Lifeboats

Kings Head Theatre • Weds 14th June - Mon 19th June

For me, the musicals of Gus Gowland are fast becoming synonymous with the notion of ‘journeys’, wether that be the emotional journey we watch his characters go on, the journey the productions themselves go through in order to get staged, (more of that later), or the journeys across the country I have taken in order to be wherever his latest world premier has taken place. Indeed, regular readers of Jack The Lad’s theatre reviews won’t have to look very far to find my review for Mayflies, the musical I found myself hot-footing it across the country to see at the York Theatre Royal a little over a month ago. Given the ‘digital’ ink was hardly dry on that five star review, I was surprised to discover a new piece, Lifeboats, being scheduled to appear a little closer to home at The Kings Head Theatre in London as part of their Musical Theatre Pride Lab season, curated by guest artistic director Tania Azevedo. Clearly Gus is on a role at the moment, as this new song cycle proves, having invoked in me an overwhelming post-show feeling of being given a great big, beautiful LGBTQ+ musical hug as this collection of songs explored keenly observed moments of identification & recognition from a wide spectrum of characters from the LGBTQ+ community.

The staging was simple, but effective, the four-strong cast being initially found seated at four corners of the stage, small lamps and a collection of ephemera creating little islands of their lives. As each takes it in turn to sing their song, their lamp is turned on, dimming into the background only once their tale was told, Izzy Ponsford’s direction thankfully managing to inject just enough movement onto the stage that could have otherwise felt quite static. With each cast member adopting a variety of characters throughout, one by one, (mostly in solo performances, but occasionally coming together to perform some stunningly beautiful harmonies) they tell the stories of various life-changing moments from their characters journeys of self-discovery. Some of these were recognisable as figures from history, such as Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (sung by Barry O’Reilly) and American gay liberation activist Martha P Johnson (sung by Jaz Terry), whilst others tap into the wonderful minutiae of life-changing moments that I’m guessing only some inside knowledge of a similar lived experience could provide. The opening song sets this stall out beautifully, it being the story of an adolescent, on holiday with his family, who notices, when travelling by train in Italy, that the two strangers that sit opposite him happen to be ‘just like me’. This silent recognition in the shared commonality of their sexuality immediately bursting his bubble of isolation to provide an excited reassurance that he is not alone. These strangers could be the ‘lifeboat’ of this boys story, their mere presence igniting the ‘shooting sparks of possibilities’ in a heart warming (and as it actually turns out, true) story. This song, in turn, aiming to provide a lifeboat for anyone that has yet to experience similar feelings, a theme Gus continues to investigate throughout.

We are presented with tales of unrequited love for a new girl that moves next door, (sung by Meg Hill) and a surprisingly beautiful pansexual love triangle that develops around a girl called Lilly, who just happens to play the Oboe, from which a polyamorous relationship is blossoming. (A moving duet sung by Nicole Raquel Dennis and Barry O’Reilly). All of these stories are as keenly observed as they are affectionately painted, the smallest details becoming the focus for some of the largest life-changeing moments the characters have experienced. Another song featuring the mesmerising vocal tones of Jaz Terry, (the quality of which put me in mind of Anohni, formerly Antony and the Johnsons), reflected on the elation of someone who has transitioned and has finally been able to produce a business card printed with their new name for the first time. All these stories are both heart-warming and life-affirming, and come as a much needed antidote to the toxic bile that all-to-regularly finds itself being thrown-up all over social media.

It’s worth noting that this performance was being presented as a ‘collaborative work-in-progress’, which in reality had come together after just two and a half days of rehearsal. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Barry O’Reilly had actually come to the process even later than that, given that an original cast member had fallen ill after the first performance and, with Gus himself covering on the second night, Barry stepped onto the stage having had just one day to learn his various parts! As I only heard about this after the performance, all I can say retrospectively is that O’Reilly makes it look way to easy, producing a performance equally as engaging as those given by the rest of the cast. Given that this was not the definitive version of the musical leaves me excited to see how this show’s own journey will progress, and it’s the only reason for holding one star back here, the fifth I fully expect to be added once the journey of this promising production comes to it’s creative conclusion.

★★★★

review: Simon J. Webb