From high on her altar the Drag-Queen-cum-Preacher leads her disciples in labial group singing from the homosexual hymnbook, doling out holy breastmilk cocktails from her countless plastic nipples. All are invited to this interactive sermon for troubled times. You can stay for as long or short as you wish.

Drawing from drag culture, queer kinship practices and religious iconography, Rosana Cade takes on “Mother”, troubling the archetypes with an irreverent, camp, grotesque representation. This joyful and disarmingly vulnerable performance pokes at the boundaries between self and other, grappling with the slippery nature of giving and receiving care.

Rosana Cade (they/them/theirs) is a Scotland-based artist and queer activist who works predominantly with live performance in public spaces such as theatres and galleries, night clubs and cabarets or simply the street. For Cade the live aspect is a strong tool for connecting people / spectators / participants / audience with ‘the Other’ by offering experiences that allow us to transcend the boundaries of our everyday frames of reference. Whether it’s in holding the hand of a stranger or receiving a lap dance, Cade explores how we can make intimate contact, revealing both conflict and pleasure. This search for connection is part of their queer activism and their striving for a world with more empathy and understanding between different types of people. In this light they see their practice as a form of caregiving for the audience.

rosanacade.co.uk/drag-mother-manifesto

As part of ‘We Love You’, a multidisciplinary programme on love beyond the romantic and the self - sep oct nov dec 2019