In a match made in a red crushed velvet heaven, London’s premier tranny party night has moved to the grande dame of Soho nightclubs and spiritual home of the capital’s drag scene, Madame Jojo’s. From March 18, and every Wednesday thereafter, gender benders will find a warm welcome amongst the ruby and gilt kitsch of a club that has specialised in decadent fun for decades.
 
After almost four years, Trannyshack’s huge reputation has been built on nights like the ‘Burlesque Ball’, its legendary beauty pageants, and the presence of some of the world’s top drag performers such as Lady Bunny, Pete Burns and Al Pillay, along with a glittering array of the country’s cross-dressers on stage and in the audience, all to the sounds of resident DJs Dusty O and Tasty Tim.
 
And it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate venue than Madame Jojo’s: a nightclub has occupied this building on Brewer Street since the early 1950s, when Soho was London’s most notorious vice district, frequented by the pimps, drug dealers, protection racketeers and ‘spivs’ who flourished in the post-war underworld. The club acquired the now famous name of Madame Jojo’s in the 1960s, after it was refitted with the fabulous decor from the nearby Whitehall Theatre, built in 1930. The theatre’s rich art deco motifs of zigzags, birds, conch shells and striking mouldings, and fittings including fountains, geometric railings and lights were in perfect harmony with Madame Jojo’s red plush velvet and gilt ambience.
 
Girls had twirled their tassles in burlesque on the tiny stage of what became Madame Jojo’s for decades, but by the 1980s it had become the most celebrated cabaret and drag venue in London, and now with Trannyshack in residence the two have surely met their match.
 
www.madamejojos.com