Theatre review:My Son's a Queer, (But what can you do?)

After a popular short run a few years ago which I wasn't able to make, writer/performer Rob Madge's My Son's a Queer Comma Open Brackets But what can you do Question Mark Close Brackets gets a second West End run for someone who, it's probably fair to say, felt like they belonged there from a very early age. Madge performs a tribute to their own childhood, particularly the parts of it spent at home, putting on Disney^TM parades in their parents' living room, in an increasingly large collection of outfits and ever more elaborate sets, some bought, most made by the grandparents. Despite John and Jan Madge realising early on that it would be best to sign their child up to Stagecoach as soon as possible, the young Rob struggled to make friends at school, becoming bullied and alienated.

So the enthusiastic support for a very camp pastime made home a much-needed sanctuary, and the mostly unspoken subtext of My Son's a Queer is that it's a tribute to all the girls, gays and theys who grew up without that sort of safety net.

Not that Madge's parents always got it right - their father at one point admits he deliberately bought the wrong costume because letting Rob play the Beast might make them get over the fact that they actually wanted to be Belle. Although the young performer did quickly find a way around their disappointment once they realised being the Beast meant carte blanche to boss everyone around and direct the show.

We know all this because, being born in 1996 as the only child of older parents who'd spent years trying IVF, it was possible to film and preserve every moment, which the indulgent parents duly did. In fact for all that Madge performs songs (composed by Pippa Cleary) and narrates the story, it does often feel like the entire show is a framing device to play back the very funny videos of a telegenic young Rob performing not only their homemade shows, but essentially demanding the limelight every time they suspected the camera might be on.

In fact young Rob is such a star that their adult self has a job to do keeping up, but Luke Sheppard's production does a good job of making what essentially still feels like a fringe show fit on a huge stage. It's a good show although I was never quite sure why this over other queer memoirs has captured people's imaginations so much. But then you won't find any videos like these of me as a child performing. I was, obviously, directing them.

My Son's a Queer, (But what can you do?) by Rob Madge and Pippa Cleary is booking until the 3rd of October at the Apollo Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Mark Senior.