Gary Clarke Company proudly presents their highly anticipated new dance theatre show, Detention, following the multi award-winning Coal and critically acclaimed Wasteland.
Detention explores the impact of SECTION 28: a piece of largely hidden legislation from Thatcher’s Conservative Government in 1988, which ‘prohibited the promotion of homosexuality’, forcing people from the LGBT+ community into a place of secrecy, fear and shame at a time when the country was in industrial turmoil and the gay community was being ravaged by the onslaught of AIDS.
Gary Clarke’s powerful and personal working-class storytelling draws on public and private stories and testimonies, including a rare insight into the LGBT+ Switchboard Logbooks, combined with vivid choreography performed by a company of exceptional dancers, an evocative narrator, a local cast of LGBT+ people, striking designs in film, sound, light and costume and music tracks by the iconic band TEST DEPT.
Detention is a bold and moving exploration of the violence, loneliness, protests, debates, unlikely allies and the remarkable individuals and organisations of the time.
Running time: 85 minutes with no interval
Age suitability: 14+ (schools guidance)
Warning: contains some flashing lights, loud music, smoke effects, references to violence, homophobia.
A word from Gary Clarke
Detention is the third and final part of a trilogy of dance theatre works
following Coal and Wasteland.
What unites this trilogy is 1980’s Britain, a time when our country was governed by Margaret Thatcher and how different marginalised communities fought for their human rights, their livelihoods and their existence.
Born in 1980 in a working-class pit village, as a young gay man I spent all of my childhood, teenage years and early adult life living under Section 28 – the hard hitting, hidden legislation that forced many LGBT+ people like myself into a place of secrecy and shame.
Today I am out and proud, yet I am left picking up the pieces, trying to make sense of what happened and what the lasting impact is on those of us who experienced it – which is why I created Detention.
I have been on an extensive and often horrifying research journey, drawing on books, articles, exhibitions and interviews (some of which can be found on the ‘Making The Show’ page). I found violence, shame, isolation and suicide, but also incredible solidarity, community, heroism, activism, unlikely allies, protest, and truly remarkable individuals and organisations of the time, all of which is featured in the show.
I was also given rare insight into the LGBT+ Switchboard Logbooks from the time, uncovering the desperate and often lonely phone calls of the only lifeline around.
Whilst I understand we have made good progress, Detention is ultimately a personal, political, urgent, angry and frightened call to action and an attempt to honour the past by acknowledging an important benchmark in LGBT+ history that shaped our resilient and courageous community forever.
Gary Clarke, March 2025
