Duckie is a collective of performance artists that describes itself as "a Post Gay independent arts outfit." They produce a mix of so-called "cultural interventions", such as club nights, new-mode pop,

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and performance events, as well as anti-theatre experimentation. They have described their work as "mixing the arthouse with the dosshouse" and putting "highbrow performance in backstreet pubs and lowbrow performance in posh theatres". Supported by grants from the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh la ...

and Arts Council England, Duckie is based in London but has played in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

as well as the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

, Blackpool Tower Ballroom and the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century archit ...

. Duckie's work is characterised by its engagement with the queer lifestyle and community, showcasing queer performers and performance art at its weekly Saturday club night and providing "a creative forum for alternative gay and lesbian performance and culture". The company's outlook is distinctly working-class, drawing influences in John McGrath, the Victorian music hall, punk culture and illegitimate theatre.

Background

The collective dates back to a club night called ''Duckie'' that started in November 1995 in the south

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

pub Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), created by producer Simon Casson and compere Amy Lamé. In a 2007 article for ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'',

Paul Burston Paul Burston is a Welsh journalist and author. He worked for the London gay policing group GALOP and was an activist with ACT UP before moving into journalism. He edited, for some years, the LGBT section of ''Time Out'' and founded the Polari ...

wrote that at the start of Duckie's tenure the RVT was somewhat in decline: "Lack of investment meant the venue remained dark during the week, only coming to life at the weekend with Duckie and ... the Dame Edna Experience." Burston also records that the opening of the gay nightclub Crash promoted Vauxhall's potential for hosting such ventures, leading to an influx of mainstream clubs into the historic gay area. Despite this, and the potential in new audiences attracted by the larger clubs, Duckie's growth was again challenged in 1998 when

Lambeth London Borough Council Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, and one of the 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council meets at Lambeth Town Hall ...

and property developer

CLS Holdings CLS Holdings plc is a British commercial property investment business based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was established by Sten Mörtstedt in 198 ...

attempted to flatten the RVT to make way for a supermarket complex. Duckie was instrumental in defeating this threat: as Burston notes "The performance club Duckie, which had breathed new life into Saturday nights, mounted a vigorous press campaign, protesting outside

Lambeth Town Hall Lambeth Town Hall, also known as Brixton Town Hall, is a municipal building at the corner of Brixton Hill and Acre Lane, Brixton, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Lambeth London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. ...

and saving it from the bulldozers." In 2005, businessmen Paul Oxley and James Lindsay bought the RVT at public auction, bringing new investment to the venue and securing the site as a bar and nightclub.

Performance events

In December 2002, Duckie's ''C'est Vauxhall'' Christmas show at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern created the format of sitting guests at tables and offering them the chance to order short acts, using "Duckie dollars", from a menu. In December 2003, this was recreated as ''C'est Barbican'' at

The Pit The Pit may refer to: Places * The Pit, a commonly used name for a mosh pit * The Pit (arena), the main indoor arena at the University of New Mexico * The Pit (memorial), "Яма" the Holocaust memorial in Minsk, Belarus * Elder 'The Pit' Stadiu ...

theatre venue at the Barbican Centre. It won four awards including an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for best entertainment show and returned to the Barbican in 2004. The show toured to the

as well as

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. In December 2007, this show was recreated as ''C'est Duckie!'' at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally ...

. In 2006, Duckie created ''The Class Club'' at The Pit, a piece of event theatre that asked the audience to pre-select a social class for themselves, dress appropriately for the evening and then enjoy a meal and entertainment for their chosen grouping. Cabaret performer

Ursula Martinez Ursula Martinez (born 1966) is a British theatre maker, performer and director. She grew up in South London, the daughter of an English father and Spanish mother, both teachers. After graduating in French and Theatre at Lancaster University, sh ...

has worked as part of Duckie, and it has also attracted performers such as Dusty Limits, Janice Connolly,

Scott Capurro Scott Allen Capurro (born December 10, 1962) is an American comedian, writer and actor based in San Francisco. His comedy material is deliberately provocative, referring often to gay life and culture, politics, race and racism, and popular cultu ...

Kiki and Herb Kiki and Herb ( Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman) are an American drag cabaret duo. Bond portrays Kiki DuRane, an aging, alcoholic, female lounge singer. Mellman portrays her gay, male piano accompanist, known only as "Herb." Despite Bond and M ...

and

George Chakravarthi George Chakravarthi is a multi-disciplinary artist working with photography, video, painting and performance. His work addresses the politics of identity including race, sexuality and gender, and also religious iconography among other subjects. ...

. In 2022, it was announced that the last performance would happen July 2, 2022.

References

External links

Duckie's official website

Duckie's original website 1996-2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckie (Group) Theatre companies in the United Kingdom Cabaret Performance artist collectives