For our December window we celebrated our vFd family in the run up to our femme relaunch in January; releasing a new clip each day of advent.
Read moreIn the window: Behind The Image
Desiderata
Starting to define the real purpose and meaning for 'desire', the exhibition is about our artist's interpretations of the human impulse and will reflect the social and psychological importance of desire through their chosen practice.
Read moreIn the window: Holly Revell
Holly Revel's gorgeous portraits of Divine David Hoyle graced our window in October to promote their book PARALLEL UNIVERSE.
Read moreBlag - Personality Crisis
Back-slang and rhyming slang was omni-present for me growing up in the 70’s / 80’s. TV programmes like The Sweeney, Only Fools... Filthy, Rich & Catflap, you’d often hear of a ‘blag’ or that something was ‘bona’. I also worked on a market in Islington, where many of these words were used... and I found them hilarious. Like most slang though, they were formed as a ‘code’ or ‘smoke screen’ to use between those in the know, and as is often the case, will over time, work their way into common parlance.
I always liked Morrissey’s album ‘Bona Drag’ - not knowing that it was littered with Polari - I had no idea what the track ‘Picadilly Polare’ was about or even that many of these words I’d heard as a kid belonged to some kind of ‘language’. It was years later I found out where they came from after hearing a language documentary.
A window to celebrate the cant slang ‘Polari’ and the vocabulary’s assimilation into mainstream language.
My work often has hidden meanings and code. Feels like a bona fit.
www.personalitycrisis.info | instagram: @personality___crisis
Q&A: Not Like That
Q&A with Not Like That
Read moreSun 25 Jul: The Nipple Club
VFD presentTHE NIPPLE CLUB - OPENING NIGHT!!! (*new monthly residency, last Sunday of the month at VFD)
Hosted by he of the luscious Big Nipples: ROY INC
This Sunday soiree will be a celebration of the nipple in all its glory - all kinds, sexes, colours, and shapes.
Tops On or Off... Nipples Pierced or Not... Fans of the Nipple, All Welcome
Wet Nipple Thumping Music All Night Long From Resident DJ Mitch
Best drink prices this side of Dalston!
Doors: 7pm free <9pm>£5 guestlist £3
Wed 14 Jun: Basement Comedy
Stand up, sketch, character, OTHER. Packed into the basement of VFD arts and performance space, you'll be treated to some of the most original, most inventive, most bloody HILARIOUS new talent in comedy.
It's going to be weird. It's going to be cosy. It's going to be great.
Oh, and you can pay what you LIKE.
FEATURED JUNE 14TH
ANDY FIELD - Chortle Student Competition Winner 2015 CAM SPENCE
ROBBIE ORMROD - "Audience favourite, stole the show" - The Stand Comedy Club
LOOSE BRIE - Malcolm Hardee First Minute Award Nominees 2016
SAM LAKE - South Coast Comedian of the Year
SARA BARRON - host of The Moth storytelling night
HOSTED BY TIM BUTCHER
Sun 11 Jun: TBT2005 - Unofficial Evanescence Pre-Party
TBT 2005 - UNOFFICIAL EVANESCENCE PRE PARTY AT VFD An evening of drag, performance and teenage drama
So you know Evanescence are playing in London this June right?? Its true. And its sold out! We're throwing a special Evanescence pre-party at VFD to gather together London's former emo kids to celebrate our early naughties obsessions.
Live cabaret from some of East London's finest lovable freaks, performing to the sounds of Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Panic! at the Disco, Avril Lavigne, MCR and of course, Ms Amy Lee.
Come dressed in your finest emo lewks, or launch headfirst into our GOTH DRAG BOOTH, where our carefully curated selection of mesh tutus, black and red wristbands, eyeliners and crippling insecurity can help you create that perfect 'nobody gets me' vibe. Will you be crowned 'Miss Understood 2005'?
Doors - 7pm Cabaret Show - 8.30pm Tickets - £3 Advance | £5 Door Hosted by Mark T Cox
ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
https://www.eventbrite.ie/
Fri 9 Jun: Magic Clit
girl unit b2b manara b2b amz all night!!!! £3 OTD
Thu 8 Jun: Sort Zine 3 - The Cult Issue - launch party
SORT ZINE 3: THE CULT ISSUE (photo by Derek Ridgers for SORT Zine – more information soon)
Wed 7 Jun: Spoken Word London
Spoken Word London is an open-mic poetry and performance night for anyone to come and join in, whether to speak or listen. Everyone who wants to speak gets five minutes, but no one gets more than five minutes. Speak in whichever format you want, sharing your own or others' work. Doors open 7.30pm, sign up for a slot 7.30-8pm, readings begin at 8pm.
Sun 4 Jun: Rhyannon Styles launches 'The New Girl'
'The New Girl' is the new memoir by trans woman Rhyannon Styles (columnist at ELLE magazine, author & performance artist) Styles is launching 'The New Girl' with special guests Kuchenga Kuchenga, Josephine Jones and Charlie Craggs who will be dissecting, interpreting and redefining the topic of gender, live!
Music will be provided by trans-drogynous icon La JohnJoseph
The event is sponsored by ABSOLUT - FREE SHOTS!
SPECIAL OFFER - copies of 'The New Girl' will be discounted from £15.99 to £8.99 - get your signed copy and shout up if you want a copy reserved.
Sunday 04th June 2017 7.00pm - Invite Only
9pm - midnight: after party - ALL WELCOME!
All donations on the door will go to Mermaids Charity!
