A dance theatre company is looking for five people to participate in a performance.
Gary Clarke Company needs the volunteers to appear on stage at Brighton Dome's Corn Exchange alongside its professional cast on Tuesday, October 14 and Wednesday, October 15.
The performance, part of the production "Detention," will explore the impact of the 1988 Section 28 legislation, which prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality."
Company director Gary Clarke said: "Detention is the third and final part of a trilogy of dance theatre works following Coal and Wasteland.
"What unites this trilogy is 1980s 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.
"Detention explores a piece of largely hidden legislation from 1988, Section 28, which prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality, forcing LGBT+ people, no matter what age, class or profession, into a place of secrecy and shame.
"All this at a time when the country was in turmoil and the gay community was being ravaged by the onslaught of AIDS."
A free taster session will be held on Thursday, September 4 in Brighton, led by Mr Clarke.
This will give potential participants an introduction to the show and the chance to try out ideas.
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Applicants must be aged 40 or above and willing to share memories of the Section 28 era.
Gary Clarke’s "working-class storytelling" draws on public and private stories and testimonies, including a rare insight into the LGBT+ Switchboard Logbooks.
This storytelling is combined with choreography performed by a company of dancers, a narrator, a local cast of LGBT+ people, designs in film, sound, light and costume and music tracks by the band Test Dept.
Mr Clarke said: "I grew up during these times in a working-class town where LGBT+ people were not really visible; and so did Lewey Hellewell, the narrator and the best friend I met when I was just 16.
"Today we are both openly gay and proud of our sexuality, but that has not always been the case.
"We are part of a generation that is now left filling in the gaps, trying to make sense of what happened and why, and what the impact is on those of us who experienced it.
"Ultimately through Detention, the company want to celebrate the progress we’ve made, honour the Pride we have fought for, and acknowledge the incredible resilience we’ve developed along the way.
"Detention is our personal, political, urgent, angry and frightened call to action and to stand up for the rights of all marginalised and targeted communities – whoever and wherever they may be."
To find out more or to register for the taster session, visit the Brighton Dome website.
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