Auntie’s House  ★★★
Kings Head Theatre, London 

Auntie’s House, by Paul Stone, is a very new piece of theatre that feels fresh from the workshop. Whilst in need of some development this embryonic work has a heartwarming charm and comic potential that is ripe for future success.

Auntie Tamina (Ruchika Jain), a Muslim widow, is gaining a reputation as a scarlet woman in 1950s Britain. On Saturday night men can be seen flitting in and out of her unassuming home. Her curtain-twitching sister Bibi (Miriam Babooram), self-appointed guardian of the neighborhood’s morals, decides to challenge Tamina. Bibi discovers that things are worse than feared, Tamina may not be having illicit sex herself but she has developed a whole harem of homosexuals who sing, dance, and socialise in the security of her home. 

Back in the 1950s Britain homosexuality was illegal. Tamina, a pharmacist, has earned a sympathetic reputation with the gay community. They turn to her when they get beaten up, rather than risk an interrogation about their injuries at a local hospital. Amongst the devotees that come to her home are a range of men who represent the homosexual experience of that time period. Men who have been locked up in prison developed illicit relationships, live a closeted life, or have been rejected by friends and family. 

Each of the main characters blossoms with comic potential. The sensitivity and good sense of Tamina throws the hypocritical absurdity of other people’s moral posturing into high relief. Bibi is a trundling bulldozer of self-righteousness. However too often the characters are restricted to their role in triggering the plot points about the plight of the 1950s homosexuals. With more time and more space, this short 40-minute piece of work could warm the audience to those plot points with richer backstories and deeper exploration of character. Too often what the characters have to say to move the story forwards is at the expense of all the things they could say that would endear them to the audience. In addition, the gay characters have an overly 2020s sensibility of gay pride where a conflicted sense of self would have been more authentic to the 1950s. 

Auntie’s House is charming. A testimony to the straight female allies that have done so much for the LGBTQ+ movement, creating intersections that transcend race and culture. In its current form, it needs more time and space to grow, but the seedling has enormous promise.

Review by ANDREW HEBDEN

Queerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.