England is Mine

I am starting to think Up-Stage has access to their very own TARDIS, this is the second show I have seen where they have shoe-horned 90 minutes of drama into just over half an hour! 

So, a trip over to Barton-le-Clay on a Sunday evening to watch a thought-provoking short piece, written by Up-stage’s Keith Badham, the title being taken from the lyrics to the song “Still Ill” by The Smiths.  It was also later the title of the 2017 biographical film of the early life of Morrissey, before he formed the Smiths in 1982. With accompanying music throughout by The Smiths, “England is Mine” looks back at the 1980’s when HIV/AIDS spread throughout the World, particularly amongst the LGBT community who at that time were “judged and found wanting”. This led to the government leafleting campaign posted though every door with the slogan, ‘AIDS, Don’t Die of Ignorance.’ Its aim was to scare people into taking notice; whereas education into acceptance and self-care might have been a kinder approach. Homosexually had only been decriminalised thirteen years earlier in 1967, and the community still had to contend with Section 28, just to be free to love who they loved, so most of the adult population at the time would have been brought up to still consider it a sin. Morrissey himself, who has very much kept his sexually to himself, often describing himself as celibate, but the lyrics of The Smiths’ songs were soon adopted by the Gay community, all adding to the mystique.

Appropriately lit by Keith and Rachael Bowie, the entire piece was performed on a bare stage to blacks with a cast of fifteen, using only chairs for furniture, in a series of quick-fire scenes exploring the often cruel attitudes of the time, whilst following the death of Charles (Chazza Simmons) with a particularly poignant scene where his ghost (Alex Hamilton) appears. But a lot of the argument is centred around the expression, ‘normal people.’  AIDS was something that happened to ‘Other People’ and as Keith Badham so eruditely puts it in the programme, ‘...it arrived into a culture already primed to judge.’

These young actors had obviously studied the attitude of their various characters and bringing their stage craft to the fore gave us a series of quick-fire, well-thought-out arguments. Starting with the advert, ‘’Don’t die of Ignorance,’ followed immediately with a  cacophony of noise as the cast all appear on stage calling out to the audience. We then follow Jeane, thoughtfully played by Alice Southern as she gives a monologue about her blossoming relationship with Shelia (Myla Hannen). The rest of the play is mostly about her interactions with other people and their attitude – either judgemental or acceptance of same sex relationships. We had the two very divided camps, Jeane’s friend Marianne (Roxy Allen) who was fully supportive throughout, as was Steve (Charlie Williams), versus Angie (Hannah Reeve) who angers her peers by stating how ‘normal people’ wouldn’t behave like that! We had a little cameo scene where Jeane asks her disapproving teacher, (Stella Archer) for an extension to her dissertation. Arguments were often heated and at one point a milkshake was thrown over Mel (Katie Timpson), which was actually rather a welcome moment as it produced one of the few laughs in the script and momentarily broke the tension in the room, which was quite palatable at the time.

I would need to see this again to fully grasp all the various scenes as, previously mentioned, so much was squeezed into forty minutes. So apologies for not fully grasping every nuance and well done also to the rest of the characters, Nancy (Chelsea Smith), Victoria (Lana-Reid Carr), Sandie (Beth Tight), Kirsty (Stella Archer), Nico (Tallulah Smith) and Frankie (Amelia Blackman).

I take my hat off to this cast for fully immersing themselves in this turbulent piece of history, which couldn’t have been easy. For a generation fully onboard with same sex relationships, they certainly got fully behind Keith Badham’s script portraying the various stereotypes on both sides of the argument at the time. A very thought provoking forty minutes which also reminded me of the all the fear and ignorance around associated with the birth of the LBGT movement and the devastation caused by AIDS back in the eighties. What a decade that was! I think we have moved on a bit since then. Thank goodness!

Up-Stage really are a fully inclusive outfit, welcoming and accepting of everyone regardless of ability.

So well done to Keith Badham, his cast and crew. Up-Stage are nothing if not ambitious. Apparently, they are moving on to attempt to write and perform a play, or series of short plays over a twenty-four-hour period. I look forward to seeing the result of that with great interest. What could possibly go wrong?

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