We Are Lesbian

We Are Lesbian is a bold, high-energy dance theatre work celebrating lesbian visibility, history and joy. Blending contemporary dance, cabaret, verbatim testimony and an electrifying original pop score, WAL centres contemporary lesbian and queer female-identifying voices with humour, defiance and heart.

Developed through lived-experience R&D with lesbian artists, the work travels from the poetry of Sappho to the cultural flashpoint of Ellen DeGeneres, exposing the gaps, distortions and public panics that have shaped lesbian visibility. A satirical “History of Lesbians” lecture fractures into sweat-soaked choreography. Activist chants erupt and dissolve. Tender confessions land with force. The political and the personal sit side by side.

At its core is verbatim testimony drawn from interviews with living lesbians across generations. Their words shape the rhythm of the show, stories of naming and dead names, of presenting and being misread, of coming out and choosing not to. Stories of glass closets and “straight cosplay.” Of chosen family, queer migration and building a life where none seemed possible. Reclaimed activist language from the 70s and 80s pulses through the soundscape, unapologetic and alive.

Composer Jemima Brown’s original pop score is built directly from interview transcripts, meaning audiences are hearing real lesbian voices, transformed into something loud, rhythmic and defiantly physical.

WAL confronts erasure, censorship and cultural amnesia head-on, ensuring lesbian lives are not sanitised or folded quietly into broader narratives. It might just be the most fun history lesson you’ve ever had. A celebration. A reclamation. A riot.

Designed as a flexible, cabaret-style touring production, WAL can ignite theatres, studios, Pride festivals, rural venues and club spaces alike, creating a communal, high-voltage experience.