Resistance Gallery

It’s a home for Lucha Britania but beside that it’s a very cool and quirky venue that holds various type of events… music, art, alternative.
The fact that its hidden down a back alley helps to eliminate any main stream, noisy and obnoxious crowd.
It’s one of my favourite London venues.

Hidden down a dodgy back alley behind Satan’s Whiskers in the unassuming arches of the railway, and easily missed without a queue or prior knowledge, lies one of my new favourite places to spend a Friday night. Once a month Luchadors gather in the Resistance Gallery and beat each other up, set themselves on fire, and entertain an audience that is baying for blood.
The darkened décor suits the desires of the patrons, and fuels people to explore the the joys that young boys seem to be so obsessed with… blood, sex and violence.
It is worth experiencing at least once while living in London, even if it isn’t what you would usually go for. Having always scorned wrestling such as WWE I found myself loving Lucha Britannia and getting into the chants more than I thought I would.
I would love to review the Resistance Gallery properly itself as it probably deserves it. But I only know it through Lucha and it does Lucha so very well if only once a month.

I came here to watch Luche Britanica. And a very good experience it was too!
I have to say, I do love me some wrasslin’. Which is why when my good friend Ray C. suggested coming here for the evening, I jumped at the chance!
I have huge respect for the performers. It’s really hard to pull off soap opera storylines, entertain & engage the crowd and sustain the physical punishment, both in the gym and in the ring. From the household names that you would know down to the guys who do the smaller shows — they really amaze me!
And on a note of the level of the performance, I would say the ring acumen that these guys had was actually way above and beyond anything that the WWE or the ECW put out on their smaller shows. Truly great.
The half-​time performance during the intermission from the wrestling was a dark burlesque act. And very good it was too. I can’t really go into details here, but suffice to say, within the context of the evening it really added some contrast to the night’s entertainment.
This is a difficult review to make — do I review the Resistance Gallery?
— In which case it is a two star review for the knackered out old building with sticky floors and a dodgy bar.
Or do I review the Lucha Britannia?
–In which case it is a most definite five-​star review.
For now, let’s just go with the latter.

I came here for their Bad Reputation club night. I haven’t danced so long and hard in a loooong time! There was enough rock music to make me miss my emo days from middle school. Hell, they even threw in the Powerpuff Girls Theme song. It was epic!
Entry was £3 quid as were the beer. Mixers were £4. Not bad for a night out on the east side.

Never before have I seen so many scantly clad guys and girls touch each other in public like this. There was more lycra and PVC than a Mr. Motivator section of This Morning.
I’ve been desperate to go to Lucha Britannia for months now and finally I managed to get tickets before they sold out. For £15 I have never before had so much fun. There was drama, there was love, there was even a little bit of blood. The atmosphere on the night was just amazing, everyone standing around the ring watching the captivating compare (a little like the fella out of Cabaret) as he introduced the characters and set the scene.
My cider came in a can and there was a cash only bar. I got drunk, I pounded the stage with my fist. I screamed until my throat was horse. I left wanting to be a wrestler. One day, I will be in the ring, growling at my opponent, bouncing off the sides and righting for my reputation.
I was shocked at the production on the show. It really was fantastic. The fights were carefully choreographed and never boring or repetitive. So much fun!

I came here for Fangtasia, an amazingly indescribable night that runs every second Friday. Its described as London’s True Blood Vampire Night, but its so much better than the name makes out. Yes it is a bit gothy, with people in various levels of costumes, from dark, but pretty normal club wear to full on Victoriana and fetish stuff, but you don’t feel out of place if you are a little more straight laced than some of the others.
The back street, under the railway arches mean than it is never going to be a mainstream venue, but that’s its strong point. Its underground, but not dirty. There is a stage (where we saw theatrical Japanese rope bondage, excellent show), a pole (decent enough pole dancer did a bit of a show for us) and a well stocked, and reasonably priced bar (£6 for a double is good in my books). The outside area is a good little smoking location and the free coat rail makes a welcome change from overpriced cloakrooms. Only negative is the fact that there are only two toilets, so obviously there are going to be some queues.
All in all, excellent night, great club, well worth another visit.

I came here for a piece of Fringe Theatre last night — the space was great for it. Two levels — we were all stood around whilst the action went on around and inbetween us. Judging by the art on the well, this place obviously is a gallery by day.
But interestingly, those involved with the show suggested that this place also has an murky underworld vibe to it — rumours of fetish and swinging nights! Something called a Vampire Party? I was certainly a little more careful as to where I put my drink after that.
It was also mentioned that this place was ranked in the Top 5 of London venues, just after the Donmar. Hmm… I might have to investigate more?
As for the 4 stars — I’ve not a scooby doo how to rate this place, as frankly, I don’t really know what it is! Other than difficult to find…

Resistance Gallery is run by impressario, Garry Vanderhorne, who has a string of unusual ventures under his belt. He’s perhaps best known for Lucha Britannia, a British off-​shoot of Mexican Lucha Libre, featuring gratuitous violence by fighters in improbable garb and latex clad lovlies in attendance. What’s not to like? He recently started Fangtasia, a True Blood inspired night of vampirism and extraordinary shows. Resistance is so cutting edge that it’s bleeding edge! You can expect fetish events, bizarre art and just about anything that might scare off any other promoter :-)
They are hosting the London Festival of Japanese Bondage in April (
). I was involved with last year’s and if you don’t know what it’s all about, this will blow away your preconceptions. If you do, you’ll still be blown away but with the amount of talent assembled from all over the world. Topping the bill is one of Japan’s hottest new stars, Kinoko Hajime.
The Gallery is always quirky, full of interesting people and very friendly. Expect the unexpected! No, it’s not easy to find, that’s why it’s East London’s best kept secret ;-)

I’ve made mentions in the past about the wilder side of the Hackney commercial gallery scene. The show I went to see at the Resistance Gallery though, was as hilarious as it was deranged. The commercial gallery show that topped this was when a friend from Melbourne went to a show, at which they had two competing artists, made up as bare knuckle boxers fighting each other as a prelude to the preview party.
It was a Friday night and I arrived there an hour late to find the huge, sprawling grey-​and white walled warehouse full of unrecognisably abstract sculptures, lots of white flour (or something similar) scattered on the floor, ropes, twigs, and an enraged artist, for reasons I shall explain later.
The Resistance is nearly impossible to find by day; it’s on a row of what looks like battered old garages and industrial buildings, with a tiny sign on the door signifying its existence. By night though Poyster Street comes alive; there’s a constant swarm of tight black jeans, leather, black hi-​top Reebok classics and floppy haircuts milling around the place. It also has a bar (what happened to the free drinks!?) some thrashing alt rock music; although I couldn’t find the source of said music throughout the two floor venue. It must have been from someone’s iPod. There were no wall texts, press releases documenting the context of their pieces with the wider body of their work; but there was ‘clubby’ lighting and a well-​stocked bar. This place was definitely more ‘party’ that it was ‘arty’.
I missed the best of it, sadly, but I do have photographic evidence. According to the artist who was putting on the headlining performance piece (described by my friend as ‘a really funny pastiche of S&M or something)’; the event for him involved a case of accidental abandonment (by the mate who was supposed to be guarding him), suspension (intentional) and an ‘un-​asked for’ spanking while he was blindfolded. Hence the understandable rage. It turns out they have a repertoire for outrageous performances — the current one being this guy. I wouldn’t chance your arm on going here during the day as they sometimes don’t answer the bell, but as for First Thursdays and selected Friday nights? Hells yeah!