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StoneCrabs Theatre - Out On An Island

Title
StoneCrabs Theatre - Out On An Island
short title
StoneCrabs Theatre - Out On An Island
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Description
StoneCrabs is an LGBT+ led theatre and arts organisation committed to bringing hidden stories to light. Out On An Island is our ongoing, award-winning heritage and oral history project uncovering a century of hidden LGBTQ+ life on the Isle of Wight. Led by Artistic Director Franko Figueiredo and Project Manager Caroline Diamond, it brings together volunteers, artists, and researchers to record stories of LGBT+ Islanders and their experiences of belonging in a small rural community.

Since launching in 2019, the project has produced exhibitions, films, performances, and the book Out On An Island: The Isle of Wight’s Hidden LGBTQ+ History. Working with museums, schools, and archives, it preserves LGBTQ+ voices for future generations.

Its latest creative phase, Faces + Places, created in collaboration with the Queer Heritage and Collections Network and supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, transforms research into live, site-specific performed walks. Inspired by the Isle of Wight LGBTQ+ Heritage Trail Map, designed with Spike Spondike, the project exists as live performance, audio podcast, and film, inviting audiences on self-led journeys through local, literary, and queer heritage featuring figures such as Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Mew, Oscar Wilde, the Ferguson’s Gang, and Swinburne.

Contributions

Title Year Type
Isle of Wight LGBT+ Oral Histories 2025 Video