The Act in this case is the Local Government Act of 1988, passed when the country was led by Margaret Thatcher, Section 28 of which instructed that local authorities "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". It is Section 28, not the rest of the Act, that this play is about, and it is before as well as after, protest and opposition to it, effects and aftermath.
If that sounds heavy going, don’t worry—it isn’t. After the Act bubbles with life while still being serious, both angry and funny, and hey! It’s a musical, though it doesn’t follow the conventional musical structure. The singing and dancing does include some individual numbers, but dialogue text may also be set to music, become recitative or have a phrase turned into song in mid-sentence. The rhythms are lively and the sound evocative of the period. It is delivered with gusto and some nifty footwork, though lyrics are occasionally drowned out.
It is a verbatim-based production featuring multiple voices that draws on sources ranging from personal interviews to Hansard and media reportage. Four actors (Ericka Posadas, Nkara Stephenson, Elllce Stevens and Zachary Willis) play 27 roles between them, with composer Frew voicing some more, but you are never in doubt about whom they are being.
It isn’t just one-sided: there are the horrified parents in Hackney outraged at the thought of the picture book Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin (which features gay parents) being in their child’s classroom, and the Bill’s supporters in both Houses of Parliament make their case, though to be honest, they are really included to show what homosexuals had to face.
Bethany Wells’s set suggests 1980s school gymnasium plus a blackboard and library trolley; the climbing frame becomes a screen for projections of text, photos, film clips and newspaper headlines like “Dotty Dykes” or “Tarzan Lesbians” when they abseil into the House of Lords chamber.
Presentation isn’t strictly chronological. It starts with a couple of activists remembering how they planned to burst onto the BBC evening new before re-enacting their confrontation with Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell in the studio. Personal stories illustrate the effect the legislation will have: teachers unable to give advice to children, scared they could lose their jobs, Streetcar on the literature syllabus but you can’t discuss its gay element or its writer’s sexuality.
There is Ian, who starts self-harming and thinks of suicide, Catherine panicking because she has been seen in a gay bar by one of her students (who is equally worried that she could be outed), Daniel terrified by AIDS and JP whose church want to ritually drive out her demons. These are all testimonies that hit home with their honesty, while a triumphant Maggie Thatcher is satirised as a glittering disco queen.
The 2000 repeal of Section 28 and of its legacy get brief mention as the show nears its end, but for its last scene, it goes back to 1988 and the Manchester March where Mark lost his virginity. With the thousands who gathered in Albert Square, its finale is a rousing and positive anthem.