What is Sink the Pink?
If you're into epic, drag-fuelled parties, it's highly likely that you'll have heard of Sink the Pink. The madcap, LGBTQ club night started from small beginnings in east London, and is now recognised all over the world as one hell of a night out. But with its brand new Christmas-cum-horror-show How to Catch a Krampus about to open, a whole new army of audiences will be discovering Sink the Pink, so here's a little more about them for the uninitiated.
Humble Beginnings
Unlikely as it may sound, Sink the Pink started life on Saturday nights in Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. Anyone who knows that venue will know not to expect your usual working men's club fare and on any given week offers racy cabaret, drag acts and much much more. It was in this environment that Sink the Pink was born in 2008, led by Glyn Fussell and Amy Redmond. A club night with a difference.
A Motley Crew
On the Sink the Pink website, you'll find them described as "a collective of queens, club kids, pop superstars, creative juggernauts, flamboyant dancers, and acclaimed designers". Whoever they are, and whatever they do, they look fabulous. And that's a fact.
© Luke Dyson
It's For You
The LGBTQ night is open for one and all, whatever you look like and however you identify. And the night is very much about self-expression. As Redmond told the Guardian: "personal style is important, but fashion is something dictated by an industry and we are not about that." They encourage you to wear whatever makes you, you.
It's now pretty big
With an army of 24,000 Instagram followers, and nights packing out the Brixton Academy, Roxy and Roundhouse, it's safe to say Sink the Pink are now an absolute force to be reckoned with. They have even been working with Selfridges for the last two years.
What are they doing now?
The collective's latest outing is How to Catch a Krampus, opening at the Pleasance Theatre in November. It's their debut theatre residency and is part of the group's tenth anniversary celebrations. Krampus is a 'horned eastern European Christmas beast with the head of a goat and long hideous claws'. And the piece follows a con-artist who dabbles in magic and gets suprising results.
But will it be like a Sink the Pink night?
Yes and no. Ginger Johnson, a regular appearance as part of the collective, writes and directs the show and a whole host of Sink the Pink faces will appear, including Lavinia Co-Op, a 67-year-old drag legend of famed radical drag troupe Bloolips. But also expect lots new as this show is a departure for the collective. As Fussell says: "This production will be unlike anything we've done before. Following reactions to early workshops of the show, producers have arranged for first aiders to be present at every performance." You have been warned.
© Luke Dyson
