REVIEW: Butterfly The Loco Klub Bristol
Butterfly The Loco Club Bristol
The underground tunnels of The Loco Klub in Bristol, felt like the perfect venue to dig up and resurrect a series of queer voices, some from history, and give them a fresh hearing through Butterfly.
The play, written by Sam Jones and Clodagh Chapman and directed by Sam Jones, told each story in isolation, yet through their individual acts of defiance, wove them together.
A series of engaging monologues, some moving, some humorous and all perfectly acted told the tales of emerging gay voices, the rights that followed and the equality still playing catch-up.
It would have been nice to have had a programme or handout with a bit more context about some of the people represented, some of whom are in the public eye anyway, because their stories were fascinating.
Whilst the drama and drag entertained, the quieter stories of being found out by your church for being a lesbian, or the difficulties of being a lesbian Muslim were particularly hard hitting and beautifully told.
Act Two could probably have done with some tightening up, but as it was opening night and the crew had already dealt admirably with some bad tempered tech kit, it would be churlish to dwell.
This is one of those rare pieces of theatre that made me want to read a bit more after. I’ve written before that it not always the most polished pieces with the big budgets that are the most effective or motivating. But Butterfly successfully captures stories – the stories of ordinary everyday people that within their lives have done something extraordinary – that is, stand up and say no, either in drag or by marrying the person they love, subsequently making changes in the timeline that the future belatedly thanks them for.
The Butterfly Cast:
Sophie Graham
Elsa Rae-Lewellen
Anusha Abbas
Jonny Fryer
Thi-An Nguyen
Andy Simpson
Anna Fenton-Garvey
Alex Jenn
Rosel Jackson-Stern
Butterfly is at The Loco Klub until Thursday 07 March 2019
Booking: https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/butterfly
The Loco Klub: https://www.locobristol.com/
