Riot Act

Created and performed by Alexis Gregory. Directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair.

Following its sell-out Pride 2022 Crazy Coqs debut, Alexis’s Gregory’s widely acclaimed solo verbatim show returns, for a special performance to mark World AIDS Day on 1st December, another rare chance to see the show in a cabaret setting.

Created word-for-word out of the playwright and performer’s interviews with three key-players in the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Michael; a survivor of the Stonewall riots, Lavinia; an alternative ’70s drag artist; and Paul; a ’90s London AIDS activist.

Directed by LGBTQ+ theatre legend Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE, following a West End outing, performances across London and the UK on three national tours, a recent online digital ‘reimagining’ streamed globally via stream.theatre and Broadway on Demand in the US, with the play text published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

‘Riot Act’ is an electric, breathtaking, rip-roaring, wild, white-knuckle ride through six decades of queer history, taking the audience right up to the present day; provocative, tender, truthful, funny, political and personal, these are stories of queerness, love, drag, community, family, childhood, youth, ageing, Leather Queens, and….a Hollywood diva somewhere over the rainbow.

Pulling no punches, hilarious and inspiring…it’s a riot!

Top picks: Evening Standard, Metro, Attitude Magazine, i-D magazine.

★★★★★ The Spy in the Stalls | ★★★★★ LondonTheatre1 | ★★★★★ Queer Review | ★★★★★ London Box Office | ★★★★★ London Theatre Reviews | ★★★★★ Remotegoat | ★★★★ The Stage 

‘Riot Act is at once frank, warm and uninhibited’ – Evening Standard

‘Queer theatre doesn’t get more essential’ – Metro

‘This stand out piece of theatre will become part of LGBT cultural heritage…a career defining performance’ – Attitude Magazine

‘One of the most moving pieces of new queer writing in London’ – The Spy In The Stalls

‘Verbatim theatre at its best’ – The Stage

‘What makes ‘Riot Act’ really work is Alexis Gregory’s utterly captivating delivery…compelling’ – Gay Times

‘Theatre at its simplest and at its best’ – British Theatre Guide

Alexis Gregory is a playwright, performer, director and producer whose work mostly explores queer themes. Plays include solo self-performed verbatim piece Riot Act (West End / Arcola Theatre / Kings Head Theatre / touring / digital version – digital version – Hackney Empire / stream.theatre / Broadway On Demand in the US), ‘Safe’ (Soho Theatre / London Theatre Workshop / Reading Rep and directed by Alexis; Norwich Theatre Royal and digital version in association with Hackney Empire, supported by Park Theatre), ‘Sex/Crime’ (Soho Theatre / The Glory) and ‘Slap’ (Theatre Royal Stratford East / Channel 4 pop-up onsite theatre performance – the channel’s first / ‘Concrete’, Shoreditch). Additional online directing credits over lockdown also include ‘Declan’ (Actors Centre, The Guardian top choice) and ‘Silvertown’ (Join the Docks). Recent screen credits, as an actor, include the co-lead in the globally screened short ‘Mankind’ and appearing as Jean-Paul in London LGBTQ+ series ‘The Grass Is Always Grindr’ (Amazon Prime). Alexis’ plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and he is currently developing three new plays; ’Modern Sky’, ‘Instrumental’, and a new solo show; ‘Smoke’. You can find out more about Alexis at www.alexisgregory.co.uk

Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer and performer. Rikki also works extensively in theatre and has written 28 plays in the last decade that have been performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the Bush Theatre, the Soho Theatre, the Tristan Bates Theatre and the Contact Theatre in Manchester, including Gutted, Bashment, Shalom Baby and the recent groundbreaking Summer In London written for an all trans cast of performers. He developed and directed many plays by upcoming writers such as Hashtag Lightie by Lynette Linton, Stripped by Hannah Chalmers, Slap & ‘Riot Act”by Alexis Gregory plus My Dad”s Gap Year” and ‘Undetectable” by Tom Wright. He is also known for his work on several feature films and TV series, including the American feature Blackbird starring Oscar-winning actress, Monique, Stonewall for the Killer Films New York and BBC Films, Metrosexuality for Channel 4, Noah”s Arc for MTV LOGO as well as FIT, Kick Off and Bashment for his own company Team Angelica. Rikki has won several awards including the Sony Award, the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriting and Outstanding Achievement awards and he is one of the creative directors of the Visionary Youth Project for young European Film Activists. Rikki has been a committed mentor to a great many writers, actors, composers and directors around the world including Noel Clarke, Lynette Linton, Somalia Seaton and Joe Cole.