10 facts you need to know about iconic London gay night Duckie
By Josh Lee
For 21 years, queers artists’ collective Duckie have been showcasing LGBT performers and performance art at its barking and brilliant weekly Saturday club night. Ahead of Duckie’s 21st birthday party at London’s Electric Brixton this weekend, here are 10 facts every gay boy and girl should know…1)
Duckie started in 1995 run by the same six people who still run it to this day – hostess Amy Lamé, DJs Readers Wifes, promoter Simon Strange and doorwhores Jay Cloth and Father Cloth.
2) Duckie hostess Amy Lamé was recently made Night Czar of London, working for the mayor Sadiq Khan.
3) Duckie have produced lots of offbeat theatrical events including an audience sleepover (pictured), a replica shopping centre and an ice skating spectacular.
4) Duckie were the first venue to give a platform to David Hoyle (aka The Divine David), as well as other influencial performers such as Ursula Martinez, Le Gateau Chocolat and even Russell Brand.
5) As well as a queer club night, Duckie is also an arts charity for the young and old alike – providing cabaret to OAPs in The Posh Club (pictured) and mentorship for LGBT youth with Duckie’s Homosexualist Summer School.
6) Duckie’s hit ’00s show C’est Barbican! won an Olivier Award and toured to New York, Berlin and the Sydney Opera House.
7) Duckie also run a weekly arts drop-in for homeless folk in Vauxhall, an area with a large amount of homeless hostels and street drinkers.
8) Duckie have coined the term queer vintage clubbing to describe their occasional LGBT history events – like Gross Indencency (1960s), Gateways (1950s) and Lady Malcolm’s Servant’s Ball (1930s)
9) For over a decade, on Gay Pride day Duckie ran a tongue-in-cheek counter-cultural event called Gay Shame, poking light fun at the commercialism of the gay scene and playing Kylie Minogue records backwards.
10) To try to make the queer scene more inclusive Duckie have started producing events in association with black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) promoters for queer people of colour (QPOC) communities called #DuckieFamily. The next one is in 2017 at Rich Mix.
Duckie’s 21st Birthday is at Electric Brixton this Saturday 3 December. For tickets head to duckie.co.uk.
Words by Simon Casson, Duckie producer
More stories:
‘World AIDS Day is about remembering those who’ve fallen – this is our war’
Northern Ireland politician ‘didn’t know that heterosexual people could contract HIV’