance artist development/incubator project Pink Pony Club, for emerging queer performance makers in Liverpool nightlife.

Her contemporaries (many of which also EAT ME alumni) include Sharon le Grand, Lasana Shabazz, Dan Chan, Midgitte Bardot, Franz Genau & Auntie Climax.
She is interested in horror, camp, magic & liberation. She is an interdisciplinary magpie, with wanton disregard for genre & form.

 

CREATIVE TEAM:
Devised and performed by Dross
Dramaturgy: Alice Holland
Script Advisor: Brendan Curtis
Musical Elements: Emily Meghan Lansley & Alex Germains
Animation Elements: Laura Spark
Costuming: Lizzie Biscuits
Show Manager(s) Danielle Scharpf & Evyn Seaton-Mooney

Skinny Living

3pm & 7pm
An Acoustic Evening with Skinny Living

Skinny Living are a three-piece English indie-soul band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band is made up of guitarist Will Booth, Belfast-born vocalist Ryan Johnston and guitarist Danny Hepworth.

Waiting For Godot

Matthew Kelly and George Costigan star in a new staging of Samuel Beckett’s classic play – in which absolutely nothing happens.

Set in a shifting, timeless landscape, Waiting for Godot follows two men, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait for someone who may never come. As they pass the time with scraps of conversation, moments of tenderness and flashes of dark humour, their story becomes a moving reflection on what it means to keep going in a world that rarely offers answers.

Beckett’s timeless play endures as one of the defining works of the 20th century and returns to our stage in all its strange, funny and heart-breaking brilliance. Darkly comic and deeply moving, Waiting for Godot is a profound exploration of what it means to be human – even when the waiting never ends.

Pixiematosis – The Object Project

7:30pm
Everything was perfect in the midnight garden. The flowers grew, the fairies flew, the grobbity  grobbits danced a merry dance in the twinkly moonlight. Then one day, without warning, the  deranged gardener from next door threw the shed door wide, and let loose the massive-evil pitchfork-of-doom!

PIXIEMATOSIS is a happy/sad tale of tiny extraordinary creatures living in a nocturnal paradise  who realise, far too late, that they are being exploited for a distinctly sinister purpose.

Featuring sqwonky puppets, odd-automata and a slew of charity-shop rejects, PIXIEMATOSIS is  not unlike watching a lost episode of Bagpuss, filmed by the Tales of the Unexpected crew… or  witnessing Fingermouse being folded up and used to stop a pub table wobbling.

Come along, be charmed, be appalled; get swept up in the existential madness of it all, Plus Meet the puppets on stage after the performance!

 

“We loved Pixiematosis and people still talk about how brilliant it was.”

Jack Robson – Crediton Arts Centre

 

“There is a lot of love in this show. Surprises delightful and traumatic. Laughter and horror. I highly recommend it.”

Audience member – Ashburton Arts Centre

 

 

The Team

Marc Parrett – Writer, director, designer, performer

Nicole Colbert – Director, technician, creative support

Ione Vaughan – Associate Producer

The Idea of God | Milap Festival

7:30pm

THE IDEA OF GOD
A solo Bharatanatyam performance by Dr. Apoorva Jayaraman

Is He the creator, or is He my creation? Does God reside in art, or is art a path to the divine? Do I seek Him, or is She already within me?

The Idea of God is a full-length solo Bharatanatyam performance that traverses Indian thought and literature — from the ancient Vedas and Sangam texts to revolutionary writing of the 21st century.

Through a series of powerful and rarely explored narratives, this evocative performance probes the evolving idea of the divine in Indian philosophy.

Blending classical rigour with contemporary insight, Dr. Apoorva Jayaraman invites audiences to reflect on where the divine truly resides — in form, in feeling, or within the self. This is not simply a recital, but a layered enquiry into the many ways we imagine God.

Dancing the Divine | Milap Festival

7:30pm

Conceived and performed by Sanjukta Sinha

Inspired by the timeless figure of Krishna, Dancing the Divine is a journey through love, longing, and surrender — a personal exploration of devotion, presence, and the unseen.

In this intimate solo, Sanjukta Sinha draws from recent work that reflects a quiet, internal dialogue with the idea of the divine — however one may imagine it. Krishna never appears, yet his essence is felt in every movement and stillness.

Through Kathak, Sanjukta asks: Can love exist without form? Can absence still hold presence?

This is not a retelling of myths, but a living inquiry — an experience where the dancer becomes the seeker, the beloved, the question itself. The stage becomes a space to experience something beyond words — whatever that may mean to you.

Under-5s Concerts: Magic Forest

Saturday 21 February, 1pm & 2.45pm

Join presenter Claire Henry and musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as they take you on a journey through an enchanted forest. Claire might need your help casting some spells along the way!

Tickets for under-6 months are free but must be booked in advance with an adult ticket.

 

Under-5s Concerts: Blast Off

 

Wednesday 12 November, 11am, 1pm & 2.45pm

Help astronaut Claire Henry and musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to power the rocket and blast off into space! We’ve lined up a concert full of exciting space music and our audience will be very busy helping to make the launch a success. 

Tickets for under-6 months are free but must be booked in advance with an adult ticket.

 

Family Concert: Nature Trail

 

Sunday 8 March 2026 2:30pm

Programme to include: Beethoven Symphony No.6, ‘Pastoral’: Movement 1 Dai Wei The Dancing Moonlight Vaughan Williams The Wasps, Overture Music from Brave

Lucy Drever presenter Charlotte Corderoy conductor Kate Labno BSL Interpreter

Muddy puddles, creepy crawlies, and maybe even a few furry friends – follow the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as they set off on a magical, musical nature trail. Whether it’s the bottom of the garden, or the woods round the corner, there’s always something to discover when you step into nature, and today our Orchestra brings the outdoors inside with a spectacular showcase of works inspired by the countryside. So put on your wellies, and let’s have an adventure!

Family concerts are designed for 5-10 year olds, but all the family are welcome! 

*Please note that BSL Interpretation will be provided at this performance – please contact our Box Office on 0151 709 3789 to book suitable seats.

 

Family Concert: Santa’s Christmas Party

Saturday 20 December, 11.30am & 2.30pm

Sunday 21 December, 2.30pm

Alasdair Malloy presenterEllie Slorach conductorLiverpool Philharmonic Children’s ChoirsKate Labno BSL Interpreter*

There’s only a few sleeps to go until the big day, but Santa Claus is getting ready to throw his little elves an absolute cracker of a Christmas party – and of course you’re invited! With the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and our Children’s Choirs providing a sparkling soundtrack, get ready for seasonal singalongs, plenty of dancing, and fun and games galore in this family festive extravaganza. RSVP as soon as you can – Santa can’t wait to see you there!

Family concerts are designed for 5-10 year olds, but all the family are welcome!

*Please note that BSL Interpretation will be provided at the 2.30pm performance on Saturday 20 December.