Let’s Misbehave plays as we take our seats, setting the scene nicely for the one-woman show to follow.
“Trouser-wearing characters are born, not made,” exclaims Rose Collis, writer, historian and performer, steering clear of the ‘G’ word. No, her horizons are broader than just queers. Rose is talking about characters who dominate, appear larger than life, stay on in the memory, make an impact – and it just so happens that most of them are LGBT!
With her trusty banjolele, Bud, and dressed to the nines in full dress suit (cummerbund and bow tie included), Rose guides us skillfully through the highlights of the lives of her chosen subjects, squeezing all the best anecdotes in along the way. Interspersing the chat with songs – evergreens and originals – we’re entertained and informed in equal measure.
First up for scrutiny is Nancy Spain, a nice Roedean girl gone to the dark side, who had a nice line in double entendre cookbooks and whose columns in Beaverbrook’s Daily Express were so catty that the paper got sued twice by Evelyn Waugh. She was killed in a plane crash along with her partner on their way to the Grand National, leaving two young orphaned boys.
Then there was Colonel Sir Victor Barker DSO (Dick Shot Off was the quip on many a lip), a military man who began life as Valerie Arkell-Smith until she got fed up with being married to no-good men and decided the life of a retired colonel was much more comfortable.
A name I vaguely remember from my youth, Dougie Bing was so vain that he often quipped; “I never leave the house without looking like Dougie Bing.”
Strangely, when I got home from the show and turned on Radio 4, what was on the radio but a programme about Bing starring Julian Clary and filmed in Brighton. Spooky!
Dougie was an old reprobate and the most likely of the TWCs (Trouser-Wearing Characters) to call you ‘dear boy’. He had the distinction of being the first female impersonator to have a show on the Beeb, and from the 50s onwards he became the best panto dame in the business. He ended his time in the Denville Hall Home for Retired Actors where he continued to be a big old queer pain in the bum.
Lastly, there’s Coral Browne, another TWC I’m old enough to remember. Coral was a serial wedder, but also had affairs with numerous women. This omnisexual Oz girl turned posh Brit stage star was engaged to Jack Buchanan in the 40s but when he jilted her she ended up marrying his gay understudy.
Rose, in her neat little show, brings these disparate characters to life with gusto and obvious affection. Not blessed with the best of voices, she gives it a good go anyway and her natural enthusiasm carries her through, but she strums Bud like a pro. Cameo appearances from the likes of Vincent Price (married to Browne), Marlene Dietrich (mate of Spain’s), and Noël Coward (mate of everyone’s so it seems!) spice up the stories and make you want to go and look the characters up on the net after the show’s finished, or go and search out Rose’s own book about one of her TWC’s, Nancy Spain.
I came away thinking if only all history teachers could be as enthusiastic as Rose, every pupil would come away with an A*!
WHAT: Trouser-Wearing Characters
WHERE: The Emporium, London Road, Brighton
WHEN: 26 & 27 July, 7.30pm
RUNNING TIME: an hour
MORE INFO: CLICK HERE:
WOULD I GO AGAIN: Yes, to hear about more TWCs!
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