How to be a man

How to be a Man is an admission, an apology and a call for revolution. The performance begins with an apology as Jon admits that there is no right answer to the question of How to be a Man and so he will fail in his attempts to provide an answer.

Woven throughout the performance is a story that begins with a small girl wishing it was possible for men to walk out in the street wearing high heels and a dress, and ends in a revolution that destroys our society and rebuilds the world as an entirely equal utopia. 

The theme of masculinity is explored from a queer perspective, examining the causes and reactions to the crisis of masculinity, how in a world built around patriarchy both men and women have suffered. The work is an argument for feminism and a call for gender equality. It challenges men to own up to their inherited privilege and fight the urge to hold on to it.

How to be a Man was made as a contribution to the ongoing discourse surrounding the crisis of masculinity; the growing feeling of unrest experienced by men as society begins to realise that being a man cannot mean what it did a hundred, fifty or even ten years ago.

It is about the conflict between male guilt and male privilege. Although these ideas are beginning to enter the public consciousness they have, for the most part, only been discussed in sociological and psychological academic circles and much of what is said is both inaccessible and contradictory.

How to be a Man North West Tour Dates;

9th July @ 7.30 - The Bureau Arts Centre, Blackburn (book tickets)

26th & 27th July @ 7.30 - The Kings Arms, Salford (book tickets)

Website: www.jonmcoleman.wordpress.com

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/161488569

Published: 5-May-2016: (3712)