Reviews
Jock Night
Seven Dials PlayhouseSituated in the heart of Theatreland, the Seven Dials Playhouse is a beacon of support for innovative theatrical productions. The venue is small, but perfectly formed, and the performance space thrillingly up close and personal. Jock Night is presented in association with Hive North, a company who specializes in LGBTQ+ themed productions.
The audience was mainly male, mainly gay and mainly excitable. We sat, not too quietly, in the auditorium observing the bedroom of Ben’s flat, nicely decorated, nothing fancy. It feels cosy, domestic, in spite of the fact that the double bed centre stage clearly has occupants within it.
As the duvet is pulled back we engage with the dramatic thrust of this show which is sex, sex and more sex. In particular, ChemSex. In various combinations of participants, two/three/foursomes and positions.
Within that scenario it illuminates the friendships based on being part of that particular scene, and the short and long-term impact that ChemSex has on their lives.
The writing and direction by Adam Zane is concise, non-judgmental and often very funny. The production feels like an edited version of CH4’s brilliant Queer as Folk, in which Zane appeared, transferred to stage. There are many references to Coronation Street interspersed throughout, just in case we don’t realise that the play is based in Manchester.
Big, tattooed, bearded Ben is played by David Paisley (plays Ben in BBC’s Holby City) and is the caring 'Daddy' and facilitator for the other lads. The rest of the cast enact gay stereotypes, most of which are hilariously accurate.
As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that low self-esteem and loneliness can sometimes lead young men into ChemSex addiction, and dangerous, life-threatening situations, when what they are really looking for is a loving stable relationship.
There is lots of sex and laughter in this show, but there is sorrow too. It’s a thought-provoking theatre piece, based on real life interviews. Well worth a visit.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
October 2023
Back to TopES & FLO
Kiln TheatreSecrets and their consequences are at the heart of this moving and tender play by Jenifer Lunn, that explores and celebrates the long-standing relationship between two older Lesbians.
Es and Flo met at Greenham Common in the 80s and are now, 40 years later, still very much in love and living together in Es’s house.
The vibrant sexual chemistry between Es (Liz Crowther) and Flo (Doreene Blackstock) is clear, and a reminder that passionate love doesn’t necessarily diminish with age.
But their sexual relationship is a secret one. Es is firmly entrenched in the closet and hasn’t told her family or made any kind of legal provisions (civil partnership, next of kin, power of attorney) for her lover.
All is well until Es begins to develop dementia. Both women find this difficult to come to terms with, and Flo struggles to cope with her partners increasing care needs.
Into this fragile scenario steps Beata, (Adrianna Pavloska) a pragmatic, but kind, care worker, and her daughter Kassia (Chioma Nduka), who has been instructed by Peter, Es’s son, to help out. This is without any prior consultation with Flo.
Peter doesn’t actually visit his mum but communicates through his browbeaten wife Catherine (Michelle McTernan) that he requires power of attorney as he plans to sell Es’s house and move her into a residential care home.
Flo is brusquely thanked for being a good friend to his mother, “But family are taking over now.” Flo is terrified that she is powerless to stop the couple’s happy life together being wrenched apart.
I loved the coup de theatre split level set design by Libby Watson, showing the contrast between the couple’s cosy domestic home life and the foreboding hospital scenario, awash with fear. Also, the way the lovers shared history was depicted by projected images and sounds of the period interspersing the action on stage.
This is a thought-provoking play which, through its interracial and intergenerational all female cast, illuminates the strength of female relationships, and their ability to surmount the seemingly unsurmountable, just as they did at Greenham Common.
It is also a poignant reminder of the importance to establish legal rights to protect each other, particularly for older closeted gay couples, of any gender.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
June 2023
Back to TopBrokeback Mountain
Soho Place TheatreSoho Place is the first newbuild theatre to open in the West End for fifty years. It rises from the ashes of the old Astoria theatre. Very convenient for Tottenham Court Tube and Soho Square. It’s glossily chic, with an in-the-round performance space, and a restaurant and cocktail bar on the ground floor.
