Following a celebrated work-in-progress presentation at Fierce Festival, Birmingham composer and vocalist Fatt Butcher will tour the UK with Congregational, an ambitious new musical that transforms theatres, music venues and festivals into temporary nightclub cathedrals.
Created by Fatt Butcher in collaboration with Nicky Harris and Tobre, Congregational is described as an alternative choral mass inspired by the closure of queer nightlife venues. The production combines live choir performances, piano, DJ sets and immersive visuals to create what the creators call a funeral-cum-resurrection for disappearing club spaces.
Performed by a live choir of professional queer vocalists, the show invites audiences to sing, dance and become part of the congregation in a celebration of community, survival and collective joy.
Blending house, trance, gospel, classical and experimental music, the production features newly composed hymns for the dancefloor while exploring the cultural importance of LGBTQ+ nightlife spaces and the impact of their decline.
Fatt Butcher said: “Nightclubs have saved countless queer lives. They’ve given us somewhere to grieve, somewhere to celebrate, somewhere to fall apart and somewhere to become ourselves.”
They added: “Congregational is about honouring those spaces and asks what happens when those venues die? It’s an invitation to see the club for what it always was, something sacred. It’s joyful, messy, emotional, funny, spiritual, sweaty and loud, just like queer nightlife has always been.”
The production has already attracted attention during its development, with critics praising Fatt Butcher’s performance style and genre-defying approach to combining drag, live music, community ritual and theatrical spectacle.
Each performance concludes with a live DJ after-party, allowing audiences to continue dancing together after the main performance has ended.
The tour opens at The Social, Aviva Studios Manchester on 22 August 2026 before visiting Brighton Dome, Homotopia Festival in Liverpool, Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, Birmingham Town Hall and Cambridge Junction through to July 2027.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
