The Roger Ely Experience
Description
The Roger Ely Experience - A Cabaret
Thursday 12 November 2026
20.00
Tickets £12.50/£10 concessions *see note
An evening celebrating the life and legacy of Roger Ely featuring short turns and films by a wide range of artists, musicians and film makers connected to Roger. Performers: Liz Aggiss, Steve Beresford, The Neo Naturists, Richard Strange, Dorothy Max Prior, Phil Minton, Dave Stephens and Neil Butler + short films.
Roger Ely (1952-2015) was an extraordinary and influential artist, publisher, archivist, curator, and collector. This event marks the British Library’s acquisition of Roger’s extensive and unique archive, enabling generations to come to discover a significant, rare and unrivalled history of the alternative and counterculture of the late twentieth century.
From Leeds Arts School in the 1960s, to the Brighton Contemporary Festival of Arts in the 1970s, to the Final Academy in the 1980s, to the Zap Club in the 1990s, Roger Ely was at the centre of the underground scene that influenced the art, music, film, literature, cabaret and performance that went on to change the world.
His collaborators, connections and collections are breathtaking - William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Ian Hinchliffe, Genesis P-Orridge, John Giorno, Kathy Acker, John Maybury, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Lydia Lunch, Marc Almond, Kenneth Williams, Anne Bean. Paul Burwell, Derek Jarman and countless other luminaries and characters all feature in some way in his life and in his archive.
The Water Rats cabaret follows a discussion at the nearby British Library from 6pm to 7.30, looking at Roger’s archive and the cultural landscapes it shines a light on with Steve Cleary, Dave Stephens, Neil Butler, Lois Keidan, Anne Bean, Barry Miles and Rob La Frenais. GET YOUR British Library TICKETS HERE
*And NOTE: Tickets to British Library will also enable entry to the Cabaret at the Water Rats, later the same evening so if you're booking a British Library Ticket there is no need to book a separate Water Rats Ticket on this site.
Gallery
Lineup
Liz Aggiss
Liz Aggiss is an un-disciplined artist with an un-disciplined body of work. This does not mean she is undisciplined. Au contraire. She is exceptionally disciplined. Dodging categorisation and being classified as unclassifiable, has been a full time job. She has been described as: maverick, challenging, anarchic, indomitable, dangerous, uncompromising, subversive, fearless, funny, powerfully disturbing yet vulnerable.
Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford has played piano with improvisers like Derek Bailey and also trumpet with the notorious Portsmouth Sinfonia. He has worked with the Slits, Han Bennink, Christine Tobin, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Vic Reeves, Alan Hacker, Ray Davies, Ilan Volkov, Najma Akhtar, Evan Parker, Adrian Sherwood, The Flying Lizards, Stewart Lee, Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn. Free improvisation is central, generally involving piano and/or electronics. He also writes songs, TV and film music, directs ensembles and has been known to sing and write.
Neil Butler
Neil Butler first performed in public aged seventeen and since then worked as an artist, creative producer and cultural strategist. Co-founder with Roger of Brighton’s Contemporary Arts Festival, he launched the Zap Club and large-scale multi-art form productions in London, Streetbiz and UZ Arts in Glasgow and Sura Medura in Sri Lanka. Along the way there’s been festivals across Scotland and the UK and projects that have spanned Europe and the World.
Phil Minton
Phil Minton played trumpet and sang with the Mike Westbrook Band in the early 1960s and then in bands across Europe before rejoining Westbrook until the mid 1980s. He has been an improvising singer in groups and orchestras and composers have written pieces that especially employ his extended vocal techniques and improvisations. He has a quartet with Veryan Weston, Roger Turner and John Butcher and ongoing duos with all the above. He also sings with Audrey Chen, Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Guylaine Cosseron, Hugh Medcalfe and Szilard Mezei.
The Neo Naturists
The Neo Naturists are a performance art group founded by Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie and Wilma Johnson. The group emerged from a subculture – connected with but not limited to the New Romantic club scene. The most intense period of activity was during the early to mid 1980s with regular performances in nightclubs and galleries. In 2016 they had a ‘Live’ retrospective at Studio Voltaire with an evening of live art at the ICA.
Dorothy Max Prior
Dorothy Max Prior has worked in performance, spoken word and sound installation. She has published two bestselling volumes of her life and times: 69 Exhibition Road and Sex is No Emergency. She is editor of Total Theatre Magazine and writes for and edits other arts publications. She has a fortnightly show on Slack City Radio: Granny (Max) Takes a Trip. In other lives, Max was a punk muse, post-punk drummer (with Rema Rema and Psychic TV, amongst others) and exotic dancer. Somewhere along the way, she has taught ballroom dancing and toured the world as a cabaret artist, street theatre performer, choreographer, and director.
Dave Stephens
Dave Stephens first came to public attention as a performance artist. After leaving Leeds Polytechnic where he studied alongside Roger in the Fine Art department under Jeff Nuttal, Roland Miller and John Darling he joined John Bull Puncture Repair Kit and toured Britain and Europe. He teamed up with Ian Hinchliffe, Roger and others in the Matchbox Purveyors for visual and verbal tours through the absurdist imagination. Nowadays, his practise often moves between disciplines and some of his recent work combines elements of all of them.
Richard Strange
Since the Doctors of Madness was first unleashed on an uncomprehending public in 1975, Strange has been a Zelig-like figure whose presence has been felt in every corner of London’s cultural life. He founded the hugely influential mixed-media Cabaret Futura in 1980, and has subsequently worked as a musician, writer and actor on stage and screen. He’s worked with Marianne Faithfull, Gavin Bryars, Jarvis Cocker, Hal Wilner and numerous other luminaries. Movie appearances include Batman, Mona Lisa, and Gangs of New York and he recently filmed the last episode of Harry Potter.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity