Following a seven-year hiatus, Jonny Woo’s Un-Royal Variety is back. The major London variety show that celebrates the very best of alternative comedy, cabaret and underground performance art. In its new home at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, the spectacle, created and hosted by Jonny Woo, hits London in November for three nights bringing with it a major cast.
Joining Jonny Woo will be the queen of underground pop Peaches, iconic feminist musician, producer, director, and performance artist, who has spent more than two decades pushing boundaries and breaking barriers. Headlining with Peaches are award-winning comedian Jayde Adams (Strictly Come Dancing and Alma’s Not Normal, BBC); Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist and self-proclaimed ‘Siren from South Yorkshire’ Myra DuBois (Queens For The Night, ITV); ‘The most original drag performer in America today’ (Village Voice) Dina Martina, fresh off a Soho Theatre run (Tue 28 Oct – Sat 8 Nov) with The Comparable Dina Martina; 2025 Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Show winner Sam Nicoresti; and 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award winning clown, Garry Starr.
Special guests will present music performances, with Brit award-winning ‘Doin’ The Do’ and ‘Where Are You Baby?’ singer and rapper Betty Boo performing on Saturday night, rock royalty David McAlmont (of McAlmont and Butler) on Friday night, and operatic performance artist Ivo Dimchev on opening night. Rising London drag stars will feature nightly: The Divine’s ruling queen of disguise Camille Leon on Saturday, the winner of drag king contest Man Up, 2023, Mr IPM on Friday, and winner of Lipsync 1000, 2019, Bolly Illusion on Thursday.
Alongside this stunning list of headline acts and special guest stars, some still to be announced, expect an invasion of the sexiest go-go boys, girls and gender revolutionaries from Woo’s wonderful queer underworld in East London, an ensemble of East London’s highest kicking dancers including Drag Race UK star Asttina Mandella, Miss Goldrush 2025 Mimi Chanel, international alien icon Margo Marshall, Melbourne’s finest drag export, Orgy Hepburn, and a special performance by Maude Adams and All Those Children, Glastonbury Festival’s NYC Downlow dance troupe, headed by choreographer Lottie Croucher.
Meanwhile, Diane Chorley’s songwriting partner Simon Ribchester aka Milky will front a hell-raising house band to underscore the entire evening.
Un-Royal Variety Creator Jonny Woo said: “It’s back. Bigger, bolder, brasher and more unruly than ever. I’ve joined forces with Soho Theatre to bring my Un-Royal Variety to their stunning new 1000-seat venue in Walthamstow, with a sensational international line-up. World class acts who I’ve worked with or seen and admired over the years rub shoulders with rising stars from my stable of queer artists to make a show which, whilst bursting with star-studded headliners, remains rooted in the spirit of London’s radical queer community. Now in its fourth incarnation, Jonny Woo’s Un-Royal Variety is a theatrical happening like nothing else. A loving pastiche of the great variety shows of the past with a live band, dancers and singers, then, injected with a huge dose of wild, alternative, sexy and provocative queer cabaret, music and jaw-dropping variety. I’m hoping that Jonny Woo’s Un-Royal Variety 2025 will be the most talked about show of the year.”
