Divine Playhouse Is Back: Sydney’s Most Controversially Heathen Club Heads To The MCA

Hallelujah! Divine Playhouse is coming back, Sydney, and its first order of business, naturally, is a funeral.

After the LGBTQIA+ arts venue was forced out of its Kent Street home in July, UNHOLY / DIVINE will now reunite more than 50 independent artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for three nights this October, bringing its irreverent spirit into one of the country’s major art institutions.

Across 8, 22 and 29 October, the program will move through mourning, resurrection and temptation, with drag, music, performance and plenty of opportunities to get dressed up and carry on. For the artists and audiences who watched Divine’s beginnings cut short, it’s a welcome chance to gather again.

The MCA describes the series as a celebration of “the power of difference, dissent and divine mischief”. Judging by the program, the mischief has survived the ordeal perfectly well.

First comes MOURN! WEEP! WAIL! An Unholy Funeral – The Death of Divine! on Thursday 8 October, taking over the museum’s Foundation Hall from 6–11pm.

Designed to lay the memories of Divine Playhouse to rest, the evening promises processions, hymns and performance spaces curated by artists, with guests invited to dig out their high-fashion funeral veils.

Aunty Jonny, Brendan Del La Hay, Divacups, Lesbionica, Nikkita Iman, Porcelain Alice, Stereogamous and The Bombshells are among the lineup. Tickets are $69, include full museum admission, and the event is strictly for those aged 18 and over.

There’s barely time to put the mourning outfit away before the resurrection arrives.

On Thursday 22 October, BLISS! DEVOTION! ADORATION! An Unholy Rebirth – Resurrection and Joy spreads throughout the museum as part of its ongoing Late program, with Angels Only DJs, Boye Sivan, Gogo Bumhole, Matt Vaughan, Ruby Teys & Sharon Manhattan and the Unholy Drag Choir among those involved.

“Taffeta encouraged. Divine intervention guaranteed,” reads the announcement, which is certainly an ambitious promise for a Thursday evening.

The final instalment, PLEASURE! VICE! DESIRE! A Delicious Indiscretion – Forbidden Fruits, Confessions and Naughty Arts, follows on Thursday 29 October. Charlie Villas, Glory Holiness with Jamie James, Mama Medusa, Sexy Galexy, Sharkie and Venus feature in a program inviting audiences to indulge their curiosity and confess a few sins.

Both later events run from 6–10pm, with $35 two-for-one tickets including full MCA admission. La Figa appears across all three nights.

Why was Sydney’s Divine Playhouse shut down?

Founded by Heaps Gay creator Kat Dopper, Divine Playhouse opened in July inside the former St John the Evangelist Church at 420 Kent Street, with plans to provide space for independent artists, performance and community events.

The building had been deconsecrated in 1932 and used as a theatre for decades. Organisers had also changed the venue’s original name, Unholy Playhouse, after concerns from members of the Christian community, but protests went ahead anyway.

As Star Observer reported at the time, conservative Christian groups targeted the venue, with the dispute escalating into cancelled events and action from its landlord.

On 20 July, the team confirmed its lease had been terminated by KCSYD Pty Ltd, part of the Revelop property group, citing the extremely outdated “offensive trade” law. Dopper was given just three days to clear out the venue.

“It’s over. Our lease terminated, our artists cancelled, our venue being cleared out,” she told Star Observer at the time.

Dopper disputed the termination’s lawfulness, while organisers called for a peaceful sing-in at Hyde Park and appealed for another home. The closure raised concerns about artistic freedom and who gets to decide which kinds of expression can occupy Sydney’s stages.

Come October, those artists will have an audience again, and a fairly spectacular place to welcome them. Plus – it’s Halloween, which is practically Gay Christmas. Perfect.

Tickets are already available through the MCA.