The Pussycat Club, Digital, Brighton, July 5

10:42am Friday 4th July 2008

For someone who has invited ravers to clamber onto four-poster beds, enlisted spidermen to scale the walls of some of Brighton's biggest venues and let the city's finest drag queen run riot with a guitar on stage, Jan King's daredevil clubnights were inspired by mundane beginnings.

"Back then you had to be really cool to be in a club, even though there was a strong underground scene," says the self-styled Madame Pussycat, reflecting on the clubbing canvas of Brighton she surveyed with a mischievous gaze in 1995.

"We wanted to do something frivolous, where people could dress up and be wildly creative."

Starting at the now-defunct Zap Club, the Pussycats have gone to spectacular lengths to accomplish their mission, constantly redefining the possibilities of what can be achieved within four walls.

"You try to think of the worst-case scenario, so with the bed idea we built one that was indestructible. An elephant could have jumped on it," she says.

The club is also famous for its cheeky themes, stipulating ridiculous wigs, superhero costumes and combat and camouflage outfits among innumerable other suggestions.

"When you take people's money they want to be entertained, and it's your responsibility to do that for six hours. But there's also an element of the crowd becoming performance artists themselves," says King.

"It's just about entertainment. People work hard all week, they have no money, they hate their boss and have personal worries, and we just want to let them forget all of that and become glamorous."

If clubbers find the challenge of squeezing into a rubber suit difficult, it is only the start of the hard work for King. "You formulate an idea in your head, maybe from a film or whatever comes into my brain, and then you have to persuade people that it's a great idea," she admits.

Performers such as the climbing instructors who had to be convinced of the merits of showing off their poise amid a packed dancefloor often need strenuous encouragement.

"People are never confident in themselves, but you know how much they're capable of. They've got a level of skill and we have to tell them that yes, somehow this will definitely work."

The burlesque sailor girls from a bygone era, pirate dancers and fantasy make-up artists for this month's tropical beach party theme are all cases in point.

"The day I'm not nervous about it is the day I don't care anymore," says King. "Sometimes I don't know where we get these people from."

• Doors 11pm, tickets £12, 0870 246 2050. £10 guestlist available, call 07803 905083

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