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The Zap
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The Zap
The Zap was a beach-front nightclub and performance arts venue, in Brighton, England that became known in the late 1980s and early 1990s particularly for its acid house nights. It has been described as an "influential ... club which pulled together many of the underground strands of visual art, fashion, music, design, comedy, cabaret and theatre which were circling at the time".
In the 1980s the Zap was a performance arts venue. It first opened at the New Oriental Hotel, Brighton in April 1982. Founded by Neil Butler, Patricia Butler and Amanda Scott, it was an experiment to mix radical art with cutting edge entertainment. The first shows were presented in a cabaret format mixing performance art, poetry, comedy, dance and theatre with the opening night featuring Ian Smith, Roger Ely and the band Resident Zero. Smith hosted Performance Platform on Tuesdays and later the Silver Tongue Club on Sundays. These played host to numerous stand-up comedians, artists, dancers and theatre groups. Tony Lidington of the Pierrotters recalled,
"Alongside such acts as the Pookies, Theatre of the Bleeding Obelisk, Bright Red, The Pierotters, The Wild Wigglers, the nascent alternative cabaret and street scene had support and a home on the south coast...These seminal groups have had a profound impact on the contemporary performance scene in Britain today."
It soon moved to the Royal Escape and then to the Northern before finally settling at its own venue in the King's Road Arches in October 1984. In 1985 it issued an LP record called Live at the Zap Club, including tracks by Pete McCarthy and John Dowie.
The Club was organised by four directors: Neil and Pat Butler, Dave Reeves and Angie Goodchild / Angie Livingston. Ian Smith was the resident MC and in the new venue the Club hosted both live music and house music. Meanwhile, The Zap continued to promote and commission radical art and entertainment through its regular performance programmes, commissions and festivals.
From 1985, the Zap staged an annual alternative pantomime, performed by Zap staff and other performers, including John Dowie, James Poulter, Robin Driscoll, Tony Haase, Becky Stevens, Pete McCarthy, Andy Cunningham, Louise Rennison, Liz Aggiss, Steve North, John Cunningham, Roy Smiles, Jonathan Lemon and Jane Bassett.
The Brighton based Yes/No People staged the preview of their show Stomp at the Zap in May 1990, ahead of the show's official premiere in Edinburgh the following year.
In 1986, the Zap commissioned Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie of the Wild Wigglers to make a stage show in one of the Zap's arches. The show, a solo performance by Aggiss, was Grotesque Dancer, which premiered at the Zap in December 1986. This was the beginning of Divas Dance Theatre, which went on to premiere five more stage shows at the Zap: Dorothy and Klaus (1989) Die Orchidee im Plastik Karton (1989), Drool and Drivel They Care (1990) Cafeteria for a Sit-Down Meal (1992) and Absurditties(1994)
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The Zap
The Zap was a beach-front nightclub and performance arts venue, in Brighton, England that became known in the late 1980s and early 1990s particularly for its acid house nights. It has been described as an "influential ... club which pulled together many of the underground strands of visual art, fashion, music, design, comedy, cabaret and theatre which were circling at the time".
In the 1980s the Zap was a performance arts venue. It first opened at the New Oriental Hotel, Brighton in April 1982. Founded by Neil Butler, Patricia Butler and Amanda Scott, it was an experiment to mix radical art with cutting edge entertainment. The first shows were presented in a cabaret format mixing performance art, poetry, comedy, dance and theatre with the opening night featuring Ian Smith, Roger Ely and the band Resident Zero. Smith hosted Performance Platform on Tuesdays and later the Silver Tongue Club on Sundays. These played host to numerous stand-up comedians, artists, dancers and theatre groups. Tony Lidington of the Pierrotters recalled,
"Alongside such acts as the Pookies, Theatre of the Bleeding Obelisk, Bright Red, The Pierotters, The Wild Wigglers, the nascent alternative cabaret and street scene had support and a home on the south coast...These seminal groups have had a profound impact on the contemporary performance scene in Britain today."
It soon moved to the Royal Escape and then to the Northern before finally settling at its own venue in the King's Road Arches in October 1984. In 1985 it issued an LP record called Live at the Zap Club, including tracks by Pete McCarthy and John Dowie.
The Club was organised by four directors: Neil and Pat Butler, Dave Reeves and Angie Goodchild / Angie Livingston. Ian Smith was the resident MC and in the new venue the Club hosted both live music and house music. Meanwhile, The Zap continued to promote and commission radical art and entertainment through its regular performance programmes, commissions and festivals.
From 1985, the Zap staged an annual alternative pantomime, performed by Zap staff and other performers, including John Dowie, James Poulter, Robin Driscoll, Tony Haase, Becky Stevens, Pete McCarthy, Andy Cunningham, Louise Rennison, Liz Aggiss, Steve North, John Cunningham, Roy Smiles, Jonathan Lemon and Jane Bassett.
The Brighton based Yes/No People staged the preview of their show Stomp at the Zap in May 1990, ahead of the show's official premiere in Edinburgh the following year.
In 1986, the Zap commissioned Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie of the Wild Wigglers to make a stage show in one of the Zap's arches. The show, a solo performance by Aggiss, was Grotesque Dancer, which premiered at the Zap in December 1986. This was the beginning of Divas Dance Theatre, which went on to premiere five more stage shows at the Zap: Dorothy and Klaus (1989) Die Orchidee im Plastik Karton (1989), Drool and Drivel They Care (1990) Cafeteria for a Sit-Down Meal (1992) and Absurditties(1994)