Out Gay and Lesbian Theatre in Britain developed from 1975 onwards with key moments being the first Gay Theatre Festival at Inter-Action‘s Almost-Free Theatre that year, led by Gay Sweatshop; the ‘zapping’ of Bradford-based The General Will the same year to become a community-focused company with an emphasis on working class lesbian and gay work, and a rapid growth of other groups and shows in subsequent years. In 2025 Unfinished Histories is celebrating this 50 Year Anniversary as part of the project FYFFI: Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion with a planned programme of readings, workshops, an exhibition, a symposium and a publication, in conjunction with London Performance Studios. Funding allowing, we would also like to do more Interviews and also to gather the archive of companies where scripts, photos, flyers, programmes, publicity and AV remain scattered and in danger of being lost. If you would like to contribute by helping create a web page for one of the companies listed below without a link, or contribute to an existing Company page or add a Company that’s missing or if you would like to sponsor the creation a page or pages through a donation or offer archive material for a page, lend it for the exhibition or give it to our collections, we would love to hear from you, please contact us for more details.
Companies identified to date:
Cauldron (formerly Witch)
Consenting Adults in Public
Coventry Lesbian Theatre Group
D.E.T. Enterprises
Donna and Kebab
Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company (Men and Women’s Companies)
Green Noses (Nottingham, street theatre)
Hard Corps (formerly Gauche)
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
Slip of the Tongue
Split Britches (US)
In February 2023 Unfinished Histories present an exhibition and events: Acting Out: Celebrating LGBTQ Theatre of the 1970s and 80s at Hackney Archives, CLR James Library, Dalston Square, E8 3BQ, running from 1st to 24th February (open Wednesday to Friday 10-6pm and the first Saturday of each month) For more information see here