It’s the biggest party weekend of the Spring and as you might expect the team at the Boyz Award-winning Royal Vauxhall Tavern have a stellar line-up of amazing nights. Dave Cross had a catch up with James and Catia from The RVT to find out more.
Hi James, how is life at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern so far in 2019?
The 2019 Boyz Awards was a fantastic and uplifting result for The RVT. Winning so many awards and recognising the talent involved in winning Best Cabaret Venue, which was Boyz’ top award, also getting medals in Best Cabaret Act, Best Club Night, Best DJ, Best Panto and Best Bar Staff. All the team work hard and we continue to have an exceptional year with some really outstanding events. I was blown away last Friday with Stephanie’s Child, the atmosphere was magical and warms my heart to see the three artists motivating and engaging with the audience and the audience reciprocating. It was a superb night. We are very much looking forward to Belinda Carlisle on 4 July and Mutya Buena from Sugababes on 15 August. The Friday pre-club events we are putting on have really found a level. Last Friday, Ritch Watkins event, Happily Ever Poofter was sold out. Friday club nights are at capacity and the new club night Frankie Goes to Vauxhall certainly made their debut night at RVT. Our regular Friday club nights, Anthem, Eurofest, BeefMince, Lipsinkers and Push the Button are all doing brilliantly well. Artists, promoters and customers see this much loved iconic award-winning London landmark as a preferred venue of choice operating in a competitive market and that keeps me on my toes.
You have a busy Easter weekend, Catia can you talk us through Drag Showcase on Thursday, Friday and Saturday?
We always have great stuff in the diary, but I’m really excited about the Drag Showcase on Thursday, it’s produced and run by Michael Twaits and sponsored by The RVT and is producing some outstanding talent on the circuit and some exciting collectives like Haus of Royalz and United Colours of Drag. The showcases are just explosions of entertainment and so exciting to watch. They sell out every time and the atmosphere is just electric at them and are everything the RVT is about. Just as we have new talent we are also hosting Pandora Boxx (Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race) this Friday who will be sashaying on our stage in one of our pre-club Friday slots, tickets are limited now so get them while you can. The RVT is always famous for its club nights and we have Beefmince on Friday run by the gorgeous Dan and Argyris and the Duckie crew on Saturday both shaking the roof for the weekend, these are iconic features in our programming.
James can you tell us about Sunday Eggstravaganza with Mary Mac and the Beefmince Bank Holiday Monday?
We have three big bank holiday weekends in close succession which will showcase our Queens of Cabaret and DJs. Sunday Social continues to set the social, cabaret and dance mood in London every Sunday. Easter brings us a 12 hour party from 3pm to 3am with the hugely talented Mary Mac with DJ’s Simon Le Vans, Andy Almighty, Phil Marriott and Sean Sirrs. This 12 hour party will be the cheapest and best ticket in town over this and the other bank holidays. The BeefMince Tea Dance is a new addition to The RVT line-up and will be a fun and enjoyable way to end the bank holiday weekend. No bank holiday weekend would be complete without at least one drink at the famous Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
And Catia what else is coming up that we need to know about?
There’s so much that I would need an entire edition of Boyz to go through it all. Drag Idol kicks off on Thursday April 25 and I LOVE IT! I have crowns, tiara’s, glitter cannons and the theme tune to Dallas. They really are exciting and have more drama than an episode of Eastenders or a series of indicative votes in the Houses of Parliament (well I find that dramatic anyway). As James has mentioned, Belinda Carlisle is with us in July hosting her charity fundraiser (yes THE ACTUAL Belinda Carlisle), the amazing Mutya Buena is performing at The RVT on 15 August and we have Ripley performing an extended version of her critically acclaimed show Especially for EU in May as the Friday slots are so successful we’ve had to give him an entire night. Also the outside loo beside The RVT comes up slowly every day at 7pm sharp, this is always a momentous part of the day and we applaud this superb bit of technology.
Details and tickets from vauxhalltavern.com
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11.
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