“Let us give publicity to HIV and not hide it.” Nelson Mandela
Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival are delighted to partner with Contact Theatre for a performance of I Am Because We Are. In a suburb in Stockport, a husband and wife hide their medication from one another. A young woman in Harare, Zimbabwe, refuses to speak to her sister on the phone. A hospital nurse wears five pairs of gloves to treat a patient, no explanation given. If HIV is no longer a death sentence, why are we so scared of it?
I Am Because We Areis based on the testimonies of people living with HIV in Manchester today. Written by playwright and poet Cheryl Martin (Manchester Evening News award-winner, Polari Prize nominee) and produced by Contact Theatre, it looks past urban myths to uncover the hidden stories of daily life with the disease.
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