A Gay Night in Heaven.

For those who regularly visit the gay scene in London, the word Heaven does not mean the place you go where you die. That is unless your idea of the afterlife consists of a club full of attractive and scantily clad men. Heaven is infamously known for hosting the G-A-Y club events every weekend out of the year. One of the nights in the weekly line-up is called Gay Porn Idol and is held every Thursday night. It takes it’s name from the popular show Pop Idol and is similarly a sort of talent search, but instead of singers, the competitors are all men dancing stark naked.

Gay Porn Idol is more than just a strip tease show at some seedy bar. It is a structured performance competition with rules, expectations, and an intricate scoring system. First off, the show is based entirely on audience participation since all of the competitors are either invited to perform of volunteer mid-show. Each performer has the spotlight for thirty seconds where they strip all the way nude while dancing in order to impress both the audience and the judges. At the end of each performance, the judges give their opinions and a few selected audience members give each dancer his or her score. These scores usually reflect the performer’s dancing skill or the attractiveness of his or her naked body. It seems unlikely that someone would get up on stage baring all in front of a crowd of horny gay men, but the cash prize and promise of free drinks for the night usually inspires quite a few people. When all the performers have gotten their spotlight, the host eliminates the ones with the lowest score and keeps two or three for a final dance-off, the winner is chosen based on audience applause.

The audience plays a huge role in this theatrical event because it based entirely on both participation and reaction. The entire show would not exist if there weren’t audience performers willing to strip for a crowd or audience members there to both cheer and rate the acts. Though some may find the nature of the show grotesque, I personally think that the audience is to blame because of the show’s intrinsic nature. Not only is the show reliant on the audience, but the crowd actually takes pictures of the performers. This both compromises the integrity of the performers and adds an element of pornography to each act. I can stand nudity on stage, it can add an element of fun or shock value to a performance, but there is a reason there is no flash photography in a theater.

Let this be a warning, this event is not for the faint of heart. There will be naked men on stage, horny gay guys dancing the night away, and lots of cheap drinks to go around. Although there is an element to Gay Porn Idol that I find somewhat disgusting, the experience at Heaven never fails to be a good time. Not many people would enjoy G-A-Y nights at Heaven as much as I do, my opinion is biased because of my sexuality, but if you are looking to have a fun night dancing on the floor and watching audience members strip on stage, Gay Porn Idol may be for you.

*I apologize for not including photos of the actual event. I believe that they would be too inappropriate for this blog.