AFTER THE ACT

Royal Court

★★

“it remains an interesting and worthwhile history lesson”

Jenny lives with Eric and Martin was just another children’s book in 1988. It wasn’t new and wasn’t even originally British, as it had first been published in Copenhagen in 1982. So how did this book become the starting point of a campaign, which ultimately led to the inclusion of Section 28 within the Local Government Act of 1988? After the Act is an entertaining musical, which tells the story of Section 28 through the eyes of those most closely affected.

‘Section 28’ refers to a specific clause with the Local Government Act of 1988, which prohibited schools from ‘promoting’ homosexuality, the wording of which was ambiguous enough that it resulted in the restriction of teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality, particularly concerning family relationships.

It is a strange era to look back on. Views that would be considered to be politically extreme nowadays were front and centre and were actually winning the argument. An imaginary enemy had been conjured up, largely driven by ignorance and misunderstanding. After the Act explores this period of recent history from multiple vital perspectives: teachers who could not speak up for risk of jeopardising their careers, students for whom bullying and discrimination had become a part of their everyday existence and the activists who fought hard to educate people and bring about real change.

The play splits fairly evenly into two halves. In the first act, we see the build-up to the passing of the Act in 1988. The tone is set clearly early in the play. People’s concerns about gay people are not challenged, whereas protestors are dismissed as mad rabble-rousers. Two scenes stand out in the first act. The first is where protestors have made it on the news at 6 on the BBC but are being silenced (fitting for the time) to not disrupt the broadcast. The second is the re-enactment of protestors abseiling into the House of Lords following the passing of the bill. These scenes are excellently written (Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens) paying tribute to the real-life activists involved.

The second act covers the aftermath to the passing of the Act before it was eventually repealed in 2003, detailing the experiences of people who had to live through this time period and how it affected them well beyond the law had been changed. This should be the point where it all comes together. However, the biggest issue is the contradiction between its comedic elements and the hard-hitting truths that it wishes to divulge. The tone of most of the first act is strangely uplifting and funny, which is maintained through to the start of the second act, when one of the performers enters the stage dressed as Margaret Thatcher and sings as the former Prime Minister.

The individual elements of the play are interesting and well-performed, and all of the cast display an impressive range as they move from character to character bringing to life more people’s stories from this period. However, these parts often work against each other without a clear link to the central narrative, rather appearing more like a slide show of different characters.

Keyboard and drums add a lively accompaniment to the performances on stage. Sadly, the backing music and use of songs is often overdone and is too much of an ‘ever-present’ during the show rather peaking for significant moments, which does make it a little tiring, giving the show an impression of ‘more bark than bite’. Overall, despite its flaws as a production, it remains an interesting and worthwhile history lesson, which deserves to be taught.

AFTER THE ACT

Royal Court

Reviewed on 27th May 2025

by Luke Goscomb

Photography by Alex Brenner

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

MANHUNT | ★★★★ | April 2025

A GOOD HOUSE | ★★★★ | January 2025

THE BOUNDS | ★★★ | June 2024

LIE LOW | ★★★★ | May 2024

BLUETS | ★★★ | May 2024

GUNTER | ★★★★ | April 2024

COWBOIS | ★★★★★ | January 2024

MATES IN CHELSEA | ★★★ | November 2023

CUCKOO | ★★½ | July 2023

BLACK SUPERHERO | ★★★★ | March 2023

AFTER THE ACT

★★★

“a fun show with witty and laughable moments”

My Life as a Cowboy – by Hugo Timbrell, Directed by Scott Le Crass – follows Conor (Harry Evans): a Seventeen year old lifeguard who dreams of being a Country back up dancer. It’s unclear where those dreams come from, but it’s established that Country music is cool now so of course that’s what he must do – else continue being a ‘loser’. Upon discovering his dream, Conor decides he must perform at the Talent Show of Croydon People’s Day. He seeks the help of best friend Zainab (Nusrath Tapadar) and fellow lifeguard Michael (Callum Broome) to assist him.

I had mixed feelings about the show throughout – on one hand the performances are lovely and it has some funny moments that kept me moderately entertained. On the other hand I felt an overwhelming sense that it lacked depth. The audience is told Conor feels like a ‘loser’, like his life doesn’t contain any purpose greater than himself. A feeling I’m sure we’ve all had at seventeen, but the text doesn’t explore that further. There are details that could suggest deeper reasons as to why Conor would feel isolated and disenfranchised – a young gay teenager with a father who seemingly abandoned him, perhaps? Unfortunately these details are not explored in any way. In fact, he appears a very confident and self assured young man, just with a bit of stage fright. And to be fair, if you were a seventeen year old suddenly deciding you wanted to be a dancer without any prior training or experience, I’m sure you’d have stage fright too. Conor’s confidence and self belief make the idea of him being a ‘loser’ pretty unbelievable.

As a result, I didn’t care for the character. Evans succeeds in playing him well and their comic timing and charming portrayal shines throughout. The standout character for me, however, was actually the ‘anti-hero’ Michael. At first he is unfriendly towards Connor, and doesn’t want to get to know him at work due to his own complexes about being ‘weird’. But while opening up to Connor, we discover Michael’s love for music. But Michael is scared of performing, we actually see his fear of rejection and how it overrides his love of guitar. So when Michael seemingly spoils Conor’s chance at achieving his dream for his own benefit – I’m rooting for Michael not Conor. Broome is fabulous in the role: his performance is witty and he really does steal the stage in every scene he’s in.

The design’s simple yet effective: curtains divide the stage and create different settings. A bedroom contains a single bed and leopard print covers alongside a white wardrobe covered in country music star posters. The bed is used to transition into the swimming pool area using a metal stage. The play transitions between settings between almost every scene, with actors moving the set. This was mostly forgivable but some of the transitions were slow and there was nothing to watch on stage while they happened – apart from Conor changing costume, which felt a little invasive. Costume was also simple but effective; joggers, T-shirts and lifeguard uniforms. Conor also gets to don cowboy attire with a large pink Stetson for a joyous finale of Cowboy dancing, which was the best part of the play.

The sound (Nick Gilbert) was full of country music hits which added to the fun of the show. Lighting (Jodie Underwood) consisted of calming general washes with a lot of warm and pink tones.

Overall it’s a fun show with witty and laughable moments, but sadly feels superficial in its presentation of a ‘teenager finds themself’ story.’

Tag Archives: Jodie Underwood

AFTER THE ACT

★★

Royal Court

AFTER THE ACT

Royal Court

★★

“it remains an interesting and worthwhile history lesson”