Soho Theatre's Identity Politics Extravaganza

Part 1 of Woke Waste: How Taxpayers Fund Woke Ideology

Nowadays, whenever I see a terrible-looking show or exhibition, I can pretty much guarantee Arts Council England (ACE) has something to do with it.

Case in point: the other day I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw a post by Soho Theatre. It featured a comedian joking about British colonialism.

It was so hackneyed that I found myself reading more about the show in which the comedian took part. It’s titled Femmes of Colour (FOC) at Soho Theatre.

The Evening Standard calls it “a riot of positivity and inclusivity”, even though its bumf begins “White audience members are encouraged to check their privilege at the door”. Inclusive, indeed.

Soho Theatre, just to refresh memories, is the theatre that recently left Jewish audience members feeling “unsafe” and “threatened” by comedian Paul Currie.

In the theatre’s statement on 13 February 2024, it wrote:

“On Saturday evening, following the end of Paul Currie’s show Shtoom, Jewish members of the audience were subjected to verbal abuse and the performer aggressively demanding they leave the theatre.”

It said that “Soho Theatre will not tolerate intimidation of audience members due to their nationality, race, religion or beliefs.”

But back to FOC, a show that’s “an unapologetic celebration of comedians of colour that are not cis-men.”

The name of the night includes “Femme” because it accounts for “non-binary and trans” comedians too. After all, using the word “women” would very exclusionary.

Of course, when I strolled to the bottom of the event’s page, what was there to see but Arts Council England?

Soho Theatre receives £614,582 in annual funding from it (third column below), ACE receiving £445 million in public funds per year.

Any show that plays heavily on identity politics - in other words, you feel the thing that is most salient to events is artists’ identity - is almost always ACE-led.

And it’s not just any identity. I spend hours researching arts pages, for newspaper articles, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that all things queer, trans and non-binary are in vogue. Here are some examples from Soho Theatre below:

Lucy & Friends:

“Lucy McCormick returns with her queer cabaret spectacular Lucy & Friends.”

Sarah Keyworth: My Eyes Are Up Here

To kick off an international tour, Keyworth returns to Soho Theatre with a joyous new show about family, acceptance and a pair of big (well, not super big) losses.

(Losses refers to Sarah having “top surgery” - more here).

Is this content good or funny? I haven’t seen the above, so I can’t say - maybe they’re all incredible. But I leave you with some of the comedians from FOC to decide:

Kemah Bob (right), the founder of FOC: