Performer and drag icon Jonny Woo returns to Soho Theatre with a new personal cabaret Jonny Woo: Suburbia. Paying homage to his influential upbringing in the suburbs before his life in the big city lights and on stage, this theatre piece presents a poetic memoir charting his journey from a childhood in Medway, to the night clubs and sex dens of New York, to a queer community in London which he helped shape himself. Featuring his signature ‘alt-drag’ and cabaret, spoken word, and storytelling, Jonny Woo: Suburbia presents Woo’s most honest piece to date, sharing the formative moments which influenced his career and life now.
Presented by Soho Theatre, Suburbia explores how the chance encounters from a childhood lived at home have significant echoes in later life. Its these moments which offer catalysts for who you become. Paving a way in the LGBTQ+ scene not only for himself, but for new platforms and spaces for queer representation, Woo looks back on the moments which started it all.
Preparing to reveal all, from the lessons learnt and the secrets harboured, Jonny Woo will share his life experience through burlesque, musical covers and original poetry, prose, and spoken word written as part of an ongoing memoir. A far from suburban show, Suburbia features Woo’s sharp wit and wow-factor to journey through his formative years.
Writer and performer Jonny Woo comments, This is a poetic theatre and cabaret show which goes a little deeper into exploring what made me the man and the performer I am today. It’s a show which harks back to the performance art roots of my early shows in the 00’s; a rawness and abstract freedom but a desire to shock and thrill. It’s been ten years since my last solo show with Soho Theatre and twenty since my first show here, so it’s incredibly special to be making a piece with them again. I hope to entertain and affect in equal measure and above all have a ton of fun along the way.
