Shafted?! A Celebration of ACT UP - Headlines Pride Scotia 2014

Please Forward to all your friends you think will appreciate Roll up roll up to see blasts and booms and sparks, to see the live spectacular HiV HumanCanonBall! “Shafted?! – a gutsy, mischievous but truly activist cabaret about Aids.” Mary Brennan, Dance Critic, Herald Scotland. BOOK YOUR TICKET NOW! Email shafted@theglassishalffull.co.uk - £8 full / £6 concessions 'Shafted?!' is a show sharing the realities of HIV across the UK in tribute and building on the legacy of 'Aids Coalition To Unleash Power' (ACT UP). 'Shafted?!' is a lead highlight at this years Pride Scotland show in Edinburgh in June. It is a show sharing the realities of HIV in Scotland and we are looking for people to participate! SHAFTED?! is an unashamedly deviant HIV cabaret and activism movement to stop the HIV 'Second Silence’. The show combines dance, performance, live music, stunts and spoken word to tell true life stories of people living with and affected by the virus. It is part of a wider body of activism combining workshops, mentoring schemes and direct actions UK-wide, in response to austerity cuts and the silence around the epidemic. ACT UP Scotland activists as part of Shafted?! join with other leading advocacy groups, including HIV Scotland, National AIDS Trust and Student Stop AIDS in opposing these measures. ACT UP Scotland come to the fore as part of a Scotland wide performance campaign "It was great to see HIV and people's journey's at the centre stage in a positive (no pun intended), laughter inducing, yet thought provoking format. Usually HIV is shrouded in mystery, myth and misconception which only serves to fuel the persevering social stigma attached to it - so hurrah for Shafted and it’s fresh approach to challenging this." JohnBarber, Brownlee Centre, Gartnaval Hospital "Daring and unashamedly bold HIV cabaret show, exploring and exposing the realities of HIV in today’s society." The Skinny, 2013 Shafted?! looks to the prolific grassroots group 'Aids Coalition to Unleash Power' (ACT UP), who historically set the scene for direct action and political agitation around HIV and AIDS issues, as inspiration for a new generation of activism. 25 years ago, faced with their own mortality, an improbable group of young people in California, many of them HIV-positive young men, broke the mould as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. Due to the activism and innovation of ACTUP, AIDS has been turned, in the West, from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Shafted?! is reworked for its 2014 tour by an award-winning UK based group of talented performers, artists and activists. It is a daring, delightful and ground-breaking theatre piece, best described as “HIV Cabaret”. Scripted and created by people living with HIV, whether infected or affected, it is a coming-out project, all at once ribald and grave, aiming to empower and inspire audiences. It uses a combination of disciplines to discuss the theme of HIV – live spoken word, physical theatre, bicycle stunts, live dance, music and true life story-telling, all lead up to a culmination of a live HIV-positive Human Cannon Ball being blasted over the audience! Shafted?! is returning to Scotland this year on the 18th and 19th June as part of Pride Scotia at The Pleasance Theatre. Supported by The Arches – the venue of its 2013 showing, Shafted?! will continue onto The Arcola Theatre in East London in July 2014. SHAFTED?! NEEDS YOU! If you are affected by HIV in any way and would like to be involved in the creation of the show or support in any way please contact shafted@theglassishalffull.co.uk ASAP.