Brokeback Mountain is its first world premier with American stars Mike Faist (Jack Twist) and Lucas Hedges (Ennis Del Mar) playing the leads, in this stage interpretation of Annie Proulx’s beautifully written short story.
Many of us will have seen the celebrated film version by Ang Lee. This production is completely different, so don’t expect beautiful cinematic landscapes. It is up close and personal. Faist and Hedges emotional connection and impressive physicality fill the auditorium.
We watch as the two rough mannered, tough-speaking cowboys Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, meet on a sheep herding job on the Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. They are both just nineteen and during their time together, on those lonely hills, they fall head over heels in lust and love with each other.
Their story unfolds through the eyes of a much older Del Mar. Alone now, remembering the relationship that he had with his lover, and the passion that gripped them both for twenty years.
Ashley Robinson’s script keeps close to the original story text, authentically capturing the world of those cowboys. Reflecting their speech, their silences, their behaviour and heartbeat.
The music by Dan Gillespie Sells, is an atmospheric blend of blues, country and classical music, with a Balladeer (the wonderful Eddi Reader) who steadily draws us into the raw emotional core of the story.
Homosexuality was still illegal during this period, and brutal homophobia was commonplace. Consequently, both men married and had children, unsurprisingly their marriages fail. Emily Fairn was impressive as Alma, Del Mar’s quietly disappointed wife.
The lovers live double lives, meeting infrequently over a twenty-year period, always worried that they might be exposed, a feeling that is still sadly familiar for many within our LGBTQIA community.
This is a play about homosexual love, masculinity and the hardship of rural life in the American outback circa 1963. I recommend it as an opportunity to step back in time and place for a ninety minutes’ engagement with LGBTQ Cowboy life.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
May 2023
Back to TopSAP
First performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022, this production of SAP, produced by Atticist and Ellie Keel, is currently touring the UK.
I love the Soho Theatre, the bar is loud, loud, loud and lively. It’s packed with every type of person expressing themselves and having fun. Then you go up to the small upstairs theatre and it’s quiet and cool in there like a hallowed space.
This debut full length play by Rafaella Marcus is an extraordinary piece of writing which stimulates on many levels. Loosely based on Ovid’s Metamorphosis where the nymph Daphne escapes the amorous advances of the god Apollo by turning into a laurel tree. Marcus has brilliantly transformed this ancient myth into a queer urban fable about bisexuality.
The writing of Rafaella Marcus is thrilling. It’s dense and gripping. You can just close your eyes and the drama immediately unfolds in your imagination. It would work wonderfully on radio.
SAP lifts the lid on a contentious issue of bisexuality within the LGBTQ+ community. It illuminates the prejudice, struggles and abuse our much-maligned members often endure.
There are just two actors in this production, although I feel using four would have been better. Jessica Clarke plays a bang up-to-date Daphne with assured confidence. Whilst Rebecca Banatvala plays the other parts, male and female, with particular authenticity and flair.
Together these two spark-off each other on a stage bare of set, filling it with passion, heartbreak and brilliant flashes of humour. They are ably supported by the commanding choreography of Laban trained Jennifer Fletcher and Jessica Lazar’s tight, pacey direction.
Daphne, the central character, is bisexual. She works for a Women’s Aid refuge. We get to know a lot about her, particularly through her personal asides to the audience. She’s likeable, insecure, a people-pleaser. And she notices plants a lot.
Daphne has a one-night stand with a bloke. “He’s just a guy, exactly what you think of, when you think of just a guy.” Afterwards she assumes they will never meet again.
Sometime later, she revisits a lesbian bar and meets “The absolute Queen of my type, soft and hard at the same time, like lipstick on a hammer”. The two become involved and fall in love. Worryingly, Daphne’s new partner expresses an aversion to bisexuals, saying they are untrustworthy and that she doesn’t have sexual relationships with them anymore.
