Tag Archives: queer
Major Projects Partners and Collaborators

Inviting Nature onstage: Dysbiosis premieres at Queens Theatre, Hornchurch

By on Thursday, September 11, 2025

Photo by Hannah Davis of the Dysbiosis Collective and QTH Associate Producer Steven Bowyer at Queens Theatre

It has been four years in development, including some long pauses for fundraising. But we finally premiered  Dysbiosis to a public audience last weekend. It took place at Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, which is also where it all started. We had performances on the main stage and an exhibition, titled Queering the Earth in the foyer.

The Dysbiosis Collective are Amy Daniels, Amy-Rose Edlyn, Fran Olivares, Kathryn Webb, Nuke Lagranje, Paul Burgess, Shakira Malkani, Tasnim Siddiqa Amin, Yael Elisheva and Zia Álmos Joshua.

Some highlights from the journey. Walking and drawing in Rainham Marshes with local residents. Running a workshop in a chapel in the middle of a cemetery in Sheffield. Doing a birdsong-filled sound walk in another cemetery, this time in Mile End, London. An exhibition of community artworks at the Royals Youth Centre in Rainham. Turning up to make a pitch to a Havering Changing residents’ panel with tea and homemade cake. Collaging with LGBTQ+ young people in Romford. Testing out ideas at Omnibus Theatre, as part of the 96 Festival of LGBTQ+ theatre. 

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Artist Spotlight Major Projects

Artist Spotlight: Amy-Rose Edlyn

By on Tuesday, September 2, 2025

We’re delighted to spotlight Amy (they/them), who first joined us in June to install our exhibition at Omnibus Theatre. This time, Amy returns as co-creator of Queering the Earth and stage manager for Dysbiosis. Throughout an intensive week of rehearsals at Queens Theatre Hornchurch, Amy will be bringing a wide range of skills to support the team. As a queer interdisciplinary artist and theatremaker deeply engaged in political and community work, Amy already feels like a long-lost member of Dysbiosis.

Tell us about yourself and your creative practice. You’ve worked across stage management, design, facilitation, and live art – how would you describe what drives your work and where your practice is heading?

I am a queer, multidisciplinary creative based in Tower Hamlets. I started out as a theatre designer/maker alongside working in technical theatre working extensively around West End and off-West End productions for over a decade now. In the past 5 years I expanded my practice in co-founding and directing queer arts company Bold Mellon Collective CIC as a creative producer, facilitator and curator of visual and live-art. Since February 2025, I have also been an artist in residence at Firepit Art Gallery and Studios CIC developing my own visual art & curatorial practice. I am especially interested in community-based projects which weave the intersections of the LGBTQIA+ community together and promote wellbeing through the arts. Politically active and socially engaging works drive me to create and currently I feel my practice going through an exciting transformation in blending these worlds and expanding capacity so I am excited to see where it takes me!

You first encountered Dysbiosis as an audience member at the Omnibus Theatre sharing, then co-curated the exhibition, and now you’re joining as stage manager. What has it been like to experience the project from these different perspectives?

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Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

Callout: East Music – a new project

By on Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Musicians! You’re invited to East Music: Song and Tune Exchange Session at Poplar Union on Saturday 23rd March, 4PM-6.30PM

Reserve your free place here

Bring your instruments and voices along with songs or tunes from across the world to play, sing and share.

This is a free, friendly and inclusive session for players of all levels of experience – Global Majority* and LGBTQ+ music makers are particularly welcome. The session will be led by East musicians Andy Bannister, Michele Chowrimootoo and Paul Burgess.

This is a new strand of our East Storytelling project, and we hope to extend it to further sessions. All being well, there’ll also be an opportunity to share the results with a live audience later in the year.

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Artist Spotlight Major Projects Partners and Collaborators

Artist Spotlight: Tasnim Siddiqa Amin

By on Sunday, September 17, 2023

Tell us about yourself and your creative practice.

I’m Tasnim, a queer Bangladeshi-British woman from East London and I am a visual artist, theatremaker and writer. I am Assistant Producer/Director for Daedalus Theatre Company. 

What does queer ecology mean to you?

I don’t do very well with long words haha but after spending a week unpacking and consistent Googling I would say queer ecology describes a critical, intersectional and decentralised approach in the way we look at how people, plants, animals and smaller organisms interact with their environment, both locally and globally.

What did you discover about yourself and the way you work during the Dysbiosis R&D week?

I discovered that I really thrive in pressured creative environments bouncing ideas of creatives from different disciplines. It dawned on me that to pursue a project you don’t need to have it all figured out, having an idea is good enough. I never knew I could work with venues this way, the way Paul was doing, to say hey I have an idea and I want to bring along a bunch of people that I’ve never met from different creative disciplines in a rehearsal room at your theatre and see what happens. 

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Artist Spotlight Associate Artists Major Projects

Artist Spotlight: Kathryn Webb

By on Tuesday, July 25, 2023

While we prepare for the next stage of Dysbiosis, our journey through queer ecology and environmental justice at Queens Theatre Hornchurch, we’re introducing some of the amazing artists we’re privileged to work with on the project. First up is Kathryn Webb.

Tell us about yourself and your creative practice.

Hi! My name is Kathryn and I’m a queer, neurodivergent, working-class creative from Cranham. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been into ‘making things’. In primary school, me and my bestie used to shoot our own version of Doctor Who, complete with ketchup blood, on a camcorder in his back garden. Nowadays my creative output spans theatre, film, poetry and anything in between. I’ve been mentored by Sky Arts, Creative England, Rianne Pictures, and made a short film for the BBC100 Project. My work stems from an interest in marginalised voices, folklore, and queerness. Previous theatre work has been staged at Theatre503, Arcola, Golden Goose, Pleasance, and Omnibus.

What does queer ecology mean to you?

To me, queer ecology is about questioning what we take for granted when we think of nature, science and reproduction. Unpacking the colonialism and white supremacy of the ‘truths’ we’ve been given and expanding our horizons to see beyond binaries. Nature is brimming with examples of queerness – it’s no joke that we’ve always been here and always will. Through this process, I’ve been empowered to challenge the notion that we exist to procreate.

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