Shari Vari Playhouse (Via del Commercio 36, Rome, in the Ostiense quarter, the street running through the industrial regeneration zone between the Ostiense railway station and the Gazometro, the 19th-century gasometer that has become the symbolic landmark of the Ostiense creative district) is the Rome entertainment venue that has developed the most deliberately eclectic program of any nightlife address in the city: the Shari Vari Playhouse format (the converted industrial space, the theatrical stage, the adaptable seating-and-standing floor plan) accommodates the specific breadth of the Shari Vari program, the drag show series, the electronic music nights, the burlesque performances, the stand-up comedy (Italian and English-language), the live music in the indie-experimental range, and the club nights that bring the Ostiense creative community together in the specific format of a performance space where the theatrical and the social functions are deliberately blurred.
The Ostiense quarter (the industrial-creative zone south of the Aventine hill, between the Ostiense station and the Garbatella neighborhood, the area that the Rome creative community began colonising in the 1990s when the post-industrial spaces became available for cultural uses at accessible rents, producing the specific Ostiense character of a neighborhood that is simultaneously industrial heritage, student residential, and creative economy) is the broader context for the Shari Vari Playhouse: the Ostiense has been described as Rome's Williamsburg, the parallel between the Brooklyn creative neighborhood and the Ostiense regeneration trajectory is inexact but captures the specific density of art spaces, music venues, independent restaurants, and creative professional residents that the quarter has accumulated.
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Shari Vari Playhouse: Program and Venue
The Performance Program
The Shari Vari Playhouse program (check sharivarirm.it or the Shari Vari Instagram for the current event calendar, the program changes weekly and is announced with 2-4 weeks advance notice): the drag show program (the regular drag performance nights that the Shari Vari has established as one of the two or three most consistent drag entertainment venues in Rome, the performances range from international guest performers to the established Rome drag community regulars), the electronic music nights (the DJ program that uses the theatrical stage as a DJ booth and the floor as a dance space), and the occasional theatrical-performance hybrid events (the cabaret, the burlesque review, the performance art installation that the Shari Vari format can accommodate because of the theatrical infrastructure). Door prices: typically €10-20 depending on the program.
Shari Vari Playhouse: tours & tickets
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See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.The Ostiense Evening Circuit
The Shari Vari Playhouse is part of the broader Ostiense evening circuit: the Centrale Montemartini (the archaeological museum in the former power station, for the pre-dinner cultural visit), the Ostiense restaurants (the independent restaurant cluster on Via Ostiense and the surrounding streets, the specific Ostiense food offer of farm-to-table Italian, international, and fusion restaurants that the creative professional clientele of the quarter sustains), and the pre-show drinks at one of the Ostiense bars (the neighborhood bar culture that has developed around Via del Commercio and Via Ostiense evening circuit).
Q&A: Shari Vari Playhouse
Is Shari Vari Playhouse LGBTQ+ friendly?
Yes, the Shari Vari Playhouse is one of the most explicitly inclusive venues in Rome, with the drag and queer performance program as a central part of its identity. The venue welcomes all regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, and the specific Shari Vari social culture (the mixed audience of the creative Ostiense community, the university students from the nearby Roma Tre campus, and the visitors attracted by the specific program) is the most deliberately varied of any major Rome entertainment venue.
Internal Links
- Live Music Roma: Brancaleone e Shari Vari
- Ostiense: Il Distretto Creativo di Roma
- Nightlife Roma: Il Circuito Ostiense
- Ostiense Sera: L'Aperitivo Prima dello Spettacolo
- Roma Alternativa: Ostiense in Bassa Stagione
- Fotografare il Gazometro: Il Simbolo dell'Ostiense
- Raggiungere l'Ostiense: Metro B e Tram
