In the 1968 to 1988 period we concentrate on LGBTQ+ was called Lesbian and Gay Theatre as these were the main groups making and asserting their visibility. It is a key area of our work recording the history of alternative theatre
If you would like to contribute financially to supporting this work in the future, create more pages, produce more events or donate your time to help take it forward please email: contact@unfinishedhistories.com
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EXHIBITIONS
In 2025 we staged Homosexual Acts and Beyond as part of FYFFI 2: Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion 2 marking 50 Years Since the first Gay Theatre Festival in Britain (Homosexual Acts) at Inter-Action’s Almost Free Theatre in Rupert St, W1 in 1975. You can read the glowing reviews here and detailed captions here. This was our biggest and most complete exhibition of the period yet, featuring numerous theatre companies and several hundred shows. It followed earlier exhibitions including in 2023 Acting Out: LGBTQ+ Theatre in the 1970s and 80s at Hackney Archives / Newington Green Meeting House, in 2015 a 40th anniversary Homosexual Acts reunion event at the Arcola Theatre in 2015 with Alan Wakeman, ED Berman, Simon Callow, Neil Bartlett, Lois Weaver, and others plus extracts from plays and Siren Lesbian Feminist Band, and Noel Greig: a Tribute at the Unicorn Theatre in 2009. We also staged events at Oval House in 2013, linked to the exhibition Re-Staging Revolutions on: Alternative Pantos and A Tribute to Kate Crutchley.
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS
Interviews with lesbian and gay practitioners or contributors to lesbian and gay theatre include:
Kate Crutchley (Gay Sweatshop, Oval House, Character Ladies)
Adele Salem (Women’s Theatre Group, Hard Corps)
Jacqueline Rudet (Imani-Faith, Black Theatre Co-op)
Michelene Wandor (Women’s Theatre Group, Gay Sweatshop)
Julie Parker (Gay Sweatshop, Action Space / Drill Hall)
Bryony Lavery (Monstrous Regiment, Female Trouble, Women’s Theatre Group, Gay Sweatshop)
Noel Greig (The General Will, Gay Sweatshop, Theatre Centre)
Libby Mason (Women’s Theatre Group)
ED Berman (Inter-Action inc. Homosexual Acts season)
Bette Bourne (Bloolips)
Lavinia Co-op (Bloolips)
Mary Moore (Gay Sweatshop, Women’s Theatre Group,)
Alan Wakeman (Gay Sweatshop)
Kate Owen (stage designer Gay Sweatshop etc)
Ian Townson (Brixton Faeries)
Jane Boston (Group interview with Siren Theatre Company
Tash Fairbanks (Group interview with Siren Theatre Company
Jude Winter (Group interview with Siren Theatre Company)
Debs Trethewey (Group interview with Siren Theatre Company)
The General Will (Group interview and individuals)
Philip Osment (Gay Sweatshop, Theatre Centre)
Poulomi Desai (Hounslow Arts Co-op – HAC)
NB We will shortly link the above Interviewees and Companies to their web pages.
The following Interviews do not yet have Interviewee Pages available
Adjoa Andoh (Gay Sweatshop, Wild Iris – short interview)
Sue Frumin (The Albany, Gay Sweatshop, Shameful Practice, Theatre Centre – in conjunction with Bijou Stories)
Jill Posener (Gay Sweatshop)
Melissa Murray (Hormone Imbalance, on zoom)
Martin Patrick (Dyhard Theatre Company, Oval House)
Paul Dart (stage designer Gay Sweatshop, New Heart etc)
If you would like to help create them through voluntary work or by supporting us with a donation, please get in touch.
At the FYFFI 2 Symposium we also ran sessions with speakers including Julian Hows , Jonathan Blake, Valerie Mason John, Karen Parker, Jill Fleming, Sarah McNair and Rikki Beadle-Blair.
We hope to make these available as recordings / transcripts as soon as possible.
We also funded microgrants for young artists to create new pieces in response to this history.
