Shakespeare Masterclass For LGBTQIA+ People with Alasdair Buchan

Monday 25th May 2026
Doors & Refreshments From 6:30pm | Class Starts at 7pm | Class Finishes Approximately 9:30/10pm
Drinks and Cabaret From 10pm - 1am
The Two Brewers, Clapham

Every Monday at The Two Brewers, we hold acting classes for LGBTQIA+ people, facilitated by Queer Theatre’s Artistic Director, Andrew Keates. However, Andrew has taken a well-earned holiday and has handed our Monday night class over to his friend, award-winning actor and facilitator, Alasdair Buchan, to explore Shakespeare from an LGBTQIA+ perspective.

During the session you’ll have a warm-up and games with Alasdair. He’ll then introduce you to practical techniques for playing Shakespeare, including rhythm, breath, intention, and clarity, as well as the tools actors use to make heightened language feel immediate, truthful, and alive. You’ll explore short scenes and speeches through a queer lens, asking what changes when we place LGBTQIA+ lived experience at the centre of these stories. Who has power, who is forced into silence, who gets to desire openly, and what happens when we reclaim the text for ourselves.

Whether you’re Shakespeare-curious or already love the Bard, this is about confidence, craft, and connection with your community, in a supportive room where you can try things on your feet without judgement.

After class, you’re warmly invited to stay for a drink or a soft drink and socialise with the group, as we keep building the kind of queer creative space we all deserve.

Alasdair is an actor, director and teacher. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Theatre includes: That B*****d Puccini! (World Premiere, Park Theatre); The Mousetrap (St. Martins’ Theatre, West End); Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain (Birmingham Stage Company); The Da Vinci Code (World Premiere, UK Tour); Stephen Daldry’s An Inspector Calls (UK Tour); Séance (The Other Palace); Sherlock Holmes and the Crimson Cobbles (The Theatre, Chipping Norton & Tour); Night Must Fall (Salisbury Playhouse & Original Theatre); A Little History of the World (World Premiere, Watermill Theatre & Tour);Urinetown: The Musical (UK Premiere, Apollo Theatre, West End & St. James’s Theatre); for The Jamie Lloyd Company: Richard III (Broadway World UK Award nomination) and The Pride (both Trafalgar Studios, West End); A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest (London Touring Players), Macbeth (Lord Chamberlain’s Men), Newsrevue (Canal Cafe Theatre), and The Lost World (Bristol Old Vic).

Screen credits include: We Hunt Together (BBC/UKTV); Ghostbusters: The Gates of Gozer (Secret Cinema); Casualty (BBC); The Cost of Living (Rhyming Films) and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Warner Bros.) 

Audiobooks include: ‘Dark Star: A Biography of Vivian Leigh’ and ‘Beyond the 39 Steps: A Life of John Buchan’ for Bloomsbury.

As a director: With Courage (The Other Palace); A Monster Calls (Ben Travers Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (GSA); Deeds Not Words(Batley & Spen), Newfrock (BEAM); The Master & Margarita and Another Country (C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe).

He is one of the founders of the ReadThrough project.

When: Mondays, 7pm - 9:30/10pm. Doors open at 6:30pm for complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits.
10pm we often socialise together until late after class. Finish time varies depending on the type of work we’re doing.

Where: The Two Brewers, Club Room, 114 Clapham High Street, Lambeth, Greater London, SW4 7UJ

Travel: Conveniently located just a five-minute walk from Clapham Common underground station, ten minutes from Clapham North underground station, and Clapham High Street overground.

Cost: £20 per session (includes entry to The Two Brewers for post-class entertainment and bar access).

Accessibility: Our classes are wheelchair accessible. If you have any specific needs, please reach out so we can accommodate you.

Material: Please bring a Shakespeare sonnet, soliloquy or monologue.

Clothing: Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes that allow you to move easily.

Pencil Case: Bring a notebook, a pen, and a pencil. A pencil sharpener and an eraser may also prove helpful.

Materials: We will provide all materials for each session, such as queer scenes, monologues and other resources.

Book via Eventbrite below. And if you’re having any problems with your booking, please contact us.

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Two Brewers, 114 Clapham High Street, London, United Kingdom

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