Hannah Riley, a 21-year-old lesbian studying at King's College London, told BuzzFeed News that last Friday evening while out celebrating a gay male friend’s birthday, both the G-A-Y Late bar and the historic Heaven nightclub would not let her or her female friends in.Īt around midnight on 13 May, she said, the group of friends – which comprised two men and four women, most of whom are gay – arrived at G-A-Y Late and began queuing. Photo by RBG Studios.A British student is calling on gay venues to be more inclusive after two of London’s most famous nightspots refused her entry because she is a woman, she says. Above the Stag – Cleveland Streetįlorence Odumosu as Tania, Boom Bang-A-Bang at Above the Stag Theatre. Queer Theatre : Closer to Heaven at Above The Stag Theatre.
Tickets are currently on sale for five shows at Above The Stag Theatre – Grindr: The Opera!, The Chemsex Monologues, The Penetration Play, Maurice and Mother Goose Cracks One Out!įor more info, listings and tickets, head to The Good Scout at Above the Stag. William? Harry?Ībove The Stag is at 72 Albert Embankment, SE1 7TP. We’ve had some pretty big names from the world of entertainment and politics visit us at Above The Stag so have become unfazed, t hough we’re still waiting on a member of the royal family. Forster’s Maurice in the main house, followed by our panto, Mother Goose Cracks One Out! (Check out QX Magazine´s Listings for What’s On at the Stag this week)Īnd finally…which famous guest would make you the most excited if they suddenly turned up in the audience? September sees the stage adaptation of E.M. Ronnie Larsen’s comedy Happy Ending opens late July in the studio followed by The Next Lesson, which deals with the effects of the Thatcher government’s infamous Section 28. The Penetration Play opens next week, and Patrick Cash’s highly acclaimed The Chemsex Monologues plays four performances as part of our Pride week celebrations. This will be followed by GRINDR The Opera! which opens for Pride and runs to the end of August. We’re currently coming to end of the run of Beautiful Thing. What plays have you got on at the moment? Whilst have a large LGBT + audience, we also reach out to a straight audience who otherwise wouldn’t hear our stories. Theatre gives us a voice, and an LGBT+ theatre creates a platform for artists who possibly would not be heard in the mainstream. Why is it important to have theatre centred around LGBT life? There’s something about the connection you can create between an audience and live actors that you simply cannot do on film or television. Theatre gives people a chance to escape the technology of television, social media etc and experience something live collectively. With the rise of social media etc, people’s attention spans are waning, but everyone still seems to be transfixed by theatre. We engage with constructive criticism and ignore the destructive. I don’t recall any outright opposition, however the journey has not been without its critics. We come from a small function room above the now demolished Stag pub in Victoria so we’ve come a long way in ten years, We’ve had a few misses, but a lot of hits, which we put down to hard work and listening to our customers.
#THE STAG GAY BAR LONDON FULL#
Have you ever had any opposition?Ībove The Stag is the only full time LGBT+ theatre in the UK. You’ve made a name for yourselves being the UK’s only gay-focused theatre. It’s a place where you can meet and chat in a comfortable, non-threatening environment.
Our cafe and bar is open to everyone, not just audiences attending a performance. We want to create a place where people feel safe and can experience something different to just drinking or clubbing.
What kind of vibe do you want to create in your new home? Whilst we attract a mainly gay audience, we do have very loyal gay-friendly straight supporters. We get a very mixed crowd age wise because Above The Stag is a great place to integrate and socialise with people from all walks of life.