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An emotional tour de force that challenges societal prejudice whilst celebrating unwavering family love and support for just being who you are. It’s a joyous, meticulously timed, exuberant and achingly funny musical performance. Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
In a recent podcast interview Sir Ian McKellen talked emotionally about the joy that would be spread if we just all referred to each other as ‘love’. Nowhere is the effect of that emotion more obvious than in My Son’s a Queer (But what can you do?), written and performed by Rob Madge and currently playing at The Ambassadors.
It’s fair to say that Rob was a creative child who liked to perform. Always dressing up and revelling in imaginative play, they roped their parents and grandparents into their performances as stage hands, costume designers and film makers and were not afraid to be critical of sub-standard efforts. Their joy and knowledge of Disney productions was unrivalled, but their preference was always for the princess costumes which, sadly, never materialised until their grandmother got out her sewing machine. The rest, as they say, is history.
In a performance shot through with old VHS family footage, Rob performs their autobiographical journey musically, passionately and with impeccable comic timing. I expected to laugh, which I did many times, but I did not expect to cry, which I also did many, many times. And I was not alone. Sometimes the tears were for the small child who had their creativity and exuberance suppressed in school, but mostly they were happy tears for the limitless love and support that Rob was given by their parents and grandparents who simply accepted them for who they are.
This is a production that has gone from strength to strength, starting life as a fringe production at the Turbine Theatre, progressing to the Edinburgh Fringe and then onto the Garrick Theatre. The result of those iterations is a show that is carefully refined. Original musical numbers, narration and video footage are seamlessly woven together, and for something so exuberant it is meticulously timed. Rob can sing, no doubt about that, but also knows when to pause, when to catch the eye of a member of the audience, and when and where to move to make the most of the stage. They are comfortable in silence, such as when the film footage takes over, but then become alive again at just the right moment. Mostly you feel like they are just talking to you.
The set is gorgeous: a family living room complete with hanging lamp shades (and really, there’s nothing quite like an apricot coloured fabric lampshade to remind you of a bygone era), along with childhood belongings delivered as props, which prompt a communal visceral reaction from the audience. And as for the costumes, well, they would do a Disney princess proud.
This is a tale that challenges societal prejudice but it is also a story that entwines unwavering family love and support with a celebration of just being who you are. It is quite infectious, that thing of communal joy. And sometimes, just sometimes, outstanding theatre can produce it. My Son’s A Queer did just that and the audience left better for it.
Written by: Rob Madge
Directed by: Luke Sheppard
Songs by: Pippa Cleary
Set and Costume Design by: Ryan Dawson Laight
Video Design by: George Reeve
Prodcued by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills
My Son’s A Queer (But what can you do?) is playing at Ambassadors Theatre and currently booking until 18 March. Further information and tickets here.
