Social Experiment:
Queer Contact Edition
19 February 2026 Programme
→ artists · programme · entry · access · credits Updated 18 February 2026
A Queer Contact Edition of Social Experiment on 19 February, presented by Word of Warning + Contact
Social Experiment is a free and informal, semi-regular evening gathering at Contact for anyone interested in Live Art and contemporary performance to meet, chat, and try ideas out…
If you’re a Greater Manchester artist — this is your chance to test out a short performance, intervention, or durational work, in front of an informal audience.
If you’re an audience member looking for something a little bit different — this is your chance to take a few risks & meet some artists in our social experiment.
Artists
Ariel Hebditch · Ben Hodge · Failed Artist Society · lucy · Maddie Maycock · PHOBIA · special guest Graham Clayton-Chance Participating artists subject to change.
Programme
February’s Queer Contact Edition, hosted by Seth Douglas, kicks off at 6pm and finishes by 9pm…
Graham Clayton-Chance (special guest) · Less Like Ourselves, More Like Each Other (installation preview)
Artist and filmmaker Graham presents Less Like Ourselves, More Like Each Other on Saturday 21 February during Queer Contact — a body of work rooted in queer country and western dancing in San Francisco, spanning his multi-award-winning film Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede and immersive installation developed for Queer Contact.
From 6pm experience a preview of the installation in Space 2 (shown twice): an embodied encounter using original footage, sound, and movement — it reimagines what it must feel like to be on a LGBTQ+ country-western dance floor in an immersive environment shaped by rhythm, proximity, and presence. The work invites you not only to witness community, but to feel it — exploring how movement generates queer collectivity and shared joy.
Insta @claytonchancegraham
Ben Hodge · What’s in a name?
This work explores the relationship we have to our very first gift. This 1-2-1 performance builds from the artist’s lived experience as a trans person — carrying a name for 18 years before dealing with systematic and institutional ignorance to the legality of name changing. Join Ben and get a taste of this experience. Can you carry a name? Will they let you change it?
Insta @benhodgeee
Maddie Maycock · NONBINARYHOOD: The Interview, Live.
A durational 1-2-1 performance asking questions about queerhood, girlhood, boyhood, and nonbinaryhood.
“This work draws on an interview format, the difference is, only the audience speaks. In an intimate style of one to one performance, I’ll be asking questions about girlhood, boyhood and nonbinaryhood. Giving space for people to speak aloud about their experiences as queer beings, and how the art of storytelling begins with people sharing parts of themselves, and someone there to listen. The piece is part of a wider research project that aims to expand the language surrounding the non-binary experience. Through testimony, interview and other artistic methods I have been conducting research into girlhood, boyhood, and people’s experiences of queerness in their childhoods. Stay for as long or as little as you wish. Participants who enter the space and speak as part of the one to one performance will be recorded, as all participation will go directly towards the research. You do not have to be a performer, you do not have to be an artist, the aim is to engage with as many people as possible and to listen to your stories.”
Insta @crocsportfolio
PHOBIA · Mistoffelees, or the Fear of Magic (rehearsed reading)
PHOBIA wants to make a show about their special interest, Cats the musical. Not a show about trauma. Not a success story. But when your special interest is such a key part of your life, is that even possible?
Part drag show. Part autobiography. Part autistic joy. Mistofeeles is a new work-in-progress solo show from the drag artist PHOBIA.
Insta @thatcreaturephobia @mistoffeleesshow
Ariel Hebditch · There Will Be Blood
Ariel is an extremely silly, chaotic, high-energy stand-up comedian, but don’t catch her on the full moon — it’s the wrong time of the month!
Winner of the Jason Manford Award for Best Newcomer at the Women in Comedy Festival 2024, Ariel will give you the time of your death as she combines stand-up, storytelling, and, spookiest of all, marketing in her brand-new piece exploring menstruation and monsters with her forked tongue in her cheek. If you love campy B-movie horror, feminism, and Dragon’s Den, then she invites you in to her old, gothic castle, but be warned… there will be blood.
Insta @arielhebditch
lucy · I Will Be Dead In Ten Minutes
A work completely controlled by you.
“You as an audience have full control on how I work as an artist. Will I do a stand-up comedy set as if I were a cow? Can I paint blindfolded? Can art exist within a world of constraint? The choice is up to you.”
Insta @luuuuuccccccyy
Failed Artist Society · The Trial of Jake A
A courthouse drama where judges are drag queens, the court is a theatre, and the trials are a performance. These are the people who are deciding our rights. They are not televised but this is a show you want a ticket to.
Blending historic accounts, drag, and theatre, this work deconstructs the courtroom — revealing it to be a private pantomime where public rights are at stake. Emma, Ellie, and Rose explore queerness in the courtroom and hold up a mirror to the trans panic plaguing us today.
Insta @emmabourketheatre @welsh_webster @rosewilsonarts
Entry
FREE: there’s no ticketing… just turn up!
Time: Thursday 19 February 2026, 6pm onwards (ends by about 9pm).
Location: Contact (space 0 & bar & space 2), Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6JA.
Access
Age Advisory: 16+ (aimed at adults, parent/guardian/carer discretion).
Content Warnings: some works involve interaction and/or participation; specific warnings listed here.
Features: seven Live Art & contemporary performance works with varied content.
NB works mostly occur on Contact’s step-free ground floor in space 0 & bar, with one in space 2 on the second floor, and vary in format — they could be immersive, participatory, roaming, seated, standing, spoken word, visual, etc.
Queries: please contact Contact via boxoffice@contactmcr.com
Credits
Social Experiment: Queer Contact Edition (February 2026) produced by hÅb; supported by Contact and using public funding by Arts Council England.