Shoreditch Town Hall Announces Town Hall Unwrapped - A Series Of Events Throughout The Festive Season

To mark this year's festive winter season, Shoreditch Town Hall today announces Town Hall Unwrapped, a series of joyfully eclectic events taking over the building's many spaces throughout December. An inclusive celebration of coming together again, Town Hall Unwrapped will offer something to suit all tastes, with events and activities throughout the month, ranging from evenings of cabaret, stand-up comedy, live music, theatre, solo performances and digital experiences.

Town Hall Unwrapped includes comedian, performance artist and actor Lucy McCormick presenting an evening of delights featuring her friends Bourgeois & Maurice and Le Gateau Chocolat; critically acclaimed Pecs Drag Kings will spice up the office party with new raucous cabaret show The Pecmas Office Party; Sex Education by performance artist and entertainer Harry Clayton-Wright - a coming-of-age story that explores why, how and what we learn about sex from a young age; a one-off gig from artist Koko Brown who brings together her favourite performers for an evening of Queer-centred fun; the return of the award-winning performance collective The Cocoa Butter Club after a sold-out runs in 2019 and 2020; and for families, Comedy Club 4 Kids will bring you the best comedians on the UK circuit to the Town Hall, just without the rude bits. The full Town Hall Unwrapped programme will be announced late October.

Beth Byrne, Chief Executive Officer of Shoreditch Town Hall, said today 'I'm so excited to open our doors wide and welcome people in to celebrate with us this December for Town Hall Unwrapped. We are proud to present the most exciting, talented, funny, and daring of performers to warm you up this winter and offer you a place to congregate, to share love and laughter. With no two nights the same, pick and choose your favourites or just decide now to spend the month with us - we can't wait to see you.'

Arty Farty Christmas Party

Saturday 4 December

Lucy McCormick and her mates Bourgeois & Maurice and Le Gateau Chocolat meet for a Xmassy sing-a-long. Somewhere between a carol concert, a pub gathering & Question Time, this evening will be the carol concert you always wanted to attend. There'll be lots of chitchat, audience participation (for those that want it!) and a sprinkle of festive cheer.

Lucy McCormick makes nightclub interruptions, cabaret interventions and extravaganza theatre shows, marrying interests in absurdity, feminism and the grotesque. Her practice is cross-genre, taking inspiration from theatre, performance art, comedy and dance. Currently, Lucy is starring in Wise Children's Wuthering Heights at The National Theatre.

Sequin-clad satirical weirdos Bourgeois & Maurice are alien siblings from another planet that you've probably never heard of because it's very new and cool and obscure. They write songs that stick in your head like bloodstains in your nice new carpet. Their world is a sexy, stomping, politically-charged echo chamber. A highly theatrical kaleidoscope of current affairs, moral confusion and slippery social commentary.

Voted by Time Out London as one of its Top 10 Cabaret Stars, Le Gateau Chocolat is a one-man, larger-than-life musical phenomenon, wrapped in dazzling sequinned lycra. The six-and-half foot tall, six-inch heeled, wig-clad wonder swings wildly from one end of the musical spectrum to another, from disco, opera, musicals and pop.

Comedy Club 4 Kids

Sunday 5 December

Cracking entertainment for everyone over the age of six, Comedy Club 4 Kids is just like a normal comedy club, but it's on in the day, kids are allowed in, and thus there is a higher than usual chance of the entire audience claiming to be called Bob.

Since 2005, the Comedy Club 4 Kids has been getting the best stand-ups and sketch acts from the international circuit to do their thing for an audience of children (aged 6+) and their families...but without the rude bits. A decade later, the company has expanded from one London residency to being countrywide, running shows and workshops all over the UK from Peebles to Portsmouth, even producing a book on how to write and perform stand-up.

Koko Brown

Monday 6 December

Join Koko Brown for a night of queer-centred vibes with some of her favourite artists as they perform original songs, a couple of covers and some brand new material. Come and experience a night of good energy and vibes with music, visual vernacular, poetry and whatever other artforms she can fit into a 90 minute show.

Koko Brown is a Black-mixed, Queer, Disabled Artist and Producer. She takes pride in her roots, being 'the other' and blends theatre, spoken word and music throughout her work. She aims to make all her work #AccessibleAsStandard. An Alumni Associate Artist at Ovalhouse, Resident Artist at the Roundhouse and Oberon Books/Bloomsbury published author, Koko has worked with The National Theatre, Latitude Festival, Soho Theatre, Brainchild, and Glastonbury Festival as well as international performance collective Hot Brown Honey.

The Pecsmas Office Party

By Pecs Drag Kings

Saturday 11th December

This year's office party has a Pecsmas twist! The cinnamon spiced boys of Pecs Drag Kings are coming to town and we want to treat all you nice (and naughty) queers to a big queermas bash.

