Photo: David Martin
What people thought
The project was completed in June 2023 and was independently evaluated by Marge Ainsley. Her full evaluation Legacy of '67: Impact and Learning is available on request. Here are some of the things that participants, volunteers, artists and audiences told her.
"IF WE DIDN’T HAVE PROJECTS LIKE LEGACY OF’67 WE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO COLLECT WHAT WE DO”
David Govier, Archives + Manchester Libraries
"It's been a profoundly important experience in terms of my understanding of post-war gay history"
"I really enjoyed the process and it was good for me to answer questions from younger people about what it was like then. It was a very positive experience"
"It’s really important for stories to be told. I knew about 100 people who died with HIV. And it was like a secret war and I can remember going through that and nobody bothered about you"
"I want to help other people now ‘cos I know what it’s like, you know, coming out, acting straight, I know what it is like. And as I’m seventy-two, for the rest of my life I want to help other people, and I saw Legacy of 67 as a stepping stone to do that, in a good way"
"I think they used drama really well in all the projects that they do really, which is more powerful in a sense than just reading people's stories. So I thought the play was great really and sort of the way it was a true story but a very powerful story"
"I’m a firm believer that, you know, once people die they take their history with them, they take their stories with them, it needs preserving in some shape, or form"
"It’s so easy for our rights to be taken away, we should carry on with projects like this, highlighting real lives of real people"
"I think I had a very static image in that something may have happened very quickly within – you know, it was illegal one day then it was less illegal the next. Whereas it wasn’t that immediately transformative, it was a much more gradual cultural change, and everyone is on a different path, a different journey, and a different circumstance."
"It allowed me to connect with queer people from another generation and it was great hearing about a different perspective about being queer at a different time, a time when I was not born, and a time when it was drastically different"
"It gave me quite a boost last year really"
Photo: Lee Baxter
"It was all hugely enjoyable. I think the the fact of feeling totally supported in every area of the production. It created freedom. It was a great experience to be directing a play that was grounded in a specific community and history"
Sue Dunderdale, Director
"I LAUGHED, FROWNED AND FELT RAW EMOTION AS THE PLAY UNFOLDED. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL PERFORMANCE"
Audience member