Switchboard
Written and performed by Astro-Zenica from The House of SavalonA show about class, violence, access, visibility, hedonism, sexual freedom and community.
Throat parched: hand trembling: choice made. They reach for the phone: a piercing ring: the wait unending. Deep inhale: a silent breath: the whole world pauses just for a moment...
Hello? Is anybody there?
Are you a gay person? I’ve never spoken to someone who’s gay before...
Welcome to Switchboard, written and performed by radical performance artist Astro-Zenica, as an LGBTQ history month commissioned show by Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, in association with Outstories Bristol.
Drawing on archival research, call logs from The Bristol Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (1975–2012), and oral histories about queer nightlife and protest in the 1970s and 80s, join Astro-Zenica as they explore the myriad codes and languages developed by queer people to reach out, hook-up and find community.
A love letter to the radical queers, the club promoters, the party starters, the drag artists, the volunteers at the Switchboard, and most of all to Dale Wakefield, who opened the switchboard at her home in Totterdown in 1975.
Dale and the team received thousands of calls in the Switchboard’s opening years, listening to the fears, signposting to the club, offering rescue missions to those attacked on the street, and becoming a beacon of support during the AIDS crisis. All because of a belief in and commitment to the power of community.