She assumes Daphne feels the same. “Yes, absolutely” Daphne responds, terrified of losing her lover. The seed of that lie is planted in their relationship. It takes root within Daphne.
Shortly after, Daphne is confronted by the shocking realisation that there is a deep connection between her last male and female lovers. The secret liaison between Daphne and the guy is then ruthlessly exploited by him.
Meanwhile the seed of her shame and deception is growing inside of Daphne, it is beginning to sprout bark and branches, and she is unable to stop or control it.
It’s at this point that the atmosphere in the upstairs room at the Soho Theatre dramatically changes and becomes a place of menace and foreboding as the twists and turns of the plot are revealed.
This production is a real thriller, full of suspense and surprises. It also raises many issues that need to be discussed in an open-hearted way within our community. I highly recommend it as an interesting, thought-provoking night out.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
April 2022
Back to TopAfter the Act
This small, ultra-modern, glass fronted theatre, close to Warren Street tube, punches way above its weight. Its team, headed by David Byrne, is one of the few theatres that commissions, develops and co-produces meaty ambitious shows that tackle contentious political topics.
After The Act is a lively musical that explores, through historical testimonials and original songs and dance, the period of LGBT+ history from 1967 to 1988. When the Conservative government passed, and implemented, the Section 28 act.
This draconian legislation outlawed the promotion of homosexuality in state run institutions such as libraries and schools, or any kind of acknowledgment that being homosexual was normal.
This is an ensemble piece, with the dynamic cast of four playing many different parts. Its verbatim dialogue expressing the experience of some of the people who actually lived through that period.
There were some wonderful theatrical cameos including Margaret Thatcher in a blue sparkly mini skirt and a teacher living in fear of being outed, plus lesbians abseiling into the House of Lords and angry parents protecting their children from ‘evil homos’. Lesbians storming BBC’s 6 o clock news and a gay teenager confused and terrified about the ‘gay plague.’
These authentic voices from our past were sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. Consistently emotionally engaging.
Throughout the onstage action, images of newspaper and TV headlines are projected onto each side of the stage, illuminating the moral climate of the period.
Frew, the composer and musical director, sits on a raised mezzanine platform conducting the songs and playing instruments. Composing to recitative dialogue is not easy, but the music flowed and enriched the atmosphere, conjuring up that hot clubby feel and the fierce passion of political anthems.
This impressive theatrical experience explores Section 28’s wounding legacy of shame and silence and it celebrates the many acts of heroism. And the determined and tenacious political action that finally forced the act to be revoked.
It’s great to see that agitprop theatre is alive and thriving within a stylish, contemporary venue. It’s also a chilling reminder that we could be revisited by something rather similar even now.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
March 2022
Back to TopSylvia
Sylvia was first performed at the Old Vic in 2018 as a work in progress. This current revival, which benefits from diverse casting, is a foot-stamping, rip-roaring, song and dance take on the history of the Suffragette movement.
A musical with a hip-hop, soul and funk bias that explores women’s fight for the vote, might seem an odd combination. But hip-hop has always been employed as an artistic and poetic response to oppression. Funk the voice of revolution. Soul gives the many beautiful voices in this show the opportunity to shine.
Sylvia explores the contentious relationship between Emmeline Pankhurst and her rebellious daughter Sylvia. Cracks in the family political unity are revealed as Sylvia becomes immersed in Labour party socialism and demands votes for all working-class men and women. Whilst her autocratic mother courts the conservative establishment and fears societal backlash from her firebrand daughter.
Slickly directed and brilliantly choreographed by the multi-talented Kate Prince, the music, by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, and dance routines cleverly reference Eminem, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson and Madonna. The live band are smoking hot! In particular, Rachel Espeute’s (electric bass) and Vanessa Domonique’s (drums) drive the onstage action.
