“It’s about acceptance, being brave and celebrating all our loves and differences”
When Alex was seven their mum told them about their auntie having a scan to see what sex the baby was. Alex asked if they could have a scan too, to see what sex they were. This tender gender play follows Alex through tough times at school, friendship with their wonderfully sweary mum, love, loss and confusion. Alex , played by Em Thane is brilliant as a mixed up teen, trying to hold their own in a school that doesn’t protect them, and a young person with a life that is made hard by cruelty and wilful misunderstandings. Dean, played by Jahvel Hall calls Alex his girlfriend. He doesn’t know how to behave with them and keeps getting it wrong. His confusion is painful, because he cares. The teacher can’t/won’t use Alex’s pronouns, constantly misgenderng them and blind to the hurt it causes. But Mum Lila is a star, protecting her child with fierce love. Jordan Whyte is really relatable as Lila, not a tiger mother but a lioness, and the scene where she takes on the teacher, played by Sukey Willis, who also plays Erin, is a powerful portrayal of a mother refusing to take any shit as she schools the teacher in how to behave. It made me want to cheer. Erin is a breath of fresh air, and I loved their kooky take on life.
The action is interspersed with Alex taking a microphone and talking about their life. It’s a bit stand up and a bit storytelling, and it really works. Anna Wheatley’s writing sings, never teachy, always feeling real. Ica Niemz’ simple, versatile set is clever and effective and sound and lighting by Brain Rays and Hector Murray paint the atmosphere and delineate the scenes well. At times it was hard to hear the dialogue when the sound was louder and a train passed overhead, but it’s a minor point.
Beige is about finding out who you are, being who you are. It’s about acceptance, being brave and celebrating all our loves and differences. Anyone offended by some very hearty swearing will probably not like it, which is a shame because it’s really rather good.
Simon Callow’s translation of this celebrated French farce is a triumph of hilarious camp, full of double entendres, sparkly dresses and genuine affection. Georges and Albin are a gay couple, living above the Cage Aux Folles nightclub. Albin is its ageing star who still looks good in a frock, but is no longer the sexy sylph. Georges is the harassed manager, continually fending of crises. They bicker and squabble, but, as Michael Matus and Paul Hunter show, they still love each other anyway. But their world is about to be turned upside down. Georges’ son Laurent arrives and announces that he is getting married, and that his girlfriend and her parents are coming to stay. Unfortunately the parents are conservative in the extreme, and the father is running for election on a ticket of morality and rectitude. How can Georges rearrange and tame his gorgeously queeny household and survive their arrival? That is the central dilemma that drives the action, and it is quite a task!
Syrus Lowe is a total class act as the screamingly camp and beautiful employee, Jacob. He struts and pouts his way through the play with a charming outrageousness and his attempt to walk in men’s shoes instead of his high heels is a masterpiece of physical comedy. By the time Laurent’s girlfriend Muriel and her the parents arrive the apartment has been transformed from its boudoir aesthetic to something almost monastic, complete with crucifix, Tim Shorthall’s design creating the physical changes Laurent persuades Georges to make, in his attempt to portray a ‘respectable’ family. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong. Laurent has invited his absentee mother to dinner much to the horror of Georges and Albin, and Albin has given up in his attempt to play the masculine uncle, opting for a totally different role that complicates everything. As the dinner party goes rapidly downhill the club downstairs is plunging into chaos and Georges has to act. Throughout the play other drag artists appear from downstairs and a reporter snoops around, looking for dirt. The reporter is played by Mark Cameron, who also has a hilarious cameo as the butcher, a tough guy macho man who turns out to have an unlikely love of art.
Jez Bond has directed a gem of a play, tightly timed and focussed, but feeling like an outrageous disaster as all good farce should. I hope this gets a transfer after it’s life at the Park. It deserves it.
