On Railton Road
A play devised by Ian Giles exploring queer communal living in Brixton since the 1970s
Based on a script by Louis Rembges, Brixton Faeries & collected writings
Supported by the Jerwood New Work Fund & Arts Council England
Thursday 11th November: 2pm
Friday 12th November: 2pm and 7.30pm
Saturday 13th November: 2pm and 7.30pm
Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with no interval
‘Nothing was going to stop us, not the local council, not the police, not the judiciary, and certainly not public opinion.’
From 1971 until Brixton was set ablaze during the uprisings of 1981, Railton Road became a hub of unrestrained activist energy; a magnet for a thrillingly diverse collection of people who in one way or another wanted to turn the world upside down.
Working under the company name ‘Brixton Pansies’; Ian Giles has formed a theatre troupe of actors, writers and collaborators in order to tell the story of the Brixton gay squats on Railton Road. This initiative mirrors the lively street theatre groups that were formed by the squatters themselves; they used theatre to share their experiences and grievances with a wider public. They presented their plays at local schools, on marches and at the Oval House Theatre.
Staged in the round within an immersive installation and presented within the heart of Brixton; On Railton Road utilises puppetry, verbatim theatre and scripted drama to bring this radical period to life and to share it with a new generation of queer people.
On Railton Road shifts between the living spaces of a fictionalised terraced squat on Railton Road and into Mr Punch’s Nuclear Family, an original play written by Brixton Faeries in 1975, creating a play within a play. Layered histories, lives, loss, political struggle and activism are presented in an attempt to reactivate, platform and celebrate queer histories and contemporary experiences.
Working directly with playwright Louis Rembges, Giles has utilised Ian Townson’s archive of interviews with squatters, which he conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. These accounts were used as the basis for the characters in the performance. Giles has also visited men living in houses on Railton Road who became members of Brixton Co-operative Housing in the early 1980s.
Central to the wider research surrounding the On Railton Road project is an ongoing public programme titled Communal Curriculum, a series of events exploring London’s radical gay communities and their creative outputs. This programme of events has been organised in collaboration with Jane Wells and Ian Townson.
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Ian Giles born 1985, has an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art. He was a LUX Associate Artist. Forthcoming exhibitions include The London Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2022. Recent exhibitions and screenings include: Outhouse, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Studio Four, OUTPOST, Norwich; Trojan Horse / Rainbow Flag, presented by Gasworks at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London (all 2019); After BUTT, NY Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, New York; Video Club: Sex Talks, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; After BUTT, Chelsea Space, London (all 2018). Ian was an inaugural winner of the Shannon Michael Cane Award in 2018. He was a New Geographies commissioned artist 2018-20 and is a recipient of the Jerwood New Work Fund.
Brixton Pansies: Ian Giles (Director) Louis Rembges (Writer), Cast: Manish Gandhi, Sam Wightman, Aoife Smyth, Rhys Cook, Nicholas Marrast-Lewis, Josh-Susan Enright, Roly Botha and Dan de La Motte. Production team: Georgina Pead (Stage Manager), Oliver James Hymans (Puppet Designer), Sophie Crawford and Hatty Carman (Music) Harry Stayt (Set and Prop design), Jane Wells (Event Curator), Ian Townson (Walk leader) and Rosa Abbott (Press and Communications).