London Performance Studios and Unfinished Histories are pleased to present two day long playreading sessions exploring works by pioneering voices of early out gay theatre from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. 

Join us for two days of theatrical history that shaped a community. Attendees are invited to join to read a role, listen from the audience, or join the conversations that follow each piece, all are welcome. Each day-long marathon will introduce at least four plays, most never published or restaged, but essential to understanding how LGBTQ+ voices fought for space on British stages. Both days will be led by Dr Susan Croft alongside co-facilitators and performance makers Alexander Gallimore and Rachel Mars.

Material covered over the two days will include the work of lesbian playwright Maureen Duffy, groundbreaking productions from Bradford's community theatre company The General Will (performing as The One-Off Company), and vital contributions from Brixton Faeries alongside lesbian feminist companies including Character Ladies, Hard Corps, Parker and Klein, and other mixed companies.

This event is the first of year two of Fifty Years of The Fight For Inclusion (FFYFI), a multi-year project celebrating key milestones in the fight for inclusion in British theatre led by Unfinished Histories. Following on from last year’s celebrations of the first women’s theatre festival, 2025 marks half a century since Britain's first Gay Theatre Festival, staged at Inter-Action's Almost Free Theatre in 1975 by Gay Sweatshop.

Those attending will have the chance to apply for a microgrant to create new work inspired by these plays, building on the conversation between past and present.

This event is open to all and free to attend, with light refreshments provided. Space is limited, so advance booking is required. If you require access information or an access ticket, please get in touch info@londonperformancestudios.com

Saturday 19 July 2025 / Co-hosted by Alexander Gallimore & Dr. Susan Croft

Mister X by Roger Baker and Drew Griffiths (1976)
Men by Noel Greig and Don Milligan (1976) 
Gents by Brixton Faeries (1980) 
Minehead Revised or The Warts That Dared to Speak Their Name by Brixton Faeries (1979)
All Het Up by Noel Greig and Bradford Gay Liberation Front Theatre Group (1975)
Teatrolley by Peter Scott-Presland (1981)
Where to Now? by Martin Patrick (1988)

Saturday 26 July 2025 / Co-hosted by Rachel Mars & Dr. Susan Croft

Rites by Maureen Duffy (1969)
Washouse: a masque by Maureen Duffy (1973)
Son of a Gun by Sidewalk Theatre (1979)
Devilry by Debby Klein (1985)
John by Adele Saleem (1985)
Ladies of the Vale by Sandra Freeman (1988)

This event is organised by Unfinished Histories, as part of the Associate Artists Programme.

About

Alexander Gallimore (he/him) is a performer, playwright, and archivist whose artistic practice explores the intersections of Blackness, queerness, colonialism, fanaticism and folklore. Raised in both Jamaica and Toronto, his work challenges conventional narratives by integrating archival research, particularly in Afro-Caribbean art history, with  expressionistic and experimental contemporary performance.  He has previously been an artist-in residency at The Face Magazine and the London Performance Studios. Alexander was a youth programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival and has developed work under commission from Vice Media Group. He is a graduate from East 15’s Contemporary Theatre program where he received the David Garrick Scholarship.  Most recently, his new play Boys Beware was nominated for the Alfred Fagon Mustapha Matura Award. He currently works closely with the alternative theatre archive Unfinished Histories. 

​​Rachel Mars (she/her) is a writer and performer based in the UK. She works at the cross-over of performance art and theatre, interrogating the possibilities of live assembly; female, Jewish and Queer identities and their intersections; and the ways cultural and political constucts affect everyday human behaviours. Her recent performance work includes: FORGE, a durational metalwork installation exploring memorial inheritance and historical replica; YOUR SEXTS ARE SHIT: OLDER BETTER LETTERS, an archive of sex and desire; OUR CARNAL HEARTS, a choral dissection of envy; ROLLER, with Mars.tarrab, a fight show about female aggression and Roller Derby, and STORY #1/#3, an ongoing collaboration with Greg Wohead on radical narrative. She has won a Total Theatre Award and the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award. For screen, she is currently on the TV Foundation New Writers Collective and was a participant on the inaugural UK and Ireland Writers Lab. She has performed all over the UK and internationally, including recently at Under The Radar in NYC, UMS Michigan, Barbican London, Brisbane International Festival, Brighton International Festival, Fusebox Festival Austin and On The Boards in Seattle.

Unfinished Histories was founded in 2006 by Susan Croft and Jessica Higgs and later established as an independent organisation in 2012. It is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of Alternative Theatre in Britain from the 1960s to the 1980s. Through extensive interviews and archival work, Unfinished Histories highlights the pioneering contributions of marginalised communities, including Black, Asian, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities, women, and other politically engaged theatre groups, ensuring their transformative legacy is recognised and remembered.