Picador and Green Carnation unveil a powerful new film inspired by Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings
To mark the paperback release of Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst’s latest novel Our Evenings, Picador Books partnered with Green Carnation Theatre to launch a national writing competition celebrating queer memory, theatre and identity.
From hundreds of submissions by emerging LGBTQ+ writers, the winning script was personally selected by Alan Hollinghurst. The piece has been adapted into a compelling 12-minute film, now available to watch online.
The winner: Quiet as a Threat by Juliana Ayeni-Stevens
Watch the winning film ‘Quiet as a Threat’ by Juliana Ayeni-Stevens
Quiet as a Threat explores the emotional toll of exclusion and performative allyship faced by Black queer women — even within LGBTQ+ spaces. It’s a bold and intimate exploration the tension of being both invisible and hyper-visible, and the emotional toll of exclusion, misunderstanding, and performative allyship.
Written by Juliana Ayeni-Stevens, the film stars Manchester-based performer and theatre-maker mandla as Nikki, alongside actor Nicole Evans as Jess. Directed by Dan Ellis and produced by TD Media and Green Carnation Theatre, the film is a powerful response to Hollinghurst’s writing and a celebration of the new voices his work continues to inspire.
“This is a memorable and powerful scene for two actors that grips from start to finish, and deftly turns the tables on the audience as it questions what power, safety and community might mean at this moment to a Black queer woman. Bleak but beautifully done.”
— Alan Hollinghurst
“It’s wild and affirming to know that Quiet as a Threat landed in the way I hoped it would. This piece was written with truth and urgency — not just mine, but of Black masc queer women who are so often unheard or unseen in theatre. I wrote this because I didn’t see them or myself on stage… not like this. So to have it recognised and now supported is something I’ll always hold close.”
— Juliana Ayeni-Stevens
About Our Evenings and Alan Hollinghurst
Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings launched in paperback this summer and was named Fiction Book of the Month by both Waterstones and Foyles.
Picador’s campaign around the release included immersive London Underground advertising, nationwide events with Hollinghurst, radio and Spotify promotions, and a partnership with the Almeida Theatre to celebrate the sold-out autumn run of The Line of Beauty. The Queer Reflections competition marks the culmination of this creative collaboration with Green Carnation.
Alan Hollinghurst is the author of seven novels, including The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Line of Beauty, and The Sparsholt Affair. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the 2004 Man Booker Prize. He lives in London.
“Hollinghurst’s latest novel is steeped in questions of memory, identity and theatre. His evocation of memory — how it races, fragments and reshapes itself — resonated deeply with us as theatrical storytellers. That grew into the idea of Queer Reflections: a call for new monologues and duologues exploring theatre, memory and queer identity. Juliana’s script is extraordinary. It’s urgent, unflinching, and unapologetically powerful.”
— Dan Ellis & Dan Jarvis, directors of Green Carnation Theatre
Congratulations to our five shortlisted writers:
We’re proud to celebrate the work of all five shortlisted writers:
- Juliana Ayeni-Stevens
- Lynsey Cullen
- Gareth Evans-Jones
- Matt Gurr
- Conor O’Cuinn
This opportunity has been proudly supported by Picador.
FILM CREDITS
Quiet as a Threat by Juliana Ayeni-Stevens
Commissioned by Picador and Green Carnation Theatre
Directed by Dan Ellis
Produced by Dan Jarvis
Co-produced by Juliana Ayeni-Stevens & Elle Gibbons
Videography by Toom Doona, TD Media
Performers: mandla (Nikki), Nicole Evans (Jess)
With thanks to Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
Stills from Quiet as a Threat by Juliana Ayeni Stephens
Starring mandla and Nicole Evans. Filmed by TD Media.
Green Carnation Company 