San Domino

Tristan Bates Theatre, 5 June – 30 June

OK. I’m going to call it. San Domino has cemented the idea that 2018 is fast turning into a great year for the queer musical. Having spent an unexpectedly engaging evening watching Tim Anfilogoff and Alan Whittaker's musical at the Tristan Bates Theatre last night, I couldn’t help but recall the impressive premiere of Pieces Of String at the Mercury Theatre Colchester in April (see earlier review) as well as looking forward to another brand new original musical Closets that will be premiering at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester in August. (See forthcoming Jack The Lad magazine issue 14, out July 1st) It’s also encouraging to note that these these impressive productions are not only finding an audience in London.

I want to emphasis my use of the word ‘original’ when describing all of these productions as in an era where the seemingly ubiquitous juke box musical is king, all three productions consist of new, specifically written soundtracks. No second rate stories plugging the gaps between regurgitated pop songs here. I don’t deny it’s a formula often seen as a fast-track to commercial success, (not always the case, anyone remember Viva Forever?) but all the more credit to musicals like San Domino for crafting what is, in it’s own right, an incredible and important slice of new queer theatre.

San Domino is as enlightening as it is entertaining. I resisted the temptation to use the word ‘educational’ as who wants that from a west end toe-tapper, right? I also have to be careful about the use of the word entertaining here as this story is based on real events I had previously been completely ignorant about, that being the real life practice in the Mussolini led Italy of the late 1930’s, to expel homosexuals to the Island of San Domino, sentenced as they were to ‘confino’, (internal exile). As it was not actually illegal to be gay in Italy at the time, ‘confino’ was used to repress Fascism’s political enemies, but given the large numbers of homosexuals arrested under this program, San Domino became a prison island populated almost entirely by gay men. Ironically those that were exiled there no longer had to hide their true identity, but as this production show’s, this was no holiday camp either. 

If all this sounds a bit to intense for a night at the theatre, even more so as the backdrop for a musical, this well crafted production does make room for lighter moments and before we even take to our seats the tone was being set beautifully by the cast who, as a musical troupe, descend on the theatre’s bar to sing folk style songs of the time before Andrew Jardine as the head of the military police commands the fascist national anthem be played as we file into the auditorium. I hope this wonderfully innovative interaction wasn’t just for the press night as it set the mood perfectly for what was to come and brought us nicely to our seats and the bar in Catania, Sicily where the story begins.

San Domino is skilfully directed by Matthew Gould who’s work I last saw back in 2015 when he directed The Glass Protege at the Park Theatre, from which I immediately also recognised actor Alexander Hulme, seen here playing the role of the bar owner Claudio. The stage is relatively small but both the bar and the prison island of San Domino are inovatively brought to life, as is the journey the prisoners undertake between the two. What is also immediately striking is just how big the cast of this production is, with thirteen actors taking on the fifteen roles, an impressive indulgence rarely seen away from the more commercial theatres. Not only did this allow for the intriguing interaction between multiple characters, but in several of the scores bigger numbers it allowed for a full and powerful rendition of the songs with the occasional impressive harmony thrown in for good measure. San Domino also achieved a rare thing for me in that it had a soundtrack I could have imagined listening to many times over, most musicals leaving me satisfied enough in the moment without the need to revisit it. (If there is a recording of it somewhere, please let me know). The mix of the accordion, bass and violin from the four permanent off-stage musicians played in a traditional cabaret/circus/folk style with a contemporary edge. A number of the actors  were cleverly added to the band by taking up instruments themselves during a number of the songs, so subtly done on occasion as to make it not immediately noticeable, but the added flute, guitars etc., helped enrich the overall sound of the musical score.

For me it was the bigger songs that sat more comfortably within the drama, the occasional ballad never quite seeming to hit the desired effect. This was more noticeable in the second half which seemed to contain more than the first. It was also in the second half that the drama felt as if it was occasionally allowed to slip into a slightly more perfunctory role as a transitional stepping stone between a couple of the songs, but therein lays my only criticsm of this otherwise well crafted production. All the actors gave equally solid performances, making it difficult to call anyone out specifically. That said Andrew Pepper as the Catania bars female impersonator Pietro was magnificent in his role, imbuing his character with enough humour and pathos that it was never delivered in anything other than three solid dimensions. It was also a fun device having Mark Stewart as upper class brit Andrew being the only character to attempt an Italian accent, a device given plausibility by the fact that he was learning Italian, exemplifying how his accent must have sounded to the rest of the characters, who themselves remained accent-less to the ears of the audience. 

San Domino works on many different levels and reinforces the fact that high quality original musical theatre is still being produced. That this also manages to shine a light on a hitherto greatly overlooked slice of queer history makes this an altogether more impressive and worthwhile experience.

★★★★

photographs: Rachael Cummings