★★★★★

“The trans and queer characters are self assured heroes who inspire awe and universal swoons from cast and audience alike”

The transfer of Charlie Josephine’s Cowbois from the RSC’s base in Stratford-Upon-Avon to London has been hotly anticipated and much trailed and it’s easy to see why.

In a town 100 miles from anywhere, ostensibly on the American frontier, a group of women, children, and a perpetually drunk sheriff, have been left behind by their male townsfolk who have gone off to join the gold rush. A wood panelled bar and four leather bar stools, backed with a sign of ‘no guns, no politics’ is all that’s needed to take the audience to this familiar setting. We’re introduced to each of the women through a prolonged discussion about how the ladies take their grits, with sugar or salt, the cheeky subtext of which sets up for a fantastical journey of gender discovery ignited by the arrival of the outlaw, Jack Cannon.

Playing with the image of the American cowboy, an icon of masculinity, is nothing new. The popularity of films like Brokeback Mountain and The Power of the Dog show how exploring gender and sexuality in this repressively conservative setting works. But where Cowbois differs is in centring the voices of women and trans people in a way that’s uplifting, rather than tragic. The trans and queer characters are self assured heroes who inspire awe and universal swoons from cast and audience alike.

The infamous Jack Cannon, played with swagger and style by Vinnie Heaven, acts as a catalyst for change for all the townspeople in sometimes magical and mysterious ways. De facto leader of the group Miss Lillian, Sophie Melville, is enthralled by Cannon’s charm. Their intense sex scene is deliciously wet and wild, staged under blue light (Simeon Miller) punctuated with moans and splashes from a substage pool. Later events are unexplained and unexplainable, but that’s no bother – this is a fantasy after all.

“There’s plenty of high camp music, movement and costumes that keeps the silliness coming”

Lillian and Jack’s moments of tenderness are sweet but surpassed by those between Jack, Kid, wonderfully played by Lemuel Ariel Adou on press night, and Lucy/Lou, Lee Braithwaite, where the bandit’s arrival inspires a recognition of something in Lucy/Lou that had not before been named. A small but perfectly formed moment.

There’s plenty of high camp music (Jim Fortune), movement (Jennifer Jackson) and costumes (Grace Smart) that keeps the silliness coming. A four-piece band (musical director Gemma Storr) plays on stage throughout that could only have been improved through being more visible, rather than tucked off to the side.

The action of Act I proceeds seamlessly (co-direction Charlie Josephine and Sean Holmes). There’s broad coverage of themes from racial injustice to homophobia to trans bodies but these are all briefly danced over, with characters ready to absorb whatever is presented in front of them with childlike acceptance. This is no criticism – it’s cheering to just be absorbed in the charm and fantasy of the piece rather than having to think too deeply about injustice and inequality. But as the act comes to a close, things do feel like they are going all too well, and as the dancing spirals to a climax, low and behold the smoke clears and the long-forgotten men of the town are there in silhouette having returned to the town.

Act II brings the conflict, along with a barnstorming performance from LJ Parkinson as one-eyed Charlie, but it’s swiftly resolved. Rather than deep and brooding intellectual discussions, mostly the men just seem bemused and ready to accept the collective awakening that’s happened in their absence, before joining in for the gun slinging finale.

Cowbois is a queer western fantasy celebrating individual expression and love in all its forms. Its feminist exploration of gender identity will leave you feeling lighter and more optimistic than when you went in.

MANIC STREET CREATURE at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★

“emotionally raw, yet sophisticated, with significant musical prowess”

You may not recognise Maimuna Memon’s name just yet, but if you saw her in Standing at the Sky’s Edge, you will instantly jolt as soon as she opens her mouth to sing. Memon has a huge stage presence and gives another mesmerising performance in Manic Street Creature, where she has also written the accomplished book, music, and lyrics.