This dynamic musical bounced off the walls of the beautiful Old Vic Theatre, accompanied by much clapping, whoops and cheers from the audience.
Celebrity global songstress Beverley Knight plays Emmeline Pankhurst and her sensational singing voice is goose-bump gold.
Sylvia, played by Sharon Rose, is a real theatrical find. She has a beautifully tuneful voice, and the warmth and authenticity of her characterisation draws the audience close.
Jade Hackett’s portrayal of Winston Churchill’s mum was hilarious. Her solo song and dance moves practically stole the show.
I had some concerns about the wordiness of the script. This is a musical which was initially devised by text and lyrics. Sometimes the dialogue is too intense and rather clunky.
The dramatic impetus of the play was somewhat derailed by Sylvia’s romance with Silvio. Perhaps it would have been better to focus more on the rivalries, romances and ideological differences within the Pankhurst family, of which there were plenty.
Frankly, it was disappointing that Emmeline’s daughter’s lesbian relationship was only briefly referenced as a potential disadvantage to the Suffrage movement, while Emmeline’s own life-enhancing lesbian relationships were not referenced at all. Erasing or negating lesbian herstory is not okay.
As Mathew Warchus, The Old Vic’s artistic director, says
“Musicals aren’t written, they’re re-written.” This is a musical with huge potential, and I look forward to its next revival.
Even in its current form, the entertainment value of this show, with its fantastic song-and-dance routines, the commitment and energy of its actors, dancers, singers and musicians, make it a great night out.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
February 2022
Back to TopKissed By A Flame
The Pleasance Theatre is a six-minute stroll from Caledonian Road Tube. Tucked away in an elegant courtyard strewn with fairy lights.
It’s a hidden gem. Downstairs is a restaurant with tables outside. Upstairs is the main theatre with the box office and a comfy book-lined bar. It’s a lovely place to hang out and I’ve seen some great, and sometimes magical productions there.
Unfortunately, Kissed By A Flame is not one of them. This two-hander was written by Simon Perrot "as a kind of therapy for myself" and a tribute to his partner Steve who died from cancer. It enacts Perrot’s attempts to recover from his bereavement.
My partner Wendy died from a similar cancer in 1998, so I can really relate to the pain and grief Perrot was and is going through. But I’m not sure that writing a play, in particular this play, works.
The set is rather dull and remains the same throughout. A bedroom, with a bed centre stage and a music system. There, the ghost of Teddy (Andrew Lancel) haunts his grieving lover Jamie (Ian Leer) encouraging him to read the diary he wrote from the time of his diagnosis to his death, eleven years previously. Teddy believes this will help Jamie to finally move on.
On stage, the action switches between the past (Teddy dying), and present, (Jamie’s denial of Teddy dying), although it was often difficult to tell which was which. The direction lacked momentum.
It’s a hard life being an actor. They have to put their trust in the hands of the writer and director of the play. Often that trust is misplaced. I feel in this production, the actors were supported by neither.
The play was too long, running for eighty-five minutes, and without an interval. Forty-five minutes would have more than sufficed. The main problem with this play is that Perrot’s heart wrenching, real life experience just did not translate into the script.
I would recommend a visit to the Pleasance Theatre. Check their website for upcoming productions.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
February 2022
Back to TopMy Son’s a Queer (but What Can You Do?)
My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) is an autobiographical musical theatre production, now showing at the newly renovated Ambassadors Theatre (still gloriously iconic, but now accessible). It is, a celebration of queerness, and unconditional familial love.
This one-person show, created and performed by Roy Madge, is hugely entertaining. Combining live action, with screenings of old family videos. The production was conceived whilst Madge was sharing home videos with others on TikTok, during lockdown.
We are guided through a nostalgic journey of Madge’s childhood, via the video footage which depict the four-year-old theatrical prodigy performing and (bossily) directing the cast in a number of shows over the years. Clearly devoted, parents and grandparents happily providing additional cast, props and costumes. The videos are hilarious and heart-warming.