'Inspiring and heart-wrenching' Paloma Faith 'Love Rhyannon. Love this book' Grace Dent
The New Girl is the transgender memoir you won't stop hearing about. Rhyannon Styles will do for transgender issues what Matt Haig did for mental health. Rhyannon tells her unforgettable life story in THE NEW GIRL, charting her incredible journey from male to female. A powerful book about being true to ourselves, for anyone who's ever felt a little lost.
'A story that will make you smile and sob in equal measure, and challenge everything you thought you knew about gender, sex, and fashion. Once read, never forgotten' Rebecca Root
'Rhyannon Styles journey of transition is fraught with the unique issues of her generation. Honest and unflinching, she walks the tightrope of uncertainty with confidence in the unknowing. A modern Artemis in the queer wilderness, midwifing her own becoming' Penny Arcade
Q&A: Damsel Zine 1.0 launch
Fri 2 Jun: afterTouch
AfterTouch @ VFD round 3 of our nonsensical AfterTouch situations
and FYI this time we're packed with sweat, molten lava, tears + other bodily fluids
more visceral club music and experimental east-london drag than you can shake a fiery hot poker at
DJs:
B.YHZZ (Warsaw)
https://soundcloud.com/
KRY (Warsaw)
https://soundcloud.com/
Ni-Ku (LDN)
https://soundcloud.com/
Performances:
Shay Shay
Lewis G Burton
Edythe Woolley
Dan McBride
J.Aria
Hosts:
Fung and Aurora (Chronic Illness)
Queens of The Underworld
£6
Thu 1 Jun: Insecure ft. Zoee, Lava La Rue & Viva Victoria
Zoee presents INSECURE
a night of precarious pop music feat:
Zoee
https://soundcloud.com/
Lava La Rue
https://soundcloud.com/
Viva Victoria
http://
@ VFD
7pm - 12am
£3 entry on the door
1.6.17
Tamara Hill: Dance - VFD in collaboration with University of Westminster
Tamara’s work will exhibited 31st May.
Sun 28 May: Sunday funday ~ Funderbolt
CLASH///BOOM///THWARPLLL//
We need a 🌬⚡️FUNDERBOLT⚡️🌬
The SUNDAY~FUNDAY squad are back again with a storm of colour and queerness! Loud music, flashing lights, flouncing through the clouds, dancing in the rain, and cleansing our cuts and bruises.
And as the eye of the storm passes right overhead, we will bunker down in the protective stomach of VFD and hold a very special late night drag show flooded with unique creatures spirited in from distant lands!
With extra special weather girl Ellis D giving us some shelter, and international megastorm Gaff~E hurling down hailstones of magic on the decks, it'll be a gail force party!
So take our advice, don't take any unnecessary journeys, hide your kids, and get ready for a transformational tempest late late late into the night!
Doors at 9:00pm, Shows at midnight, party party party til late late late get wet wet wet drip drip drip drop don't stop 💧
Sat 27 May: Burning Down the House
Pull up to the bumper + enslave yourself to our rhythm. It's our May edition of BDTH. Get ready for more…
'80s / NEW WAVE / DISCO / GLAM / SYNTHPOP / ITALODISCO GLITTER / SWEETS /
Expect to hear: Grace Jones, Talking Heads, The Slits, Tom Tom Club, Siouxsie + the Banshees, Prince, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Pixies, William Onyeaboar, Whitney Houston, Visage, Odyssey, Patti Smith, Blondie, Madonna, The Human League, Roxy Music, The Smiths, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Iggy Pop, Diana Ross, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, Joy Division, Candi Staton, Bow Wow Wow, Chaka Khan, The Jesus + Mary Chain, Adam + the Ants, Cheryl Lynn, Chic, Demis Roussos, Donna Summer,
WHAT ♥ BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE
WHEN ♥ 10PM-3AM Saturday 27th May
WHERE ♥ VFD, 66 Stoke Newington Road
HOW MUCH ♥ £5 advance https://billetto.co.uk/e/
Triple Threat: Lucy McCormick - catch it in Brighton this Saturday
Triple Threat, a trash-step dub-punk morality play for the modern age, stormed the Edinburgh Festival last year, smashed a sell-out month’s run at Soho Theatre in February, and is now heading to the Brighton Festival for one night only at the Marlborough, Brighton this Saturday 6 May. This hilarious, anarchic retelling of the new testament swipes at Christianity, celebrity, and morality via a full-throttle, sexy hot mess of comedy, cabaret, chaos and Nutella.
Lucy herself is a genuine triple threat. Her triumvirate of talents - singing, dancing and acting - are on full show throughout, alongside various body parts. It’s hard to find theatre with such fierce and fearless performances, with a soundtrack to match.
VFD cannot recommend this highly enough if you happen to be in the area.
Triple Threat
by
Lucy McCormick
Sat 6 May
Fri 26 May: Rad Festa
oh my god who are you voting for? did you hear they called an early election? theresa may is such a bitch!!! but did you watch drag race last night? jeremy corbyn looked fabulous!? do you think she stoned those tights? which bathroom can i use? is this place gender neutral? is it a safe space? why did none of you tell me my dress was ugly? donald who?? meat is murder yes gawd? is that a real fur coat? brexit bitch!!!! OH MY GOD TAKE A FUCKING BREAK
RAD FESTA is back back AGAIN BITCH
AND THIS TIME WE'RE CELEBRATING OUR VERY OWN EUROPEAN SISTER'S BITHDAY Alexandre Simões ( SWEET 60 )
SO COME KICK BACK RELAX AND PUT ON YOUR HEELS !
PERFORMANCES Kevin Le Grand Bailor ( your fabulous host ) Kale Dogan