This exhibition was commissioned by Travis Alabanza and the Royal Court Theatre as part of Travis’ new play ‘Sound of the Underground’. I photographed four of our club and nightlife legends & Rodent interviewed them to create this display of photographs and audio pieces. They feature David Hoyle, Mzz Kimberley, Nadine Noor and Simon Casson.
“You can only ever fit so many people on stage, but for me the show never starts only in the auditorium, it starts the moment an audience member comes through the door. I wanted to have as many different people from the club history and fabric of London involved as possible, from Rodent on sound, to Holly Revell who has photographed so much of London queer nightlife, and to David, Kim, Nadine and Simon, who have all made mine and so many of ours nights throughout the years.” Travis Alabanza
It was such an honour and extremely affirming to be invited by Travis to create these portraits and be part of their PHENOMENAL new show. I’ve followed and documented much of their work and seen them grow and evolve tremendously during this time. I remember when I first asked if I could do a shoot with them, outside the RVT late one night and they cooed “I’ve been waiting for you to ask Holly…!” It means so much to me to be included, remembered and recognised - Thank you Travis and long may the journey continue!
David Hoyle came to prominence in the 1990s as the Divine David, an anti-drag queen whose lacerating social commentary was offset by breathtaking instances of self-recrimination and even self-harm. Following a couple of outré late-night Channel 4 shows Hoyle killed the Divine David off during a spectacular show at the Streatham Ice Arena in 2000. He returned in 2005 and began performing live again, under his own name. This time round, the chances of serious injury in any given show seemed greatly reduced, but Hoyle's biting satire, bravura costumes, wicked comic timing and compelling charisma remained intact. Over the past 15 years he has performed award winning theatre shows, installations and cabarets. An artist of repute, he recently exhibited his paintings in a solo exhibition in Paris and currently has work in the exhibition ‘Shot Pint Riot’ in London at Studio 1.1.
"He is raw, sometimes a bit frightening, but also thrilling in his look-no-hands recklessness.” - The Guardian
Kim Tatum aka Mzz Kimberley paved the way for many of colour being the first show girl in Madam Jojos cabaret, the face and promoter of Heaven Night Club to opening, ‘The Maids’ at the Moscow Arts Theatre in Russia. Presenting for The British Black Theatre Awards. Gracing many covers of magazines in the 90s, walking for Red or Dead in London’s fashion week. Kim has travelled on tour throughout Europe with Cyndi Lauper as a backing dancer for the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun tour. Kim recently made the LGBT Power List and was recognised at the House Of Lords for the 1 out of 10 awards for the Naz Project. Kim is the director of LIFE, her very own production company highlighting trans art. Patron of Para Pride and AIDS Memorial UK. Next month Kim is the first woman of colour to lead a show at the Tower of London. Kim has said goodbye to clubs but will always have that connection. These days Kim works as an actress and Cabaret singer.
Nadine Noor is a creative producer, artist & cultural consultant whose work is rooted in Queer and Trans People of Colour within nightlife. They created the club night Pxssy Palace 8 years ago which has had global influence in fostering underground talent, setting a new standard to club care and was recently voted best club night in the UK by DJ Mag. Nadine’s award winning work in intentional spaces has allowed them work internationally publicly speaking & facilitating workshops for IMC & Art Basel, djing for artists such as Honey Dijon and curating events for Glastonbury, Boiler Room, Lovebox and The V&A, as well as working with brands like Diesel, & Vogue leading to Pxssy Palace’s inclusion in the Dazed 100 and Nadine being voted as one of the most influential Londoners by The Evening Standard.
Simon Casson co-founded Duckie with Amy Lame in 1995, which he is still the producer of along with Dicky Eton. Duckie are a group of veteran LGBTQ+ club runners that emerged out of the wasteland of South London’s Vauxhall over a quarter of a century ago. Renowned for its mix of progressive pub rock by DJs Readers Wifes, with arty, provocative short stage shows, it ran every Saturday night at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for 27 years. Duckie has recently been reincarnated to an ‘Electric Tea Dance’, taking place every Saturday afternoon at the Eagle in Vauxhall. Other notable projects include The Posh Club, The Slaughterhouse Club, Snowflake, PC*DC and QTIBPOC Creatives.
Use the QR codes to listen to Rodent’s audio pieces of our legends talking about their experiences of working in nightlife and the contributions they’ve made to the industry.
RODENT is an interdisciplinary sound artist, performer and DJ, working across nightlife, cabaret and theatre. Their work combines spectacles of otherness and monstrous camp with scavenged language and evolving sonics into unsettling dreamscapes and high-octane tragedy. They have presented work at Fierce & SPILL festivals, and provided original compositions and sound design for IL WIDNA (dir. Joseph Wilson), Good Clean Fun (Ginger Johnson, The Pleasance, 2022), The Prince (Southwark Playhouse, 2022) and LETHE (Kings Head Theatre, 2022).