After the Act Tickets | Queer Theatre London

After the Act

Tuesday 28 February 2023 to Saturday 1 April 2023
Venue: New Diorama Theatre
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New documentary musical After the Act is coming to the New Diorama Theatre near Euston in London.

From award-winning theatre company Breach Theatre, the show examines the dark period of UK history when Section 28 prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools, and the knock-on effect on the queer community today.

The cast includes Tika Mu’Tamir, Ellice Stevens, EM Williams and Zachary Willis, with musicians Frew and Ellie Showering.

The creative team includes: Written by Ellice Stevens and Billy Barrett, Directed by Billy Barrett, Original score composed by Frew, Original songs written by Frew, Ellice Stevens & Billy Barrett, Musical Director Frew, Set / Costume Designer Lizzy Leech, Sound Designer Owen Crouch, Lighting Designer Jo Underwood, Choreography by Sung Im Her, Video Designer Zakk Hein, Executive Producer Sally Cowling, and Production Manager / TSM Adam Jefferys.

It has been 35 years since Section 28 was voted into law by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, and 20 years since its repeal. Award winning devised theatre makers Breach Theatre (It’s True, It’s True, It’s True) debut their brand-new musical with a queer cast of performers who grew up during the time the legislation was in action. Every word in the show is taken from interviews the company has undertaken with students, activists, and teachers, as well as from tabloid articles and news clips from the era. After the Act takes its title inspiration from Before the Act, a night of entertainment and protest in response to the clause in 1988.

Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by schools and local authorities. It was passed by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government at the height of the AIDS crisis, amidst right-wing media hysteria about “loony lezzies”, “plague-ridden poofters” and the danger they posed to children. Local councils and state schools erred on the side of caution and, for the most part, avoided mention of homosexuality during these years – putting teachers in a difficult situation and leaving pupils in the dark. After years of opposition by different campaign groups, and gradually shifting public opinion, Section 28 was repealed by New Labour in 2003.

More about Frew

Frew is an award-winning composer, musical director, sound designer and performer. Frew is an associate artist of Middle Child Theatre and Boundless Theatre, he is also an affiliate artist of Hull Truck Theatre. Frew is currently developing a new television show with Maia Pictures. Composition credits include The Whispering Jungle(Concrete Youth); Our Town Needs A Nandos (Liverpool Everyman); Joan of Leeds (Breach Theatre); Sketching (Wilton’s Music Hall); Steel (Sheffield Crucible); Mixtape (Royal Exchange); The Hundred and One Dalmatians (Birmingham Rep); Twelfth Night (Orange Tree); Folk (Birmingham Rep/Watford Palace/Hull Truck); Get Carter (Northern Stage/UK Tour); Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, A Taste of Honey (Hull Truck); The Thing About Psychopaths (Red Ladder Theatre/National Tour). For Middle Child as Composer and Musical Director – There Should Be Unicorns (Co-composer and Musical Director); We Used To Closer Than This (Composer and Musical Director); Canary and The Crow(Co-Composer and Musical Director), Us Against Whatever, Beauty and the Beast, One Life Stand, I Hate Alone, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (with Paines Plough / Bush Theatre), Mercury Fur, Weekend Rockstars: An Album Play (with Hull Truck), Modern Life Is Rubbish: A Musical Manifesto, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning and as Musical Director for Pantomimes – Robin Hood: Prince of Thorngumbald, Repunz’Ull, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and The Beanstalk, Dick Whittington andThe Snow Queen. Musical Director and Performer credits include The Snow Queen (New Vic Theatre); Dancehall (Cast, Doncaster); The Night Before Christmas (Soho Theatre). Musical Director and Orchestrator credits include Seagulls (Bolton Octagon).