FYFFI2 – 2025:
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: HOMOSEXUAL ACTS and BEYOND
2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Gay Theatre Festival in Britain, Called Homosexual Acts it took place in 1975 at the Almost Free Theatre and later at the ICA.
To celebrate this milestone and the LGBTQ+ work that has followed it we are launching:
AN EXHIBITION, SYMPOSIUM, PLAYREADINGS and to come, a COLLECTION
EVENTS
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: HOMOSEXUAL ACTS AND BEYOND – EXHIBITION
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: HOMOSEXUAL ACTS AND BEYOND An ambitious new archival exhibition, celebrating fifty years of LGBTQ+ alternative theatre in the UK. THURSDAY 6th NOV - SUN 14th DEC Open Fridays to Sunday 12- 5 London Performance Studios Penarth Street London SE15 1TR The programme marks 50 years since Homosexual Acts, the first Gay Theatre Season in Britain that took place at the Almost Free Theatre in 1975. It shares an array of materials from the Unfinished Histories archive alongside other sources, and is curated by its director and co-founder Dr. Susan Croft. The exhibition charts the growth of the [...]
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II : ACTING OUT and DRAGGING UP – A SYMPOSIUM
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: HOMOSEXUAL ACTS and BEYOND presents DRAGGING UP AND ACTING OUT: a Symposium Friday and Saturday 7 and 8 November, 10.30am till 5.30pm London Performance Studios Penarth Street London SE1 1TR A two day symposium exploring the radical work of lesbian and gay theatre makers in the 1970s – 80s and its resonance for LGBTQ+ artists and the wider culture today. From the first Gay Sweatshop plays that toured the country to audiences, some of whom had never before seen their experience represented on stage, to radical drag that lampooned narrow definitions of gender and sex roles, campaigning [...]
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: WHERE TO NOW by MARTIN PATRICK – A STAGED READING
RADICAL REDISCOVERY II: HOMOSEXUAL ACTS and BEYOND presents WHERE TO NOW by MARTIN PATRICK THURS 13th NOV at 7.30pm London Performance Studios Penarth Street London SE15 1TR This staged reading explores the conflict of a young black university lecturer forced into confronting his identity in the context of the Brixton riots of 1981. Leaving his white lover of ten years and thereby his own submergence in white culture, he hopes to find fulfilment with a vibrant young black lover. ‘Brave and innovative’ (City Limits) it was among the first plays to bring black British gay male experience to the stage, originally performed [...]
PREVIOUS EVENTS
Bloolips: Living Leg-Ends Revisited
First off in February 2025, we hosted an event celebrating the legendary Bloolips radical drag company in an event at Hackney Archives called Bloolips: Living Leg-Ends Revisited in the redoubtable company of Lavinia Co-op, reflecting on this fabled show forty years on.
Click here to find out more (Supported by London Borough of Hackney)
Playreading Marathons
In July 2025 we held two playreading marathons where you could take part or listen an array of LGBTQ+ plays from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. See here for more details.
