Above the Stag – Vauxhall
Wandering down the streets of Soho today a man in drag would raise less eyebrows than a pair of ill-fitting beige corduroys, but this has not always been the case. The current production of Fanny and Stella at Above The Stag Theatre dramatises the incarceration of Ernest Boulton and William Park who did nothing more than dared to be themselves and wear frills and petticoats in Victorian England.
Heralded for their female performances onstage, both Boulton and Park bled fact with fiction as they spent the majority of their time dressed as Stella and Fanny respectively in their everyday lives. Unfortunately for them impersonating a lady was seen as an illegal offence, and eventually ended in their arrest.
Writer Glenn Chandler and composer Charles Miller have created a show that twinkles and skips along, drawing the audience into the extravagant and exciting lives of our heroines. Stella in particular is a rare old minx. The world of these two characters and all those who were drawn to their audacity and bravery is firmly established through an amusing collection of storytelling and Music Hall-esque songs.
Robert Jeffrey as Stella and Marc Gee-Finch as Fanny create a centre point of fizzling energy from which the story unfolds. Jeffrey expertly drives the narrative forward and Finch’s cameos as Mother are a genuine delight. The two ladies are supported by a generous ensemble who swoop in to fill in gaps and flesh out the lives of Stella and Fanny. Alexander Allin and Christopher Bonwell offer a contradiction in lovers, the accepting vs the nervous, whilst Phil Sealey tries his damnedest to counteract the appalling language used in his working men’s club. James Robert-Moore as Lord Arthur Clinton delivers a wonderfully bumbling and charming performance as he bank rolls the flamboyant Stella.
The evening is fun and frolicked-filled but there was a sense that some of the deeper emotional moments could have been dug into a little deeper – the ladies weren’t always glitz and glam and their lives were suspended during their arrest, but this is brushed over at times. That being said, for the sheer joy of acceptance and equality, Fanny and Stella are well worth spending an evening in their company.
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