Royal Court Theatre programme

From the collections of the National Museums Liverpool

This theatre programme from the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool dates from 1951. When it was made, all sexual acts between men were illegal in the UK and could be punished by time in prison. Even holding hands or chatting each other up could be interpreted as so-called 'procuring' and 'soliciting' by the police, and could lead to arrest. Despite this, LGBT+ people found unofficial places to meet and one of the most popular in Liverpool in the 1940s-1960s was the bar of the Royal Court Theatre. In the middle of the 20th century, theatres were often far more tolerant of LGBT+ people than other places, and the Royal Court Theatre welcomed closeted LGBT+ performers to its stage. The theatre (still standing today) became part of a growing, but still unofficial ‘gay quarter’ in the centre of Liverpool, around Queen Square. This included the Adelphi and The Stork hotels which are advertised in the inside of this theatre programme. As well bars and pubs, there were also certain seats within…

In the middle of the 20th century, theatres were often far more tolerant of LGBT+ people than other places, and the Royal Court Theatre welcomed closeted LGBT+ performers to its stage. The theatre (still standing today) became part of a growing, but still unofficial ‘gay quarter’ in the centre of Liverpool, around Queen Square. This included the Adelphi and The Stork hotels which are advertised in the inside of this theatre programme. As well bars and pubs, there were also certain seats within the local cinemas which if were known places to meet other men, while many women would meet at folk clubs.

In 1967 the Sexual Offences Act decriminalised ‘homosexual acts’ in England and Wales only, in private between two men only, both of whom had to be over the age of 21. However many men were still arrested following 1967 if they were accused of having sex under aged (the age of consent was not lowered to 16, the same as for straight people, until 2001), in public, or even if there were other people present in the building, which could still be interpreted as not ‘private’. Many men were also arrested for ‘procuring’ or ‘soliciting’ sex between men, crimes that remained illegal until 2003.

Credit	Images reproduced by permission of National Museums Liverpool
Identifier	RD03785
Source	Entry in the National Museums Liverpool Catalogue
Type	Ephemera
Date	1951
Culture/Period	Liverpool, UK

Findspot

Lesson Ideas

Themes

gay, homosexuality, law, lesbian, LGBT+ culture, relationships, safe spaces, same-sex sexuality

Discussion Questions

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

Why do you think men in 1951 felt safer meeting at the Royal Court theatre, or the Adelphi and Stork Hotel bars, than other places in Liverpool?

Forming romantic relationships that include sex is an important part of most loving relationships, however it could be very difficult to find places for men to be together because they ran the risk, not only of public disapproval, stigma or violence but also arrest by the police and if convicted they could be sent to jail or be chemically castrated (only if appropriate take a moment to think about what this punishment entailed); it was not only sex acts which were illegal but men could be arrested for ‘procuring’ or ‘soliciting’ i.e. chatting each other up; at home men could be rejected or even betrayed to the police by their family or landlady; it was vital to have places where men could safely be together, meet other men and feel like they could have fun and be themselves without shame or fear.

You could watch this video from ‘People’s Stories’ project featuring the memories of a gay man living in Liverpool in the 1950s and how he cleverly worked out where the gay friendly pubs were.

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

What makes a safe space? How can we create safe spaces?

Being aware of people’s needs; being accepting and celebrating difference and diversity through e.g. facilities, decor (presence of symbols of LGBTQ+ equality such as rainbows), behaviour; language used in the space; active zero-tolerance of homophobia; as well as gay friendly spaces you could discuss making spaces trans-friendly (e.g. gender-neutral bathrooms) or accessible for disabled people (e.g. ramps).

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

Can you name any LGBTQ+ clubs or pubs in your area, or famous ones in the UK? Why do you think these spaces arose even after 1967?

Like Liverpool, many large cities have designated LGBTQ+ friendly areas e.g. Soho in London, Canal street in Manchester, and smaller cities and towns usually have at least one LGBTQ+ club or pub; even after ‘homosexual acts’ were decriminalized many men were still arrested and legal equality was not reached until the 2000s; discrimination and homophobia continued and in many places still continues; although lesbianism was never illegal there has been hundreds of years of discrimination towards relationships between women and so lesbian-friendly places have also arisen, although these are rarer than gay friendly pubs.

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

Recently many LGBTQ+ pubs and clubs have closed. Why do you think this is? Is it still important to have these spaces? Where do LGBT+ people meet today?

You could have a look at this list of pubs that have closed. LGBTQ+ people have started using more ‘mainstream’ places to meet; the law now gives LGBTQ+ people the same rights and protections as straight people and there is greater social equality and acceptance of diversity than there was previously (however you may want to discuss ongoing homophobia and discrimination locally and nationally); ways of meeting have moved online (e.g. apps like Grindr) making places like the theatre bar less needed; however many LGBTQ+ people say it is still very important to have places to meet and to celebrate community and shared history, demonstrated by campaigns to save historic gay pubs e.g. Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London which became the first building to become listed because of its LGBTQ+ heritage significance.

You could examine this BBC news article with the group to explore these ideas further.

Activities

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

Creating Safe Spaces

Aims

To investigate how your current learning environment could be made a safer space.

