MUSICAL REVIEW: After The Act ★★★

Written by Billy Barrett and Ellie Stevens with music by Frew, Breach Theatre’s After the Act, a verbatim piece of musical theatre, explores the events leading up to the installation, the consequences and the ongoing impact of Section 28 in 1988, a UK law banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools.

The production, on the whole, utilises music very well to uplift elements of the piece. However, as it’s verbatim, the lyrics are often pre-selected and caused them fit quite jarringly onto the melodies Frew has composed. It’s also incredibly difficult to make out all the lyrics because Owen Couch’s sound design is too loud and the actor’s microphone sound isn’t crisp enough. The orchestrations (also by Frew) do sound terrific though. They’re very rock-infused, giving the score a sense of revolt and uprising the piece is trying to achieve. This can also be seen in Barrett’s direction, utilising only a four-person cast and set design and video design, by Bethany Wells and Zakk Hein ,respectively, that sits freely in the space, Hein’s video being projected onto a school hall wall, that the actors act around - it has the sense of an education lesson or a stage at a protest. Jodie Underwood’s lighting design also has some great moments.

Batter and Stevens’ book can go further to show more of society that was affected by Section 28 and the end comes across in a peculiar way as the dates of the time periods depicted and why we end back in time on the 1988 Manchester March has not been made clear throughout act two. This being said, it is extremely informative as someone who only vaguely knew about the lead-up to and how precisely LGBTQIA+ people were affected by Section 28 and the time period, it being before I was born, and reminds us how easily unrelated issues can be forced onto minorities and they can be scapegoated for them.

Ericka Posadas, Nkara Stephenson, Stevens and Zachary Willis as the cast struggle to portray the story with as much urgency as it could hold and Stevens in particular doesn’t find much differention in their multitude of characters.