Jake Mace
Lara Clifton of Kent-based LGBTQIA+ cabaret collective Screaming Alley has been fundamental in opening the doors of the county’s newest radical performance space THE ALLEY tomorrow. The venue, located on Ramsgate High Street beneath Salt House Barbers, will open with a sold-out performance of multi-disciplinary performer-poet Violet Malice’s piece HARD FEELINGS. We caught up with Lara to find out more about making accessible, boundary-pushing work in Ramsgate and about the future of the venue.
THE ALLEY will open with HARD FEELINGS tomorrow Friday 5th December from 19:00 until late. Information can be found on Screaming Alley’s website.
Jake: Hi Lara! Could you start by giving our reader a bit of background about your career Could you start by giving our reader a bit of background about your career and the formation of your LGBTQIA+ cabaret collective Screaming Alley?
Lara: I’ve been independently producing sex-positive, feminist, queer performance and cabaret since 2003. My work has always gravitated towards people and voices that don’t feel represented on mainstream stages. I’m drawn to boundary-pushing work – not to shock for the sake of it, but to bring important, joyful, political performance to the broadest possible audience. Over the years I’ve helped build scenes in London and beyond, from tiny back rooms to full-scale productions in places that include Hackney Empire, Porchester Baths, the V&A and the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, driven by a fierce belief in the social, political and personal power of live performance.
Screaming Alley was born when I moved to Ramsgate and discovered a community that – like every community, IMO – was hungry for exactly this kind of space: playful, transgressive, accessible, artist-led. Our cabaret nights gained a loyal following fast, partly because they were gloriously chaotic, and partly because they offered a rare safe space for queer, working-class and otherwise “unfittable” performers and audiences who weren’t seeing themselves reflected in local culture. We’ve grown into a collective that nurtures new work, develops talent, and treats cabaret as a serious artistic form whilst always prioritising joy, silliness, and messing about.
Jake: The collective’s new members-only bar is underneath a barber shop on Ramsgate High Street – how did you find the space and what makes it special?
Lara: 2024 was a trepidatious year. After seven years of Arts Council support, we were turned down twice and realised we either had to close or radically rethink how we operated. We knew we needed business consultation and were incredibly lucky that the mighty arts consultant Stella McCabe from the Michael Grandage Company took us on – and that we secured funding for that work.
We’d already been flirting with the idea of a bar after being invited to pitch for a cellar space owned by Heritage Lab, a brilliant local CIC reviving historic Ramsgate buildings. Unfortunately, by the time the offer landed, the rent had risen and they couldn’t give us sole management of the bar, it became clear: to survive, we needed our own venue where the bar supported the art.
At the same time, Ramsgate High Street – which has one of the the highest numbers of empty shops in the country – started to receive investment, including a promised £20 million and the creation of Ramsgate Space, who pair businesses with vacant units. We joined forces with Salt House Ramsgate, an inclusive barbers, to share the rent and the risk, and began scouting.
We needed somewhere that could be a barbershop by day and a cabaret bar, rehearsal room, and workshop space by night. Because the High Street is residential, a disused cellar was ideal for sound containment. The damp basement under an old recruitment company somehow offered the perfect mix of grit and glamour – it felt instantly like somewhere mischief could be made.
Being on the High Street matters. It’s a place of contradictions: economically strained, yet buzzing with grassroots creativity. Our entrance – a chandelier-lit descent beneath a barbers – feels like a perfect cabaret metaphor: you slip under the everyday world and step into a space where the rules shift and you get to reinvent yourself in a subterranean grotto.
Jake: Tell us how you’re planning to use the proceeds from the bar to invest in artists and the local community.
Lara: Every pint, membership and ticket sale goes straight back into the artists who make the magic. We’re establishing a formal development and management programme for queer and underrepresented performers: paid opportunities, professional training, mentorship, and practical support navigating an industry that often undervalues cabaret and self-produced work. The bar is what makes that sustainability possible.
But our mission is also deeply social. We run free and low-cost workshops for local people – especially working-class women and LGBTQ+ young people. We’re building pathways into lighting, sound, producing and event management. And we’re cultivating a membership community that genuinely looks after one another, offering everything from mental health signposting to creative skill-sharing. Yes, it’s a revenue stream – but it’s also a community space with big gold sequined curtains.
Jake: What does it say about queer rights and representation that opening this kind of space in a ‘regional’ location is a big deal?
Lara: It says everything. Queer life in the UK is still disproportionately London-centric, which leaves huge parts of the country underserved. People imagine LGBTQIA+ culture only thrives in big cities, but that’s simply because the infrastructure is missing – not the people, not the creativity, not the need.
Opening a dedicated queer/working-class/sex-positive performance space in Thanet is both a celebration and a protest. It celebrates the vibrant, mixed communities already here, and quietly rejects the idea that we only get visibility once a year at Pride. At a time when queer rights are being chipped away in Kent – with Reform MPs (at time of writing… though they keep leaving, so who knows by now) pushing discriminatory narratives and relentless culture-war rhetoric – a female-led, proudly queer, unapologetically feminist barbers and basement bar on a regional high street becomes a radical act of presence. It says: we’re here, we’re talented, we’re organising ourselves, and we’re not going anywhere.
Jake: What can new members expect from their experience within the club, and what are you most excited to see happen?
Lara: Members can expect high-quality cabaret, spontaneous chaos, nurturing community vibes, and the thrill of being part of something built from the ground up. We’re known for transforming non-theatre spaces into palaces of wonder on a shoestring. Members get access to shows, workshops, skill-shares, private events, artist development activities as well as the joy of belly-laughing alongside your people.
What excites me most is watching new artists take their first steps, and seasoned performers trying something riskier because the room feels safe enough to hold them. And honestly? I’m excited for the friendships, the romances, the collaborations, and the weird micro-cultures that will grow inside our “basement of dreams.” That’s the real magic.
Jake: Tell us a little about the post-opening weekend – what can we expect?
Lara: We’re opening with a bang – or more accurately, a poetic provocation. Our very first night features the formidable, impossible-to-categorise Violet Malice, fresh from touring with The Lovely Eggs. Violet is more than a poet; she’s a full-body experience. Hard Feelings is a deep dive into the vaults, poetry will be spilt, new lows will be sunk to, and inappropriate turkey references will be made. If you’ve never seen Violet live, this is your chance.
And then – as if that isn’t enough – we’re following up with Diane Chorley, one of the UK’s great cult cabaret icons. Diane is a phenomenon: part character-comedian, part nightclub diva, part unreliable narrator of the British class system. Her only other gig this year is at the brand-new Soho Theatre Walthamstow and is already on the brink of selling out. Bringing her to open our little subterranean bar in Thanet feels like some sort of cosmic prank, but we said yes before anyone could change their minds. It’s the kind of booking most regional venues can only dream of.
Jake: If THE ALLEY BAR were a cocktail, what would it be and why?
Lara: A Neon Side-Eye: a classic sour with a glitter rim, served in a chipped glass you can’t help but adore. Bold, messy, delicious, a bit punk, a bit camp, and guaranteed to make you feel like your most theatrical self. And like all good cocktails, it’s best enjoyed surrounded by people who give you absolute permission to be your glorious self.
Image Credit: Luke Ogden
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
