Sadiq Ali: Tell Me at Lowry

Contemporary circus, dance and theatre combine as Sadiq Ali presents a new, large-scale work that reimagines the narrative around HIV in today’s world.

Centred on Chinese Pole performed across three aerial cubes, the three-person cast trace a woman’s post-diagnosis journey through movement rather than text. Working high above the stage, visual spectacle replaces conventional narrative as the performers climb, balance and dance in the air, using physically demanding acrobatics to articulate the woman’s experience.

The work is shaped by Sadiq Ali’s own experience of being diagnosed with HIV, and the impact this had not only on him but on those around him, as people chose either to offer support or to distance themselves. Rather than functioning as personal testimony, Tell Me translates lived experience into physical language, inviting audiences to encounter the emotional realities of diagnosis while opening up a more empowering vision of living with HIV.

From there, Tell Me widens its focus to the dynamics that shape how people relate to one another in moments of vulnerability. Ideas of community run through the work, reflecting the ways support can be offered – or withdrawn – in the wake of diagnosis, while also challenging outdated perceptions around HIV. Intimacy and touch are central too, with the piece examining the barriers to physical connection that diagnosis can create, while centring the importance of touch.

Tell Me follows the success of Sadiq Ali Company’s debut work, The Chosen Haram, described by Ali as a “heady mix of love, drugs and Islam”. The show garnered five-star reviews for its “astonishing fusion of circus and storytelling” (Fest Mag). This new production builds on that momentum, using the company’s signature physical precision to address HIV, stigma and human connection through a work that is non-verbal, visually led and accessible beyond traditional theatre forms.

Commissioned by Lowry as part of a wider touring and festival network, Tell Me marks a confident new chapter for Sadiq Ali Company. Through its scale and physical risk, the work offers a hopeful vision of living with HIV – one rooted in resilience, community and new perspectives.