In-between the videos, Madge shares their childhood experience. The narrative is witty and relatable. They describe an obsession with frilly frocks and wigs and everything theatrical. The hilarious school reports during this period as they struggled to fit in at school and be ’normal.' The daily bullying they endured. (Madge’s mother became a dinner lady at the school to stop it). How their life changed when they went to theatre school and met their thespian tribe.
Now, with all those years of performance experience behind them, Madge is an accomplished comedic performer with a great voice and the theatrical gravitas to really rock the stage.
I particularly enjoyed the videos. I just love his family! They are ordinary (extraordinary) working class people. The kind of family every LGBTQIA person would wish for. Offering unwavering love and support to their child, who was clearly different. Who had an immense artistic talent. Who didn’t want to have to choose to be he or she. Because of that loving parenting, they gave their child the greatest gift: Confidence to live their authentic life.
So many of our community feel confused, ashamed and isolated in relation to our family. I’m sure that many families with children like us feel the same way. This musical’s message to parents is: Encourage your child to be what they want to be, then let the magic happen!
This is a slick West End production directed by Luke Sheppard who has been involved with the show from its onset. It’s packed with Glam & Glitter but is also tender, depicting the trials and tribulations of growing up knowing you are different. Of wanting to be Belle rather than the Beast and wear yellow dresses and red wool wigs.
The songs composed by Pippa Cleary are witty and catchy, beautifully sung by Madge, and sum up the emotional thrust of the show. We will be loved Anyway being a particular audience pleaser. I adored the costumes, by Ryan Dawson Laigh; lots of colour, frills and flounce.
Rob Madge says that they want this show to “Redefine queerness as joyfulness.”To be a contrast to the tragedy and trauma so often present in queer film and theatre. I think they have achieved that wish.
A happy, entertaining night out, that gives us all hope for the future.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
February 2023
Back to TopSound of the Underground
Don’t you just love the Royal Court Theatre? It’s hip and friendly. It’s conveniently located, right next to the underground station. Its downstairs Bar & Kitchen feels like a party, and it cultivates aspiring playwrights, hosting an eclectic, cutting edge programme of new plays.
Their latest production Sound of the Underground is no exception. Described as an ‘open collaboration,’ and devised and written by the multi-talented Travis Alabanza (Drag Performance Artist and Burgerz creator) and in house director Debbie Hannan.
This production is a hybrid performance piece: part theatre, part cabaret, part agitprop. Performed by a cast of professional drag artistes and drawing on the expertise of the many queer workers within that industry, it is a homage to the underground drag scene. Alabanza describes that scene as “Messy, entangled, fragile, glorious”. This production illuminates its style, resilience and rich diversity.
During the prologue (The Takeover) Lilly SnatchDragon, Chiyo, Sadie Sinner, Midgitte Bardot, Wet Mess, Rhys’ Pieces, and Sue Gives a Fuck, sashay onto the stage and engage with the audience. They are flirtatious and provocative. They are also fed up with being sidelined and exploited. This prologue sets the tone for the rest of the production:
Fun but Fierce!
The short first act doesn’t work so well, set in a suburban kitchen. A reference perhaps to the Royal Court’s history of promoting ‘kitchen sink’ drama? The initial dialogue, interspersed with long pauses is confusing and lacks momentum, improving only when the cast congregate and decide to set up a union and take action against the exploitation and sanitization of Drag by mainstream media.
They step offstage, with collection boxes, asking the audience to supplement their wages, then symbolically kill a Ru Paul mannequin stuffed with money.
Act two (the Business). The cast and technical crew dismantle the set until the stage is bare. It is then that the real bones of the performers’ professional lives are revealed. The cast roam the stage in synchronized choreographed movement, lip-synching prerecorded interviews of their experiences of working within the drag industry. It is both dramatic and engaging.
