When: Sunday 3rd March
Where: Brixton Clubhouse
Why: TimeOut bargain offer and because my mum loves Boy
George
Ten years after it originally
debuted in the West End and on Broadway, Taboo! the musical came back in
a slightly revised version to the Brixton Clubhouse and I am SO glad it did.
This show was like nothing else I’ve seen before. It’s not any old production
that could be simultaneously grungy and fabulous, gritty and bitchy and
hilarious. It follows roughly the story of Boy George’s early career, wrapped
up in a made up story about another young boy (Billy) who comes to London to find
fame and who gets wrapped up in a dark and creative world of excess and
freakishness. The whole energy of the room before the start of the show was
almost intimidating in its atmospheric, dimly-lit cabaret style seating. The
Brixton Clubhouse has to be an ideal setting for this show as the venue’s
actual bar becomes part of the staging, and gives an immediacy to many of the
show’s club scenes and takes you back to the origins of the story itself. There
are catwalks threading through the crowd, the cast loll on the bar and dance on
the tables and after the interval the brilliant Paul Baker as Philip Sallon
sweeps through the audience offering salmon pinwheels and slashing everyone
down with his rapier wit (he culminated his ten minutes or so of audience participation
by “sniffing out the lesbians” and sashaying off… brilliant, but also
terrifying). There is basically nowhere for the audience to hide – they’re
directly involved and right up close to the story and this brings it thuddingly
close to home, especially at the dramatic collapse of Marilyn or when Sallon is
attacked. It’s intimate and disconcerting and totally in your face.
The cast were SO ridiculously
strong, I could not have been more impressed, and I don’t think I have ever
seen such beautiful boys up close. Seriously, Paul Treacy and Luke Gage as
George and Marilyn respectively were unbelievable: striking, vulnerable and
just beautiful. Treacy had Boy George’s mannerisms and voice totally down, and
his mesmerising hold over the naïve Billy (played deftly by Alex Jordan Mills)
was totally believable. Sam Buttery as Leigh Bowery was also completely mental,
but brilliant and outrageous, and not without pathos by the end, when he’s
stripped down and being painted by Lucien Freud. Julia Worsley also stood out
for me as Billy’s mum Josie, giving a vulnerable, gutsy and very engaging
performance, solidified by her incredible voice (and amazing 80s styling!).
The costumes were insanely good,
the songs were catchy and clear and I just felt like it was such a brave, crazy
and colourful insight into a world I obviously knew nothing about. It’s a
delicate balance to pull off something that’s equally emotional and savage,
about such a creative and destructive world, but the direction and the casting
for this performance were just perfect and I enjoyed it SO much.
Brixpig x
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