Review: Fairlight, Wimbledon Park Tennis Courts

It’s 34 degrees outside and I’m heading to Wimbledon to watch tennis. But not that boring stuff going on at Centre Court. This is an innovative theatrical production staged round the back of the big tournament, appropriately outside the mainstream at Wimbledon Park Tennis Courts. Currently touring to tennis courts across England, Fairlight interrogates the lack of visibility in tennis for LGBTQ+ players over the history of the game, starting at the very beginning in Victorian England at the Fairlight lawn tennis club, Birmingham.

The tale hinges on the romantic relationship between the actual historical figures of Harry Gem (Tej Brindley) and Augurio Perera (Henry Chandler), who first brought tennis to the UK public. It explains that there was no real evidence that these two very close friends were gay – but there’s no evidence that they weren’t either, which invites an interesting glimpse into Victorian attitudes to homosexuality. 

Brindley and Chandler have fine voices, delivering songs that insightfully explore the difficulties the two protagonists might well have encountered in their time. The performance is enthusiastic and engaging, but the staging doesn’t allow for much drama between the two characters as they exist in a limited space, usually performing outwards to the audience. While the storytelling is good, with a lack of proximity to physically dramatise the relationship more fully, they’re limited in how they might create electricity between the lovers.

With funky electronic music by Michael Wolters and Paul Norman and an intricate book by Alexandra Taylor, the production is an interesting blend of immersive performance. Electropop songs are delivered by historical figures between filmed segments with modern day tennis professionals describing their experiences with homophobia, while additional interruptions explain the findings of the research for the production. It’s all very cleverly put together to give a sense of past and present existing simultaneously, as it spotlights the ongoing issue of gay invisibility in sport. Live tennis played on the court in the background (Aleksei Tiurin and Nikita Shukan) is a reminder that the game is a constant across all levels of time and storytelling, and the occasional near miss as a ball flies towards the audience adds to the idea of jeopardy! Meanwhile, umpire figures (Tanna Chamberlain and Wolters), adopt choreographed, unnatural poses, taken from tennis, while punctuating the play with details of the rules of the game and of historical prosecution of homosexuals. This raises challenging questions about a society where laws are present and oppressive in many forms throughout time.

Another innovative inclusion is a stop clock, which regiments the structure of the performance in parallel with the rules of tennis. It regularly stops play, but these pauses become wearing after the first couple, especially when they are filled with sing-alongs which add nothing to the narrative. It might be better to have the clock wind forward at speed after the initial occurrences, still marking the structure without artificially filling the gap. And when the sun is beating down on the cast and audience, losing 15 minutes from the running time would be appreciated.

One of the highlights is the inclusion of witness statements from modern tennis professionals. Who would have known that of 2,000 players at Wimbledon in 2026 only two are currently openly gay? This element of the show gives an authentic, human depth to the already fascinating research. 

Fairlight is an entertaining and pertinent production, with its tour to tennis clubs allowing an important story to be told in the most relevant places of all.

You can read more about the making of the show in our recent fascinating interview with Alexandra Taylor.

Music: Michael Wolters and Paul Norman
Book: Alexandra Taylor
Dramaturgy: Tanna Chamberlain
Film maker: Oli Clark
Costumes: Alexander Kaniewski
Production manager: Joe French
Tour producer: Jenny Baiter-Sinclair
Funding producer: Andy Mandoiu
Artistic directors: Alexandra Taylor, Michael Wolters

Fairlight tours to multiple venues, concluding on Saturday 22 August at Goffs Park, Crawley.