Lavender Lads
By Keira Dormer-Hazell
October 2025 Workshop Cast: Fred Baker, Jessica Hamer, Louis Harrison, Ruby Joy, Oli Sheard, Lara Vivone
"If I disagree with someone, I give them a chance to convince me they are right. And if they fail, then I am right and they are wrong and I will just have to fight them until they change."
Frank Kameny
Lavender Lads was created in response to real historical stimuli. Originally made as a 20 minute scratch performance to explore movement practice, Keira has continued to develop the play into a One Act, still utilising the historical stimuli and movement created to inform its creation.
The Lavender Scare, notably compared to The Red Scare, names a time period during the Cold War in America where gay and lesbian Government workers were dismissed from employment based solely on their sexuality. Senator Joseph McCarthy linked attraction to the same gender to weakness for communist intergation and believed that gay and lesbian people working in Government employment could lead to a breach of Government information.
Lavender Lads creates a fictional scenario in this very bleak and real world, that explores the polarities of identity through sexuality and political beliefs.