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
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EXHIBITION
The exhibition 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.Â
The exhibition charts the growth of the movement in London and elsewhere, from street theatre created by activists in the Gay Liberation Front to touring Gay Sweatshop plays that changed the lives of audiences in isolated communities, and from the radical drag work of Bloolips and the lesbian camp of Hard Corps and Parker and Klein, to the advent of Black lesbian, gay and queer work in the late 80s.
 SYMPOSIUM
Over a weekend in November 2025 we hosted ‘Dragging Up and Acting Out’, a 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.Â
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on stage, to radical drag that lampooned narrow definitions of gender and sex roles, campaigning theatre that rejected outdated laws, lesbian high camp, and the first Black lesbian and gay theatre in Britain, the symposium will challenge narrow perspectives of LGBTQ+ theatre as a recent phenomenon. With panels, talks, slideshows, Q&As and a Long Table, alongside new work commissioned by early career artists in response to this earlier history, the Symposium will take a deep dive into this rich and too little-known history, and explore how it can inspire us today.
With sessions on Lesbian camp, Queering the Archive, Black and Asian work then and now, the radical contribution of Brixton collectives, it featured contributions from LADA, Alice Parsons, Martin Patrick, Poulomi Desai, Rikki Beadle-Blair, Julian Hows, Jonathan Blake, Jill Fleming, Adele Salem, and video from Valerie Mason-John, Sarah McNair & Julie Parker.
It also featured a rehearsed reading of ‘Son of a Gun’ by Sidewalk Theatre, directed by Melissa Dunne.
The second day included sharings from our MICROGRANT recipients –  five artists/collectives showcasing their work in response to the LGBTQ sections of the Unfinished Histories Archives – Meeri Aro, Angel Beavington, Zahra Dalilah, Sama Hunt, Calima Lunt Gomez + Rosa Gatley.
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PLAYREADING
Harry Omosele
Rebecca Scroggs
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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)
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Playreading Marathons
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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.