Instructions

Ask students to individually brainstorm all the places they go and spaces they spend time in. Create a map of these on a piece of paper (this can be mind map or drawing depending on time)
Circle or mark all those spaces that you feel safe and comfortable in. Do you feel like you can be yourself in these spaces?
Are there any where you don’t feel safe? Or where you feel judged? Uncomfortable? Or like you can’t be yourself? Why don’t you feel safe in that space? Do you think that your age, gender, sexuality, skin colour, appearance or any other factors have anything to do with how safe / unsafe, comfortable / uncomfortable you might feel?
Encourage participants to share their maps with other students (where they feel comfortable) and to feed back to the class (you could use the Pair and Share technique to do this). Within the class group, what are the spaces where people feel safe / unsafe? What makes people feel safe / unsafe?
As a group choose a space that everyone knows (e.g. the classroom / school) and brainstorm ways to make it more LGBTQ+ friendly. Points to consider include:
- What posters or wall coverings denote this space is safe and LGBTQ+ friendly,
- What toilets are available - is there a gender neutral toilet?
- What everyday words that are said in the room could be considered homophobic, biphobic or transphobic (e.g. phrases like "that's so gay”).
- What assumptions are made in the room that could be considered homophobic, biphobic or transphobic? How are these expressed?
- What ground rules should be put in place to make sure a safe space is developed and maintained?
Discuss as a group if and how you want to action any of these suggestions.

Key Learning

We all need to understand that access needs to a safe space varies across people and having ideas about strategies to make spaces safer for everyone will benefit us all.

KS3(Y9)

KS4

KS5

Finding people like you visualisation

This activity has been significantly adapted from an Activity within Affirming Diversity.

Aims

To support understanding of what it might feel like to grow up attracted to people of the same sex in a heteronormative world.

Instructions

Before starting this activity, remind students of the ground rules.

Ask participants to close their eyes and listen to the following visualisation and imagine they are in that situation:

Imagine you are 15 years old. Your name is Alex - you decide whether you identify as a boy, a girl or neither. You live in a small town with your parents, your sister and twin brother. You identify as straight. You fancy people of the opposite sex and would like a partner.

Your small town is in a world where everyone is lesbian or gay.

Your teacher is lesbian, the wellbeing officer and school nurse are gay, your grandfather is a gay, your big sister is a lesbian and your twin brother is gay. You are not gay. You fancy people of the opposite sex and would like a partner but you haven’t told anyone yet as you are worried about how people will react. Who could you turn to? Who could you confide in to tell your secret? You’ve been searching the internet for information about straight people but you have to be so very careful that nobody looks over your shoulder or checks your search history and many of the sites are blocked by parental filters.

During lunchtime at school, kids talk about ‘straights’ and how disgusting they are. When you are in Year 11 someone of the same sex invites you to the school prom. What do you do? You go, because you don't want people to think you’re strange or different. At the school disco, girls are dancing with other girls, and boys are dancing with other boys, holding each other close. What will you do if your partner starts snuggling up to you and tries to kiss you? What if they find out about you? They might throw you out or even beat you up – just for a laugh. Lots of people say that it’s wrong to be straight. How do you feel when you hear people in your group talking like this?

On a noticeboard at the youth centre you see a notice about a local youth group on Tuesday nights for straight young people. One night you decide to go along. As you walk down the street you’re sure that people can tell that you’re straight just by looking at you. You finally get to the youth group and for the first time you meet people like yourself. Girls and boys are sitting together; talking together. Over time you become more confident about attending spaces where only straight people hang out. You are often found wearing black and white stripes, the national identifier of straight people. You attend Straight Pride rallies and finally you gather the courage to tell your two mums you are straight. At first they are upset but eventually they come around so long as you agree not to flaunt your straightness to your grandfathers.

One day you meet someone at a Straight club who you really like. After hanging out together for a while you decide to form a relationship based on friendship, respect and love. However, you sometimes don’t feel safe holding hands at the park, kissing at the movies or snuggling up together at parties in case you become the target of abuse. This really hurts. The law only recently changed to allow you to get married to your partner of the opposite sex.

Discussion questions

Ask participants to open their eyes and ask them how they would feel about this visualisation if it were true, specifically:

How they would feel if they had to keep so many secrets? Feelings like angry, sad, isolated may emerge.
What might those feelings lead them to do if this situation was real? Answers may include truanting, use alcohol or other drugs or becoming depressed or possibly suicidal.
How would it feel to attend a ‘safe space’ for 'straights'?
What kind of cues might you be looking for to identify if someone else is straight like you e.g. ‘Straightdar?
What secret symbols might you adopt to signify you are straight?
Would you ever risk wearing a “Some people are straight, get over it!” t-shirt in public?

Explain the situation is fictional but reflects what LGBTQ+ people may encounter every day, because there is so much fear and ignorance about being LGB and/or T. LGBTQ+ people are often forced to keep many parts of their lives a secret just like the scenario, in case people react badly towards them. LGBTQ+ people need to decide who is “safe” to tell before “coming out” to them. Things are improving in the UK with regards to laws around same sex marriage etc. and generally increasing acceptance of people who identify as LGBTQ+. However in other countries such as Russia and America LGBTQ+ rights laws are being repealed.

Key learning

This activity is designed to open participants’ eyes to having an identity that some elements of society have deemed not acceptable. By the end of the visualisation participants should understand the difficulties people who identify as LGBTQ+ can face as a result of societal attitudes.

Related Resources

'Our Story Liverpool' project booklet of oral histories from 20th century LGBTQ+ Liverpool, including women’s stories (esp. Pages 7, 23, 25)

Video from 'People's Stories' project featuring the memories of a gay man living in Liverpool in the 1950s

'Gay' in the 1950's, LGBT Foundation

Key dates for LGBT+ legal changes post-2000 in the UK, Stonewall resources

Key Dates for LGBT+ equality in the 20th century in the UK, Stonewall resources

The history of criminal convictions against gay and bi men, Stonewall resources

The Medical Abuse of Gay Men, Peter Tatchell Foundation

Full text of the Sexual Offenses Act, 1967

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