All The Devils Community Engagement Workshops

All The Devils is a bold new queer play by Jonathan Larkin. This darkly comic operatic thriller takes us on a poppers-fuelled rollercoaster ride through an ‘afters’ that goes horribly wrong. With flawed, chaotic and devilishly dark queer men at its centre, All The Devils pulls no punches as it explores what makes us chase those highs into the most dangerous and destructive places.

ATD Community Engagement Workshops and Zine Toolkit is a new programme dedicated to improving health and wellbeing through the power of the arts. Partnering with Sahir House, the All The Devils team will be hosting a series of workshops looking at queer theatre, queer horror, how queer people are represented in the media, and using art and creativity to get the conversation going about the themes explored in the play. Offering an informal and non-judgemental space, we aim to share stories, connect and raise awareness around sexual health and chemsex within the LGBTQ+ community.

Join us for a six-month workshop series starting on Wednesday 27 May with a Performance Reading of All The Devils at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester. Monthly workshop sessions will commence on Wednesday 3 June at Sahir House. These workshops will run alongside the development of All The Devils, which will premiere at the Liverpool Playhouse for Homotopia Festival in November 2026. Participants will receive a complimentary ticket to see the play.

The programme opens up honest public conversations about personal experiences relating to intimacy and sex among gay men, trans women, trans men, and other queer people who might meet on apps or in community spaces. Together, participants will explore themes including intimacy, pleasure, addiction, cruising, and shame.

Each workshop will be led by Dr Maurice Nagington and playwright Jonathan Larkin, alongside Gary Needham, Visual Facilitator Ben Youdan, Sexual Health Practitioner Chris Higgins and supported by LGBT Engagement Worker Moon Scott.  Workshops last a maximum of one hour and a half (with breaks) and are for adults aged 18+ only. For more information or to register your interest, please contact [email protected]

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

Session 1, Queerness of Horror Wed 3 June: 6pm. All The Devils is a thriller that takes its inspirations from horror. It addresses real life horrors by exploring supernatural and fantastical tropes. LGBTQ people have a long history of loving horror – so what’s your favourite scary movie? And what scares you? Why do you think LGBTQ people love horror so much? With Gary Needham, Jonathan talks through the horror and thriller inspirations behind the play and how they relate to LGBTQ people.

Session 2, Chemsex – Before the Comedown Wed 1 July: 6pm. Whilst chemsex is a major issue within the LGBTQ community, its portrayals in art and media have been varied. Maurice Nagington talks about how representation has evolved, and the impact that has on the community. Friendships, connections and relationships can be forged after hours – so how does that get explored beyond statistics and stigma?

Session 3, Queer Narratives – From Page to Stage  Wed 5 August: 6pm. As a piece of queer theatre All The Devils aims to be subversive by pushing kink to the centre stage. What’s your favourite ‘gay play’? What do you like, what do you hate? What do you want to see more of onstage? And what do you think of the evil gays trope? Led by Gary Needham, Jonathan discusses his page to stage process and talks about what inspired him to set his play in the world of chemsex, inviting participants to talk about how they would choose to share their stories.

Facilitators Bios:

Jonathan Larkin, is a Liverpool-based queer writer working across TV, theatre, and radio. He spent 17 years as a core member of the HOLLYOAKS (Channel 4) writing team, where he created two of the show’s first trans characters and brought an authentic working-class voice to the series. His last play Cherry Jezebel was described as ‘A high-velocity comedy about after-hours queer culture [combining] the brutal language of a working-class underdog with a heart as big as Liverpool’ (The Guardian ****)

Maurice Nagington is a health researcher at University of Manchester and author of The Moral Lessons of Chemsex - open access/free download

Chris Higgins is a Senior Sexual Health Outreach Practitioner at Axess Clinic

Gary Needham, is Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool. currently writing ‘Sex, Guys, and Videotape: American Independent Cinema and the AIDS Crisis'

Ben Youdan is a visual artist based in Liverpool, U.K. His mixed media work employs a wide variety of techniques and processes including collage, drawing, painting, printmaking and photography, to create imagery that takes inspiration from the iconography and ephemera of popular culture. His pieces explore themes such as identity, glamour and sexuality.

The play and workshop series is produced by Switchflicker

Partners: Sahir House, Homotopia, Axess and The Sexuality Summer School

Funders: National Lottery Community Fund and Arts Council England.

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