{"id":26960,"date":"2026-05-29T09:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heartefact.org\/?p=26960"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:32:34","slug":"no-apologies-in-skopje-a-gathering-of-the-queer-communityaround-performance-visibility-and-alternative-archives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heartefact.org\/en\/no-apologies-in-skopje-a-gathering-of-the-queer-communityaround-performance-visibility-and-alternative-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"No Apologies! in Skopje: a gathering of the queer communityaround performance, visibility and alternative archives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This June, Heartefact brings No Apologies!<\/em> to Skopje, presenting the internationally acclaimed performance by Emma Frankland as part of the No Apologies!<\/em> Balkan tour. The performance will take place on 6 June at the Drama Theatre Skopje (Dramski Teatar Skopje)<\/strong>, in collaboration with Skopje Pride Weekend and Coalition Margins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Created and performed by Emma Frankland, No Apologies!<\/em> brings together theatre, live music and autobiographical performance in a work rooted in queer memory and lived trans experience. Inspired by Nirvana\u2019s iconic MTV Unplugged concert, the performance begins from the speculative question: What if Kurt Cobain had been a trans woman?<\/em> From this starting point, it reimagines cultural memory through questions of identity, visibility and belonging, reflecting on the absence of references, archives and figures through which queer and trans people might recognise themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The work moves between concert, storytelling and performance, creating a shifting space where memory is unstable and identity is continuously reworked. Rather than offering fixed interpretations, No Apologies!<\/em> opens a field of reflection on how cultural narratives are formed, and how they can be reshaped through lived experience and imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alongside the performance, the Skopje programme includes a community event dedicated to queer and trans audiences and allies, developed in collaboration with Butchkuruzh and the Q Forum<\/em>. The gathering combines conversation and participatory exercises, bringing together artists, performers, drag artists and community organisers working across queer and experimental practices. It opens space for exchange around visibility and representation in local cultural production, performance as a form of survival and expression, and the creation of alternative queer archives and references where they have been absent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entrance for the play and participation in the community event are free, with mandatory registration for participation. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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