Now this is a show I’ve been wanting to see for ages. Looking at our complicated summer schedule, I hesitated too long when it was at the National Theatre and then kicked myself for not getting tickets before it sold out. Repeated attempts for Rush tickets failed and so I was thrilled when I heard it was getting a fresh run at the Bridge Theatre, which we’d visited in May for “Into the Woods” .
I’m quite attached to the film and remember reviewing it years ago for tvandfilmreview. That website is sadly no longer, so I can’t read my review back but if I did, I’m confident that one word would appear – “cried”. The story, which is nearly all true, has so many of my triggers in it – family reconciliation, finding new family when your blood kin cuts you off, finding unlikely friends across divides….it’s all so beautiful. So when we sat down to watch this show, I told the kids that if it didn’t make me cry, it would have failed. It might be a spoiler but I can tell you right now – it did not fail.
The foyer at the theatre was decorated with artefacts from the time – I’m not sure whether they were genuine or recreated but they were very moving. A giant banner over the stairs read “Prejudice doesn’t survive proximity” and there was this Dulais Valley banner:
The walls were covered with images of documents from the time – letters, fliers, news articles. Even the toilets had “Pits and Perverts” posters on the doors. As we settled into our seats, the back wall had images from the 80s projected onto it – Charles and Diana, the Young Ones, poll tax riots – and 80s music was playing. It was all very evocative of a era that I kinda remember but kinda don’t. I mainly remember watching “Thundercats”.
The show started with an ensemble singing a version of a letter to the Daily Mail about homosexuality on television. Then we were introduced to our homosexual heroes – the group who would later emerge as LGSM, or Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. The structure is a little different to the film but the story is basically the same and mostly based on reality. If this was entirely fictional, I’m sure critics would rip it apart for being so unlikely…especially the parts where the “L1” AIDS patient magically defies death and the miner’s wife ends up in Parliament. But those bits are absolutely true, as are so many other bits.
One of the beautiful things about the shows is all the personalities who come together for the cause. Mark Ashton (Ryan Kopel) is self-confident, impulsive and driven whereas the fictional insert Bromley (Dan Hand) is quite the opposite – closeted, shy and reluctant to get involved. Steph (Courtney Stapleton) puts the “L” into “LGSM”, invoking wholesome lesbian stereotypes about snooker tables and vegetarianism and Carl Spencer is adorable as Reggie. And then there’s the elder gays – flamboyant Jonathan (Samuel Barnett) and steady, practically-minded Gethin (Chris Jenkins). Rounding out the group is “Keeper of the Flame” Mike, played with admirable restraint by Matthew Durkan.
For the record, I’m not saying that the lesbian stereotypes are untrue….they would certainly be helpful to have around when someone hurls a firework through a window.
The group works so well together – there are tensions and disagreements but there’s a real affection between them all, even when Mark is – by his own admission – “acting like a knob”. You really root for them and it’s hard to see them mistreated, as when a passerby spits at them.
Then there’s the Welsh contingent, who are equally likeable – ambitious Siân (Sarah Pugh), pragmatic Dai (Matthew Woodyatt), gentlemanly Cliff (Darren Lawrence), lovable Gwen (Gillian Elisa) and strong-willed Hefina (Kirsten Malpass). The only one who’s not likeable is Maureen (Caroline Sheen) and she’s the closest the show comes to a villain, Thatcher aside. Both groups have the same struggles, with marginalisation, their public perception and police brutality…and although they have very different perspectives, they grow to understand each other. One of the bits that made me sob hardest was when Dai is speaking at Pits and Perverts and he says something along the lines of “To find out that you have a friend you never knew existed – It’s the best thing in the world”. Oh gosh, I am welling up now just thinking about it.
Not that this show is pure feelgood sentimentality though. There is a hard edge to it, as the threat of both poverty and AIDS gets more and more real. Again, it seems unreal that the two biggest struggles of the 80s happened to coincide in this way, but that’s history for you. The miners’ strike and the AIDS epidemic genuinely crossed over in the person of Mark Ashton – and there’s a very moving number in Act 2 (Light Perpetual) where Mark and all the other victims of the epidemic are remembered.
There’s also a lot of comedy in it. The Welsh ladies’ night out in London is very special, as Gwen squeals “I think I’m into leather!” after being introduced to the concept of fetish clubs. Bromley’s coming out song “Face It, Mum” contains a very memorable line about Ethel Merman and received the longest round of applause I think I’ve ever heard for a single number. And when Jonathan opened the second act wearing a dressing gown, I would have put money on there being a fabulous change of outfit underneath. I was not wrong. While we’re on Jonathan, the kids and I feel sure there was a reference to “The Producers” in his first act rant about not toning it down….or maybe just a coincidental mention of chorus boys.
The set is very simple, with an industrial kind of background that turns into the “Gay’s the Word” bookshop or the Welfare Hall with the addition of a few tables. The costumes are spot on for the era – not outlandishly 80s, like the designers might have been tempted to, but with plenty of leather jackets, high-waisted trousers and puffy sleeves. It reminds you that these are not caricatures of people from the “decade that fashion forgot” but they are representations of (mostly) real people, who wouldn’t have been able to afford the latest shellsuits and leg warmers.
The only complaint I would have about the whole thing is the sound balance. It might have been just where we were sitting – right at the stage end of the highest balcony but occasionally there was an imbalance between the instruments and the vocals, which meant some of the lyrics were lost. I was sure there were some brilliant puns in the songs that we weren’t able to hear and a bit of a tweak might have sorted that. But it might just be the sound balance you get in the cheapest seats…I accept that.
My one niggle aside, it was a near-perfect version of the story, with all the characters cast beautifully and a real depth of emotion. I cried during “Bread and Roses”, “Light Perpetual” (obviously), “In the Valley”, Dai’s speech, the bit with Gethin’s mum and the bit when the miners’ buses turned up at the end. And, of course, the bit right at the end when you find out what happened to all the characters. There were times when it was a full-on party on stage, with pink confetti falling from the ceiling and times of quiet tenderness, like the scene where Siân and husband Martin (Robin Hayward) are drinking hot chocolate on the first night that LGSM are in town. It did amuse me that “Make It Pink” took place in the Electric Ballroom – as is historically accurate – given that the present-day Electric Ballroom is so corporate and soulless that they confiscate your pack of Squashies on the door. Squashies are, indeed, pink.
But overall, an incredible heart-warming, heart-wrenching show, presenting our recent history in a way that makes it feel very real. I’m glad that attitudes have moved on and I hugged both kids a little tighter as LGSM were talking about being rejected by their parents. I know that still happens and I need to do the “Mum Hugs” thing at Pride one day…but it does seem like life has, in some ways, got a little better since the Thatcher days.
Nathan and the kids briefly stage-doored afterwards, which I mostly missed because I was looking at all the things in the lobby again. But they met some of the cast and got a photo with Ryan Kopel, so they were most pleased. And the 47 bus actually turned up within a few minutes, which I was also pleased with.
“Pride” is on until May 2027. For tickets and more info, click here
