CONGREGATIONAL UK Tour Launches October 2026 with Fatt Butcher
The immersive choral mass and nightclub experience will transform venues into spaces for ritual, live music, dancing and collective celebration.
Award-winning cabaret artist and vocalist Fatt Butcher will take Congregational, a new immersive musical performance responding to the closure of queer nightlife spaces, on tour throughout 2026 and 2027.
Following a work-in-progress presentation at Fierce Festival, the Birmingham composer and vocalist has developed the piece as an avant-garde musical that transforms theatres, music venues and festivals into temporary nightclubs through ritual, song and collective participation.
Created by Fatt Butcher in collaboration with Nicky Harris and Tobre, Congregational reimagines the traditional choral mass as a funeral and resurrection for disappearing nightlife venues. The performance features a live choir of queer vocalists, piano, DJ and visual elements, with audiences invited to sing, dance and become part of the congregation.
Newly composed "hymns for the dancefloor" blend house, trance, gospel, classical and experimental music as the work celebrates the role nightlife spaces have played within LGBTQ+ communities and considers what happens as those venues disappear.
"Nightclubs have saved countless queer lives," said Fatt Butcher. "They've given us somewhere to grieve, somewhere to celebrate, somewhere to fall apart and somewhere to become ourselves. 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."
Each performance will conclude with a live DJ after-party, allowing audiences to continue dancing after the 75-minute main performance.
Congregational Tour Dates
- Saturday, August 22, 2026 — The Social, Aviva Studios, Manchester
- Friday, October 30, 2026 — Brighton Dome
- Friday, November 20, 2026 — Homotopia Festival, Liverpool
- Friday, November 27, 2026 — Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
- Saturday, November 28, 2026 — Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
- Saturday, February 20, 2027 — Birmingham Town Hall
- Tuesday, July 13, 2027 — Cambridge Junction
Cast and Creative Team
Congregational features music and arrangements by Fatt Butcher in collaboration with Nicky Harris and Tobre, with script and lyrics by Fatt Butcher and additional lyric contributions by Adam Zmith.
Fatt Butcher performs alongside Nicky Harris and the Gloryholes Choir, featuring Adam Vaughan, Bobby Harding, Cardamon Rozzi, CN Lester, Gaurav Balli, Lydia Rae, Oliver Barker, Rosie Rowell, Sam Buttery, Sam Hickman, Sena Tettey and Unique.
The production is produced by SJ Watkinson, with Just Soriah as DJ, visuals by Katie Price, score supervision by Lydia Stephenson, outside eye and dramaturgy by Mark Maughan, music consultation by CN Lester, writing consultation by Joelle Tyler and movement direction by Tinovimbanashe Sibana. Fatt Butcher's costume is by Kerfuffle Studio, with robes by Blu Romantic.
About Fatt Butcher
Fatt Butcher (they/them) is an award-winning cabaret artist and vocalist and the winner of Drag Idol UK 2022. Their work spans drag, live music, cabaret and theatre, with previous appearances at venues and festivals including Latitude Festival, Southbank Centre and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
They are the creator and host of Fatt Butcher's Disco Bingo, which began as an online performance during lockdown before taking up residencies at Birmingham's Nightingale Club and Cambridge's Town & Gown Theatre. As Adam, they also created and host Send In The Clowns, a musical theatre drag revue that began its residency at Birmingham Repertory Theatre before touring the UK.
Additional credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream at Birmingham Rep, Channel 4's Stepping Up, ITV's The Voice UK, A Christmas Carole, Ginny Lemon & Friends, Fister Act, More, More, More! How You Lycett and Channel 4's Joe Lycett's Big Pride Party.
Congregational has a running time of 75 minutes followed by a DJ after-party and is recommended for audiences ages 18 and older. The production contains strong language and references to sex and substance use.
Tickets and additional information are available through Fatt Butcher's Congregational.