Don your best rhinestoned Rudolf jumper and get ready to be dazzled - because this time we're not coming empty handed! We'll be filling your stockings full of London's wise Drag Kings, Queens and Things for a tinselising cabaret.

Pecs Drag Kings are an all-female/non-binary theatre and cabaret company who have been creating critically acclaimed shows for the LGBTQ+ community since 2013. Through their drag king cabarets and theatre shows, they explore gender identities, politics & sexuality, to create cultural space for queer women, trans* & non-binary folk. Their shows are sexy, raucous and highly entertaining, using songs, dances and comedy to celebrate inclusivity, queerness & community.

Sex Education

by Harry Clayton-Wright

Friday 17 December - Saturday 18 December

One parent refuses to talk about sex. The other buys their child gay porn DVDs. Sex Education blends a no holds barred interview with Harry's mum, startling performance, moving storytelling and some good old-fashioned gay porn that his dad bought him when he was 14. This is a show for anyone who's wondered why they want what they want.

Harry Clayton-Wright is a performance artist, writer and radical creator from Blackpool whose work spans theatre, installation, zine and film. Their debut solo theatre show Sex Education premièred in 2017 winning the LGBTQ award at Brighton Fringe Festival and was nominated for a Total Theatre Award (Emerging Artist/Company) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019. Clayton-Wright was also selected as one of British Council's Artists to Watch as part of the Edinburgh Showcase 2019.

The Cocoa Butter Club

Saturday 18 December

Returning after a sold-out show at Shoreditch Town Hall in October 2020, The Cocoa Butter Club presents a festive soiree, showcasing a serving of multi-skilled and highly melanated talent, boasting burlesque, drag, music, spoken word, circus arts and more. Wrapped in your favourite RnB, Neo Soul and Old Skool jams, expect an exquisite cabaret evening of excellence from the award-winning company.

Curse Of The Crackles!

By Ben & Max Ringham, Bea Roberts and Ed Stambollouian

Friday 24 December
From wild jungles to shark infested oceans, dark dungeons to buzzy beehives, prepare for an ear ticklingly brain thrilling sonic mission. Featuring innovative three-dimensional sound technology, Curse of the Crackles! is an interactive, digital audio adventure that immerses you in a brilliantly hilarious chaotic quest.

Ben and Max Ringham are sound designers and composers. In 2001 they became associate artists with the Shunt collective, collaborating on large-scale site-specific shows such as Dance Bear Dance, Tropicana and Amato Saltone. The last two of these were supported by The National Theatre and this led to an invitation from Nicholas Hytner to score Henry IV in the Olivier theatre. Their theatre credits include Blindness, Teenage Dick, Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse), Cyrano de Bergerac (Playhouse Theatre), Pinter at the Pinter (Harold Pinter Theatre); Betrayal (Harold Pinter Theatre/Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre), The Seven Ages of Patience, Pass Over (Kiln Theatre), Ugly Lies the Bone (National Theatre), Pygmalion (UK tour), Dial M for Murder (UK tour), Party Skills (Shoreditch Town Hall), The Meeting (Chichester Festival Theatre), Machinal (Almeida Theatre), Love and Information (Sheffield Theatres), Gloria (Hampstead Theatre), Future Cargo (UK tour), 8bit (Royal Opera House) and Bounce (Circa); and for screen, Second Hand for 50 Grand, A Christmas Carol and The Making of an Avant-Garde.

Bea Roberts is a writer and dramaturg. Her credits as a writer for theatre include Select-A-Quest 2 (Pins and Needles Productions), The Reluctant Dragon, The Little Mermaid (The Egg Theatre), Loam (Gate Theatre), Up the Spout (English Touring Theatre), The Borrowers (Tobacco Factory Theatre), The C-Word Clubhouse (Bristol Old Vic - Ferment Festival), The Southmead Soap (Bristol Old Vic/Myers Insole Local Learning), Blackout (Bath Theatre Royal), And Then Came the Nightjars (Theatre 503/UK tour) and How to Ride A Cannon (And Other Life Lessons from Cher) (Sanctum, Bristol); and for screen, This Cult Ate My Mum and Sir F. Mother F*cking Drake.

Ed Stambollouian is a theatre and comedy director. His theatre credits include Animal Farm (Royal & Derngate), KENREX (Out of Joint - workshop), Night School (Harold Pinter Theatre), BLUSH (Edinburgh Fringe/Soho Theatre/UK tour), Don't Waste Your Bullets on the Dead (Vault Festival), Feathers in the Snow (Unicorn Theatre), Awkward Conversations with Animals (Edinburgh Fringe), Wedding (Shoreditch Town Hall), I Started a Fire (Arcola Theatre) and Wildeblood - Against the Law, Pinter Shorts, The Scottish Plays, The Aliens (Trafalgar Studios).

Tickets go on sale for all events in late October.

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