Manic Street Creature is structured as an album recording, with narrative interspersed within and between nine tracks that Memon as new-to-London musician Ria is recording. The album tells the story of Ria’s rollercoaster relationship with Dan, the first person to show her kindness in London. It feels like a modern situationship: young lovers scared of their own feelings. So 2023, so avoidant. However, hiding behind Dan’s addictive charm is a darkness and severe vulnerability that eventually encompasses their relationship and forces Ria to lose herself in old patterns making an unwelcome return from her childhood.

On the back of the record-sleeve-like programme is a list of charities and resources for anyone affected by caring for someone struggling with mental health. It is worth checking the content notes ahead of time as there are moments of heaviness that could be triggering, with Memon unafraid to confront difficult and conflicting issues in her brave performance.

Walking into the Southwark Playhouse’s main house you see Memon busy tuning guitars with Rachel Barnes on cello and Harley Johnston on percussion. The band are busy in a central square space while the audience file to four raked seating stalls surrounding them on each side. There is an eclectic mix of guitars, a cellist, percussion, keyboard and a squeeze box situated on top of assorted Afghan carpets. Libby Watson (Designer) has created a recording studio in the theatre, with trailing cables on full display and an open tech box. The lights go down before the stage is flooded in red: the recording has begun.

Jamie Platt, Lighting Designer, has done a great job throughout the piece, using strobes, colours and spotlights to reflect at different times rollicking emotional turbulence and the gentle, slowly intensifying glow of a long-awaited sunrise.

“Memon’s voice is spectacular”

This is Ria’s story, with Memon also speaking Dan’s lines except for one recorded call to emergency services and voicemail messages from her father’s phone (Sound Quiet Time provides the moody sound design). Rachel Barnes and Harley Johnston mostly provide instrumentation and intricate harmonies to Memon’s main melodies. When they do speak lines, Barnes in particular does a great caricature of a highbrow Highgate psychoanalyst.

Manic Street Creature is centred around some high quality original songs. Memon’s voice is spectacular. She has a fantastic lower register and can growl through lyrics with strong emotional tugs. There are also moments of lightness, with vocal runs and sophisticated flights. She fits so much into her lyrics: the opening On My Way is a ‘moving to the big city’ track that works both as an anthem and a scene setter, whereas Souls on the Precipice tackles really challenging ideas, and is an articulate stream of consciousness with more of a progressive song form. Memon was nominated for an Olivier award for a staggering performance in Standing At The Sky’s Edge, where she put her voice to Richard Hawley’s Open up Your Doors, and there are perhaps some lyrical and melodic influences from the likes of Hawley, the Manics and other rock and alternative artists here.

The clever selection of instruments including a keyboard and a vintage squeezebox that provides organ like chords underlying smoother and more pensive moments. The band nimbly switches across instruments, with Director Kirsty Patrick Ward keeping transitions seamless. Memon keeps the piece moving with most songs performed back to back and unlike a gig there is no applause until the end of the piece. This keeps the focus centred on the storytelling, and Ria’s descent into memory.

Not everything is heavy, with the irreverent delivery and conversational style eliciting many laughs from the audience, but it rarely strays far. An episode takes place in a cat cafe that is initially benign and a little surreal, though this cute anniversary date quickly takes a turn for the macabre.

The conclusion is not necessarily a triumph, just two people having to make a very hard choice. It is not necessarily satisfying or optimistic but it is inevitable, and the most honest way a story like this ends.

Nonetheless, there was a standing ovation before the stage had even been cleared. This piece affected many people in the room, me included. It is emotionally raw, yet sophisticated, with significant musical prowess. It deservedly won several awards at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, and is a piece of new writing that deserves to have a long life.

COWBOIS at the Royal Court

★★★★★

“The trans and queer characters are self assured heroes who inspire awe and universal swoons from cast and audience alike”

“There’s plenty of high camp music, movement and costumes that keeps the silliness coming”

COWBOIS at the Royal Court

Reviewed on 17th January 2024

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Ali Wright

Previously reviewed at this venue:

COWBOIS

COWBOIS

MANIC STREET CREATURE at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★

“emotionally raw, yet sophisticated, with significant musical prowess”

“Memon’s voice is spectacular”