Defiantly challenging homophobia and transphobia across our communities, OUT is a duet – a conversation between two bodies, which bravely carves out a new kind of space, reclaiming Dancehall and celebrating queerness amongst the bittersweet scent of oranges.

Winner of the 2017 South East Dance A Place to Dance Brighton Fringe Award and nominated for the 2017 Total Theatre & The Place Award for Dance.

An interdisciplinary performance inspired by ongoing global struggles for LGBTQIA+ rights, OUT is a defiant challenge to the status quo. Bravely embracing personal, political and cultural dissonance, this work smashes through our violent colonial histories to reimagine, reclaim and celebrate our delicious queer future.

“We’re vibing, shape-shifting in a bid for acceptance“

Ray Young is an award winning trans-disciplinary performance artist, theatre maker, director and writer. Their practice exists at the boundaries of activism, queerness, race and neuro-diversity, holding space for those at the intersection of multiple identities, through collaboration and resistance to traditional form.

In recent years Ray’s work has focused on using their art to foster notions of rest, care and recovery, and what it means to both create and receive art as a neurodivergent person, considering a slower pace, and stepping outside of the capitalist ideologies of production. They are keen to explore how to build a practice that is more holistic both in terms of the whole self, and in drawing together art, nature and technology.

Ray’s most recent works are BODIES, an immersive water, light and soundscape installation that investigates the embodied experiences of our relationship to water, and sister piece THIRST TRAP – a meditative sound piece that delves into the correlation between social and climate justice.

Their work has been presented widely across the UK and internationally – including Portland, Geneva, Mexico City, Skopje and Vienna.

Ray is delighted to be presenting this iteration of OUT at Sadlers Wells.

Creator and Director Ray Young
Assistant Director Esme Allman
Performers and Additional Devising Azara Meghie and Bambi Phillips Jordan
Producer Steph Be with Jenna Mason
Production Manager Anna Smith
2024 Production Movement Director Nandi Bhebhe
Movement Consultant nussatari
Lighting Design Nao Nagai
Set Design Naomi Kuyck-Cohen
Sound Design Naomi Jackson
Sound Engineer Vincent Robinson
Costume Design Mia Maxwell
Assistant Costume Designer Kyara Chapman
Production Dramatherapist Wabriya King
Casting Consultant Ri McDaid-Wren
Access Assistants Mable Cable and Francis Slip
Original Co-Creator and Performer Dwayne Antony
2019-20 Performer and Additional Devising marikiscrycrycry
Original Outside Eye Joseph Mercier
Original Dramaturgical Support Martin Hargreaves

The 2024 restaging of the work has been supported by Cambridge Junction, Sadler’s Wells and Arts Council England.

Previous iterations of the work have been supported by The Marlborough Theatre, The Yard Theatre, IBT, Leicester Curve, South East Dance and Greenwich University.

Marketing Credits:
Content Manager Francis Slip
Graphic Designer Sam Thorne
Photographer Glodi Miessi
Videographer Ella Frost
Lighting by Robbie White
Gaffer Stefano Venturi
Photoshoot Costume Designer Mia Maxwell
Photoshoot Assistant Costume Designer Kyara Chapman
Photoshoot Make-Up Artist Bilan Suliman
Photoshoot Studio Kunstraum