Viva Brighton Issue #61 March 2018

ART
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Club Silencio...
...at Brighton Arts Lab
For the last two years people have been gathering
in dark rooms beneath St James’ Street dressed in
ballgowns and animal masks for a night of queer
cabaret, music and arty happenings. This is Club
Silencio, an almost Lynchian underworld of freaky
performers and odd installations. In partnership
with Brighton Arts Lab, itself a melting pot of
artistic goings-on inspired by 60s counterculture,
the club is rearing its head above ground this month
with a special one-off event at Phoenix Gallery.
We spoke to singer and ringmaster Stuart Warwick
about coming out of the underground.
What is Club Silencio? It’s a mix of trashy queer
theatre, dark comedy, surrealism, art and disco. I
wanted to do a night that put performers in a space
that they would never normally get to perform in.
Subline is a men-only sex club, so having a female
presence there, in amongst that ultra masculine
world of heavy chains and camouflage netting, was
quite a radical prospect as it completely subverted
the space. So for the first handful of Silencios we
had some excellent female singer songwriters like
Mary Hampton, Kristin McClement and Emma
Gatrill. It was so lovely to hear their delicate and
beautiful sounds reverberate around a space that
usually just hears the guttural moans of horny
drunk gay men.
You seem to have a very interesting dress code...
We used to have the motto: dress fancy. Again it
was the idea of subverting the space. So a venue that
usually only sees men in wrestling singlets, leather,
and sportswear would instead have men and women
walking round in ballgowns and three-piece suits.
Why the change of venue? We were asked by my
friend David Bramwell, from the Catalyst Club, to
do something for Brighton Arts Lab. He’s been a
huge supporter of the night. So for the next show
we’re clawing our way out of the sex dungeon and
heading to the Phoenix Gallery.
As an established singer yourself, do you
perform any of your own stuff? I don’t perform
any of my own songs at the night, I mainly act as
the host. I dress like a clown and sing along to bad
karaoke backing tracks. The crowd seem to dig it.
Why do you think people come to Club Silencio?
I started it just as an antidote to the usual
club nights on offer. I wanted to host one that had
a sense of humour, that was playful and reflected a
lot of the talented artists and performers in the city.
I’m a huge fan of trashy B-movies, black comedy,
The Twilight Zone, early morning kids’ TV shows
from the 80s/90s where people got gunged, and bad
amateur theatre, so this night is very much a mix up
of all those things. A member of staff once found an
artificial arm in a dark room. I think it’s still in lost
property waiting to be claimed.
As told to Ben Bailey
Phoenix Gallery, Thurs 22nd Mar, 7.30pm, £8
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