Late Night Library Club and The Amy Grimehouse | The Naked Civil Servant, by Quentin Crisp
(PRWEB UK) 20 July 2017 -- Late Night Library Club and The Amy Grimehouse | The Naked Civil Servant, by Quentin Crisp
7pm-1.30am, 26th August, Sutton House, 2&4 Homerton High Street, London E9 (walking tour at 5pm)
“Have you got it all on today!?”
Late Night Library Club presents an evening devoted to the autobiography, life and wit of Quentin Crisp. Powder and Elnett your hair, reach for the violet eyeshadow and fetch your Fedora for a celebration of the great queer pioneer at Sutton House, a National Trust Tudor landmark befitting the nation’s most celebrated Stately Homo.
The third edition of the Late Night Library Club takes place as part of the Queer Stories in Britain series, making the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalization of male homosexuality. The evening kicks-off with an hour-long walking tour curated by Queer Tours of London, starting at 5pm. The Naked Civil Servant event follows at 7pm. On arrival, guests will be quizzed about their suitability to enlist in the army of Crisp’s day – are they ‘fit to serve’? Or are they … exempt?
A key focal point of the evening is a panel discussion about Crisp the raconteur and radical – chaired by La John Joseph, performer extraordinaire, and featuring Michael Rowland of the Centre for Sexual Dissidence at Sussex University, Andrew Lumsden of the Gay Liberation Front and Zorian Clayton, V&A Curator and co-chair of the V&A LBGTQI+ group.
As with previous installments of Late Night Library Club, this is an interactive literary happening. Guests will be invited to contribute their favourite Crispisms, either literal or “in the spirit of”, which will become part of a developing sound installation. Also: Life drawing hosted by Starker Life, inspired by Quentin’s famed career as a life-model – his “Sistine as hell” full-time occupation until the publication and huge success of The Naked Civil Servant in 1968.
Expect tap lessons (taught by students just one class ahead of you, probably –how will you ever know?), and an immersive recreation of the louche London of the 1930s, from meretricious to mad, with roaming actors and sporadic performances by guest stars.
Forget the dusting, drag the Joneses down to your level and extend your hand to the unlovable over cocktails and wine at the Black Cat Bar, before taking your place in the Agnes McBean photo studio to be styled and shot like the Crisp of the early 1940s, when he was a celebrated London face, long before becoming and Englishman in New York.
Standard tickets for the event are on sale via eventbrite.co.uk for £21.50. Combined event and walking tour entry is £31; walking tour only £10.
Dressing up is strongly encouraged.
Amy Grimehouse, Late Night Library Club, https://www.facebook.com/Latenightlibraryclub/, +44 7919282662, [email protected]
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