Seven Dials Playhouse Announces New Pride Season: Celebrating Queer Voices In The Heart Of London's West End

Seven Dials Playhouse is delighted to announce the launch of its inaugural Pride Season which will open this June; a programme of new work and returning hits, led by LGBTQIA+ artists, including a cowboy-clown mashup, a Celine Dion drag tribute, and a nature documentary cabaret exploring queer animal behaviour which features dolphin orgies, gay giraffes and intersex snails.

The Pride season spans absurdity, intimacy and celebration and marks the beginning of a bold new programming model at Seven Dials Playhouse - curated, collaborative, and rooted in artist support. This ambitious new chapter focuses on strengthening the theatre’s commitment to artistic development with a carefully selected programming model and expanded support initiatives for theatre makers and performers.

Highlights of the Pride season include the first London run of BI-TOPIA, a coming-of-age solo show exploring bisexuality, masculinity and mental health, written and performed by Sam Danson and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE. There is clown-cum-cowboy chaos in Lil Wenker’s BANGTAIL fusing British and American clowning in a riotous showdown. Queer Planet, a nature documentary cabaret from drag king Bi-Curious George, blends stand-up, songs and science in a wild exploration of queerness across the animal kingdom. Meanwhile, drag vocalist Moira Less takes on Celine Dion in My Heart Will Go On, a celebration of the icon’s greatest hits. Finally, Jock Night – a bold, high-energy five-hander produced by Hive North and written by Queer as Folk’s Adam Zane – returns to The House following a sell-out run in 2023. Fresh from a run at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre, Jock Night dives deep into a year of nights out and intimate encounters in the heart of Manchester’s Gay Village, fuelled by sex, drugs and jockstraps. But beneath the hedonism lies a quietly radical narrative - one that explores the transformative power of the U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) campaign and the extraordinary progress in HIV treatment. With humour and heart, Jock Night challenges outdated stigmas and celebrates a generation rewriting the rules of queer intimacy. David Paisley reprises his role from the original production - the actor and advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights now brings even more fire to this unflinching exploration of queer identity, desire and community.

Alongside these there are work-in-progress performances from comedians and theatre-makers exploring themes of identity, relationships, and community. With a mix of new work and established shows, the Pride programme reflects a broad spectrum of LGBTQIA+ experiences.

Two shows featured in the Pride season; BANGTAIL and Queer Planet were previously part of 2024’s “7from7”, an accelerator programme run by Seven Dials Playhouse in partnership with Pleasance Theatre Trust which supports seven theatre companies taking work to the Edinburgh Festival each year. The scheme offers free rehearsal space and mentorship from industry professionals.

The Pride Season will launch with Jock Night (The House) AND Andrew Doherty (The Pen) on 3rd June and will run until the 22nd June.

FIRST LOOK: QUEER COMEDY IN THE MAKINGWORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWS FROM LGBTQIA+ VOICES

Alongside the main programme, the Pride Season features a line-up of work-in-progress performances from LGBTQIA+ comedians and theatre-makers. Spanning everything from folk-horror parody to anarchic crowd work, these shows offer a first look at new material from some of the most exciting voices on the circuit.

Highlights include a surreal queer horror-comedy from Andrew Doherty, creator of Gay Witch Sex Cult and winner of the Brighton Fringe Comedy Award; a semi-scripted, kink-fuelled spin on John Robertson’s signature crowd work; and Chortle 2025 “Hot Shot” Jessie Nixon, whose sharp bisexual observations come with the energy of a drunk girl hyping you up in a Wetherspoons toilet. Also appearing are Sharon Wanjohi, a fast-rising star whose offbeat stand-up about Gen Z struggles and queer awakenings has gone viral online; Ania Magliano, an Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee whose oversharing, chaotic storytelling has earned her a cult following; and Lorna Rose Treen, a surrealist character comic whose previous work won her multiple Chortle and British Comedy Guide awards. Sophie Duker, known for her appearances on Taskmaster and Live at the Apollo, brings her trademark wit and razor-sharp commentary, while Priya Hall rounds off the programme with a brand-new show that blends hilariously candid confessions with reflections on identity, family and sea creatures.

This Pride season marks a further step for Seven Dials Playhouse in redefining its role as a dynamic hub for innovative live performance by bold, distinctive voices. The season - which the venue plans to run annually - places a spotlight on queer perspectives at the heart of the West End, celebrating and championing LGBTQ+ voices through boundary-pushing new work.

For the full listings and information on all the shows featured, visit: https://www.sevendialsplayhouse.co.uk/