06 November 2023
Newsdesk
This December, The Yard Theatre is tossing out tired tunes and tropes in favour of full-throttle festive folly. The venue's irreverent holiday season, dubbed MERRY MAYHEM: A Festive Extravaganza, will transform The Yard into a gloriously warped winter wonderland from December 9th through to the 21st. The season’s provocative line-up of holiday-themed cabaret, circus, burlesque, and more comes from some of London's most daring performers. Audiences can expect irreverent reinventions of nativity scenes, sexy spins on Saint Nick, an over-the-top office party guaranteed to get out of hand, and The Yard’s first family-friendly festive show. Plus, The Yard's flagship in-house performance party, CLUB NOW, will also host a special festive edition featuring performances and DJs from To The Left, Mimis and 2CPERREA.
Merry Mayhem aims to give Londoners an antidote to sentimental seasonal fare, but underneath all the bawdy merrymaking will lie a space for community. So leave the figgy pudding at home and get ready to jingle some bells.
And in the run-up to Christmas, don’t miss The Yard Theatre’s 5* production of James Fritz’s latest play, The Flea. Directed by The Yard Theatre’s Artistic Director Jay Miller, The Flea has been called ‘Dickens on ketamine’ and ‘Mischievous, Searching, Gloriously surreal’ by the press. We’ve just announced that due to popular demand the show will now run until 2 December.
MERRY MAYHEM: A Festive Extravaganza
The Yard Theatre, Unit 2a Queen's Yard, London E9 5EN
9 - 21 December, 2023, various times.
Quota Cabaret Office Party by QUOTA Cabaret
8 & 9 December, 7:30pm
Join our fabulously festive team at the year's most anticipated corporate shindig. It's your run-of-the-mill office party - if your staff were all international drag, burlesque and circus superstars from QUOTA Cabaret, helmed by Lilly SnatchDragon and Mark Anthony.
Quota Cabaret is a drag, burlesque and circus extravaganza that celebrates and champions the under-represented. Expect stellar line-ups of bombastic box-tickers, tantalising tokens and delectable diversity, as we put the positive in discrimination.
Hosted by beacons of diversity and “Quota Couple” Lilly SnatchDragon (award-winning Drag Queen and Burlesque Performer, co-founder of LADS and The Bitten Peach) and Mark Anthony (award-winning Drag King and Boylesque Performer, Mr Boylesque UK), Quota Cabaret shows are where theatre meets cabaret. Expect killer lip-syncs, tantalising burlesque, fabulous choreography, political satire and downright silliness.
CLUB NOW: Festive Edition from The Yard Theatre
9 December, 10:30pm
The Yard’s in-house performance party. A celebration of London’s nightlife, bringing together the weird to create the wonderful featuring performances and DJs from To The Left, Mimis and 2CPERREA.
A Very Homos and Houmous Chanukah! by Homos and Houmous
11-14 December, 7:30pm.
Join in for a chaotic, queer rendition of the Chanukah story featuring a rebellious retelling, live klezmer, and one or two Christmas songs. From Royal Vauxhall Tavern residents and queer Jewish theatre company Homos and Houmous.
Since 2016 queer Jewish theatre company and cabaret Homos and Houmous has been schlepping around with a smorgasbord of musical storytelling, comedy, drag, live klezmer and politics. In 2024, they will be part of the Royal Court’s Playwriting Group.
Ray Filar, aka That Ray, is a performance artist, writer, and theatre-maker. Their practice interrogates themes of labour, intimacy, grief, Judaism, criminalisation and the body. Previous performances include Tate Britain and Modern, the Royal Court Theatre, Hayward Gallery, ICA, Latitude Festival. They co-curate the Sistxrhood Clubhouse trans performance night at Glastonbury Festival. They are finishing a PhD in Creative Writing & Gender Studies at Sussex University, for which they are writing Choke, a revenge fantasy novella.
Dex Chait Grodner, aka Chanukah Lewinsky, is a theatre maker, community organiser, arts producer, and drag cabaret artist. Their work uses Jewish and pagan rituals to explore themes of money, biological and chosen family and the life cycle. Dex has performed at the Royal Court Theatre, JW3 and Tate Britain and given talks on trans inclusion in the arts at Southbank Centre and RADA. They are the founder of the queer, Jewish ecological art project Lady Cynthia’s Lover and co-director for Queer Youth Art Collective.
SATURNALIA! by Beautopia Collective
15 & 16 December, 7:30pm
A cabaret musical resurrecting the Roman revelry and rebellion we sorely need, from Beautopia Collective, London’s newest multi-discipline inspired by the rich contributions of Black, femme and queer artists. Featuring the internationally renowned Bambi Blue, Ashley Stroud, and Bryn Harris who have joined forces to bring cabaret musicals never seen to London audiences, blending the richness of history with the technicolour future we create.
Inspired by the rich contributions of Black, Femme, and Queer artists from the 20th century to the present day; Beautopia Collective aims to present a new world on, above, and around stages: familiar yet fabulous, elevated and distinctly beautiful.
The Egg Show: A Christmas Special by Daniel Oliver and Yard Young Artist Mazvita.
10 & 17 December, 11:30am & 3:30pm
Daniel Oliver, 12-year-old Yard Young Artist Mazvita and their pals Jessica and Rima (also Yard Young Artists) will take you on a gloriously festive trip into the absurd. They'll peel back our hard shells through song, dance, and stories to remind us that anything can become an egg; and any egg can become a superstar.
Daniel Oliver is a performance artist, lecturer, and researcher. He makes raucous, dyspraxic-led participatory performance worlds that have been shown throughout the UK and overseas for 20 years. He has published writing on neurodiversity, audience participation, and the value of celebrating awkwardness.
Mazvita likes drawing anything that comes up in her head. She enjoys eating things that have melted cheese on them. She has been an egg at the Yard Young Artists for almost three years! She is hilarious and energetic. Mazvita wrote this bio herself.
Séayoncé: Christmas Carol Swingers by Séayoncé
18-21 December, 7:30pm
Expect a nativity exposé as Séayoncé contacts ghosts from Christmas past to belting carols, to playing a heated round of Snog, Marry, Kill with the three wise men, this show flips festive traditions on their jingle bell-end.
Dan Wye is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and one of the most prominent comedy cabaret performers in the country. Their work as Séayoncé has received rave reviews and led them to tour nationally to some of the most acclaimed arts venues/ festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Glastonbury Festival, Soho Theatre, the Globe, Underbelly Festival, the Royal Opera House as well as internationally to various acclaimed arts venues/festivals including, the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festival, Sydney World Pride, Joe’s Pub in New York and the Elysian Theatre in LA. Their work allows them to collaborate with some of the biggest names in comedy and cabaret. Their cross-disciplinary practice (comedy, cabaret, drag and theatre) aims to elevate queer performance whilst making it more accessible to mainstream audiences & provide a platform for queer performers through their events and the shows they create.
Tickets
Tickets are priced from £12. Prices increase as the theatre fills - the earlier you book the cheaper it will be.
Locals get 30% off all tickets with a free Yard Local Card. U27s can get £5 tickets on the door to all performances that are not sold out with No Empty Seats.
Tickets for Merry Mayhem: A Festive Extravaganza can be booked at theyardtheatre.co.uk/merrymayhem