PLAYREADINGS
If you would be interested in staging/hosting a Playreading event in your borough or other organisation, please get in touch.
In 2025 FYFFI 2, we ran two Playreading Marathons reading Mister X by Drew Griffiths and Roger Baker (1976), Men by Don Milligan and Noel Greig (1977), Minehead Revisited by Brixton Faeries (1979), and Where To Now by Martin Patrick (1987) and John by Adele Saleem (1984), Son of a Gun by Sidewalk Theatre (1979), Rites by Maureen Duffy (1969) and Washouse by Maureen Duffy (1973). Where To Now, Son of a Gun and John were later developed as staged or rehearsed readings as part of the Homosexual Acts and Beyond events programme and Symposium and/or in February 2026 for Radical Roots, an event at Hackney Showroom celebrating inter-sectional LGBT+ work connected to the borough. In February 2026 we also ran an unrehearsed reading for Canada Water Library, Southwark, of Teatrolley (1981) by Peter Scott-Presland (Homo Promos/Consenting Adults in Public)
In 2024, as part of FYFFI 1: Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion, we ran workshops/readings of plays by women including Melissa Murray’s Ophelia and later in the year ran an unrehearsed reading of Patience and Sarah by Isobel Miller adapted by Joyce Holliday (1983).
Additionally we presented: in Sept 202 in collaboration with Bijou Stories / Avant Gardening an unrehearsed reading of Noel Greig‘s Angels Descend on Paris as part of their We Are Lewisham events.
Fri 11th Nov 2022: The Dear Love of Comrades by Noel Greig with music by Alex Harding (further reading at in Feb 2023, Goldsmiths Colllege, in Nov 2022 Any Woman Can (1975)by Jill Posener and Twice Over (1988) by Jackie Kay. We also presented for LGBTQ History Month 2023 The Ugly Ducking: a Gay Fairy Tale by Bloolips and for LGBTQ History Month 2024 Living Leg-Ends by Bloolips.
In 2023 we produced a staged reading of Chiaroscuro by Jackie Kay at the Soho Poly, Newington Green Meeting House and at Hackney Archives as part of Black History Month. In September 2023 we co-produced readings of Raising the Wreck by Sue Frumin and Poppies by Noel Greig (both Gay Sweatshop) at the National Maritime Museum, The Albany and Newington Green Meeting House.
We have also advised on productions of The Rug of Identity by Jill Fleming in Salford 2024
Additionally under lockdown we ran playreadings on Zoom including Wyre’s Cross by Peta Masters and Geraldine Griffiths (Mrs Worthington’s Daughters’ Daughters, 1982), Fanny Whittington and her Glorious Pussy by Sue Frumin (Oval House, 1988), Care and Control by Gay Sweatshop Women’s Company, scripted by Michelene Wandor, Bohemian Rhapsody by Sue Frumin, originally staged in 1980 at Oval House, directed by Kate Crutchley and The Execution by Melissa Murray (Monstrous Regiment, 1982)
WEB PAGES
We have created Company pages for the following groups:
| Bloolips
Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company (Men and Women’s Co.s) |
The General Will
Hard Corps (formerly Gauche) |
Others listed include: Consenting Adults, Coventry Lesbian Theatre Group, D.E.T. Enterprises, Donna and Kebab, Green Noses (Nottingham, street theatre), Hardware Theatre Company, Hot Peaches (US), New Heart, Nitty Gritty, Notting Hill Street Theatre, Open Theatre Company, Outcast Theatre Company, Parker and Klein, Pink Fairies, Pretty Disgusting Things, Red Rag, Split Britches (US)
We have created Individual pages for:
Annie Castledine, Ags Irwin, Gillian Hanna, Victor Spinetti and for Elaine Loudon, Peta Masters and Geraldine Griffiths, among others, and would like to create many more.
ARCHIVE
We have collected archive materials: posters, photos, flyers, articles, reviews, books, AV recordings, scripts, on many of the above companies, productions, individuals and venues including Oval House and Theatre Space. We are always interested in new acquisitions.