‘After The Act’ is a new semi-verbatim musical that portrays the accounts of members of the LGBTQ+ community and those that opposed them during the 80s & 90s while section 28 was in place within our schools. This show uncovers the trauma and scars that have been left on a generation due to Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government in 1988.
The cast of four in this musical take on a multitude of roles and each of them are versatile in where they sit on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, or for some characters they are opposed to the community and instead look to demonize its members.
Ellice Stevens takes on several characters opposed to the community, such as a concerned parent, and the iron lady (Maggie Thatcher), however, her most profound role is Catherine. Ellice’s portrayal of Catherine’s shame is laced with such nuance and realism that even if you haven’t experienced that pain you can’t help but emphasise with the character. Tika Mu’tamir brings such vulnerability to the LGBTQ+ characters she portrays, such as a council member who is defending LGBTQ+ ideologies in the schools in her area. The fear, the defeat and the anger is all so clear. Tika then goes on to become an MP who is pushing for the legislation, this is a stark contrast to her other characters, portrayed much colder and stoic, it portrays the insincerity of the government of the time clearly. EM Williams brings such energy and at points light-hearted comedy into the roles they portray. EM’s most impactful role is L.B who talks of the struggles of gender dysphoria and how restricted they feel due to section 28. This is a sincere and heartbreaking performance where L.B’s struggles are laid bare, and it truly affects the audience. Zachary Willis brings us multiple roles, with the key character being a young man who grew up during the time section 28 was in place, sharing the struggles of hiding his true identity. Zachary portrays this pain candidly, and at points the complex torture this boy was put through is portrayed with more of a shrug than powerful emotion, which gives the audience the implication of how the homophobia was the norm and the community just had to deal with it. It shows how far we have come.
Ellice Stevens and Billy Barrett’s book for ‘After The Act’ comprises of heart-wrenching and truly emotional stories from those who suffered severely under Section 28. With this, there is nuance present at some points, however at other points, the text seems preachy, and repeats itself rather than allowing the narrative to speak for itself. With this, although there are several great numbers from this production’s composer, Frew, there’s issues with diction due to the constant fast pacing of the numbers, and at points the music doesn’t align with the tone of some of the scenes. Billy Barrett’s direction makes this production a fast pace and exhilarating journey, at points you do question whether the pace could have been slowed down or if scenes could have been more complex than solely just the dialogue being performed. One of the best scenes is the two-woman using a washing line to scale parliament, this spectacle builds the energy and poignancy of the scene, more scenes like this would have been nice to see. Also, this production is clearly pro-LGBTQ+ rights, however, it just doesn’t sit right with this reviewer that Maggie Thatcher is almost made into a pop diva in the latter half of the show. The audience doesn’t know whether to applaud or boo. It seems that the depiction of the government that sanctioned section 28, could have been portrayed in a different way, especially with the pain and torment that is disclosed in such a raw manner within this musical.
‘After The Act’ is a poignant and emotional musical, showing the devastation that impacted a generation. Whilst the actors in this musical showcase their brilliant talent, there could have been more creative intuition present to make this a tighter production.
Playing The Traverse Theatre until 27th August, get tickets for ‘After The Act’ below –
https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/after-the-act-festival-23
Theatre Scotland 
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