This authentic narrative reveals their fears that commercialization is crushing the heart of drag. Their passionate conviction that ‘drag’ is an art form not just decorative. That drag is, by its very manifestation, subversive. That it challenges our preconceptions of gender, sexuality, race, the physicality of who and how we are.
After the interval the second half (The Dream/Their Arrival) is a celebration of just how funny, moving and downright filthy drag acts can be. It’s an opportunity for the cast to strut their stuff. The glamorous Sue Gives a Fuck comperes, smoothly interspersing each act with a potted history of drag through the ages.
After the interval the second half (The Dream/Their Arrival) is a celebration of just how funny, moving and downright filthy drag acts can be. It’s an opportunity for the cast to strut their stuff. The glamorous Sue Gives a Fuck comperes, smoothly interspersing each act with a potted history of drag through the ages.
The diversity of content, costume and sets is thrilling. Watching drag on a big theatrical stage rather than squashed into a small dark space is a fabulous spectacle.
The audience whoops and shouts with delight as Midgette Bardot is mechanically hoisted aloft whilst singing about hot piss. Is dazzled as Sadie Sinner’s voice and persona light up the stage. Mesmerized by Wet Mess’s physical gravitas and darkly humorous characterization. Tantalized by Sharon le Grands cheeky rendition of ‘Touch my bum.’ It’s all great fun.
Suddenly, we are stunned into silence as mid act, Chiyo breaks down and reveals the contrast of their life on and off stage as a trans man. Reminding us of the prejudice and hatred that those ‘who look, or are different,’ are subjected to on a daily basis.
The cast come together to comfort Chiyo singing in unison Sound of the Underground. As the curtain falls.
This show does more than just entertain, although entertain it certainly does. It reveals the authentic voice of the underground drag scene. Reminding us that this genre is about more than fabulous frills and flounces.
It’s a thought provoking show, inducing loud and lively conversations within the audience, afterwards in the bar, theatre foyer, street and even in the underground on the way home.
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
January 2023
Back to TopTammy Faye
The musical Tammy Faye is currently premiering at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, and as God is my witness it looks like they have another smash hit on their hands!
This charismatic musical charts the meteoric rise and fall of the Televangelist husband and wife team Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. Whose 24-hour Satellite TV channel PTL (Praise The Lord) wooed, won over and amassed a fortune from its adoring Christian followers in 1970/80’s America.
Then the dream ended, and Heaven became Hell. Jim Bakker was jailed for misappropriation of funds, tax evasion and sexual exploitation.
Tammy Faye became a Gay icon when, in a ground-breaking interview with an AIDs sufferer, she displayed respect and love. This, during a time when America was in the grip of a puritanical homophobic and misogynistic backlash (what’s changed we might ask?) Gives an indication of her strength of faith and character.
The music by Gay national treasure Elton John, and Lyrics by Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) does not disappoint. From the first fabulous number we are hooked! The songs span Gospel, Rock n roll, Country and Pop.
With the ensemble cast of dancers and singers (authentically bewigged and costumed by Katrina Lindsay) and radiating 70’s camp energy Lyne Page’s choreography is the perfect accompaniment.
Katie Brayben gives a powerhouse performance as Tammy. Her voice thrilling in its range and expression. She lights up the stage.
Andrew Rannells’s assured and melodic Jim Backer, is the husband who takes all the glory and most of the money, but then pays a great price for his hypocrisy.
Zubin Varla playing Jerry Falwell as the rival evangelical pastor, is perfectly cast as the couples Nemesis, masterful and insidious. Set on course to bring their empire crashing down.
Tammy’s story is told in retrospect. I wasn’t convinced by some aspects of the structure of the play, (particularly the end scene) but Rupert Goold’s stylish direction brought it all together, on a simple but spectacular set designed by Bunny Christie.
It’s an entertaining night out with some great songs, moving moments and hilarious camp asides.
Grab yourself a return ticket from the Almeida or wait until it transfers to the West End. Don’t miss this one, it’s musical gold!
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
October 2022
Back to Top