SMOKE

Giddy UP

28 Apr

SMOKE
by Alexis Gregory
+ You Are Loved panel

When: Tuesday 28th April 2026
Time: 7:30pm
Where: The White Rock Theatre Studio, Hastings, TN34 1JX
Ticket Price: £15

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Giddy Up Co-presents…

SMOKE, a new performance by Alexis Gregory where queer thriller meets savage comedy.

What happens when you get a private Instagram message from your dead ex-boyfriend’s account?

Raw and stripped back, SMOKE is a hard-hitting comic-thriller about another dead gay guy on social media.

Drugs, digital ghosts, the Demon Twink in Starbucks, and Mariah Carey all make an appearance as the lines between reality and performance begin to blur.

Rooted in the artist’s personal experience of an online hack, and his own life and observations as a queer man, SMOKE turns its gaze on queer life in the digital era. It explores how grief, identity and addiction unfold in the shadow of collective queer shame.

Directed by Campbell X. This is queer survival with the lights on.

Gregory has proved one of the most idiosyncratic and provocative queer artists on the British stage”
- The Stage

You Are Loved Panel

Following this performance of SMOKE, You Are Loved will host a specially curated 45-minute panel discussion featuring director Campbell X and Hastings-based LGBTQIA+ voices.

You Are Loved is a national organisation working in LGBTQ+ suicide and drug misuse prevention through community engagement and peer support.

The panel will explore how the show’s themes connect with You Are Loved’s work in encouraging open conversation and supporting one another within the community.

Panellists

Campbell X (he/him)
Writer & Director

Campbell X is an award-winning film/TV/theatre writer director whose work centres messy queer lives and Black diasporic ancestral histories/herstories
/theirstories.

Jeremy Atherton Lin (he/him)
Author of Gay Bar & Deep House

Jeremy Atherton Lin is an American writer based mostly in St Leonards-on-Sea. He's been described in *Time Out* as 'one of the contemporary queer canon's biggest talents.' He is the author of the award-winning books *Gay Bar,* a cultural memoir of places that shaped him, and Deep House, a personal history of same-sex marriage and immigration.

Amanda Middleton (she/her)
Queer Systemic Psychotherapist

Amanda Middleton is a family and systemic psychotherapist who works with couples and families, with a strong focus on supporting queer communities. Her work explores the intersections of identity, relationships, and mental wellbeing, and is grounded in a proudly queer, anti-normative, and politically conscious approach to therapy. Alongside her clinical work, she also offers training and support to help others develop more inclusive and thoughtful ways of working with LGBTQIA+ people.

Darren Lacey (he/him)
Inclusion Co-ordinator at The Forward Trust

After 20+ years of substance use, mental health struggles and homelessness, Darren is now over 7 years abstinent and has worked at Forward Trust for over 5 years. For the past 3 years, supporting the LGBTQ+ community and implementing new interventions and pathways.

SMOKE runs for 60 minutes, followed by a short interval and then the 45-minute panel discussion. Audiences are encouraged to stay for the full event.
Alexis Gregory is a London based queer playwright, performer, director and producer whose work explores unexpected LGBTQ+ narratives. His plays include ‘Slap’, ‘Safe’, ‘Sex/Crime’, ‘Riot Act’, ‘FutureQueer’, ‘Neon Divine’, and ‘SMOKE’, and have been performed in the West End, across London and the UK on multiple tours, translated for international performance, and adapted as online ‘digital’ theatre. ‘Riot Act’ currently streams globally via Broadway on Demand and Marquee TV, and has received cinema screenings, for amongst others, BFI, Ducie Street Warehouse in Manchester for Superbia, and Soho House Group. Directing credits include Jonny Woo’s ‘Silvertown’ (Join The Docks), and Alistair Hall’s ‘Declan’ (The Actors Centre - The Guardian top online pick). His plays have been Top Picks in Evening Standard, Metro, Time Out, Attitude, i-D Magazine, Sunday Express, and are published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
You Are Loved is a UK-based LGBTQ+ charity and community interest company (CIC) dedicated to addressing the disproportionately high rates of suicide, drug-related deaths and emotional distress experienced within LGBTQ+ communities. The organisation was founded in London in 2024 by social psychologist and researcher Marc Svensson, and is run by a passionate team of LGBTQ+ volunteers and professionals committed to making a difference.
SMOKE and the You Are Loved panel contain adult language, homophobic language, references to; homophobic assault, drug misuse, sexual abuse and grooming, grief, mental health issues, psychosis, stalking, suicide.
There is wheelchair access into the venue via a ramp to the right of the main entrance. From there, a lift provides access to the White Rock Studio.
An accessible toilet is located on Level 2.
A gender-neutral toilet is available and clearly marked.
A copy of the SMOKE script in book form is available for audience members who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Please contact Hannah Rose on the below email to request a copy ahead of the performance.
Please get in touch if you have any questions or requests regarding access: hannah@homeliveart.com.
SMOKE is funded by Arts Council England.
SMOKE image by Tyler Kelly.
Writer & Performer Alexis Gregory
Director Campbell X
Script Consultant Rikki Beadle-Blair
Giddy Up takes over the stages of Hastings with a line-up of daring, defiant performances—queer at heart, welcoming to all.

View the full Giddy Up Programme