Frank’s Closet, the off-West End cult stage hit of 2009 is back! Staged at Hoxton Hall, one of England’s last remaining Victorian music halls, it sold out to packed houses and glowing reviews.
Now it is to get its first London revival at the Union Theatre, Bankside, SE1, with additional new material by writer and composer Stuart Wood directed by Sasha Regan.
Frank teeters on the precipice of marriage to his beloved Alan, who has given him an ultimatum – he must give up the toys and joys of singledom, and donate his fabulous collection of the dresses of iconic divas to the V&A museum. Amidst continual calls from Alan, his mother, and once (briefly) his father, Frank retreats into a fantasy world where he is The Chairman of The Music Hall.
Through the magical portal of his closet door, the divas visit him in turn, aided and abetted by a quartet of Gaiety Girls. Each diva delivers a musical number containing a gem of good, or at least well-intentioned, advice. But will frocks or fiancé ultimately triumph…?
Frank’s Closet is a high-camp, witty, and poignant show, framed by the artifice of the musical hall (including magic and puppetry) and propelled by the increasingly surreal musical turns of the divas.
It explores the conflict between fantasy and responsibility, liberty and conformity, with wit and heart, in a way that will chime with anyone who’s ever pondered the joys and terrors of a lifetime of commitment….
I caught up with writer/composer Stuart Wood to pose a few questions to him.
Hey Stuart, Why did you feel that now was the right time to relaunch Frank’s Closet?
I feel that Frank’s Closet chose the time. It feels like the right time for the show to be back in London. It’s camp, in the good old-fashioned British theatrical sense. The themes of gender equality, the loss of the closet, and queer identification and fan worship of divas are still here. Frank was originally played by Donna King, and Debbie McGee was a Gaiety Girl. It drew from the anarchic, anti-binary protest theatre of British Music Hall, written as a site-specific show for Hoxton Hall, one of the last remaining halls in the UK. It grew out of a lot of love from the team that made it and that’s encoded in the show. What the world needs now, is Love Sweet Love.
The producers, Karim and Stephen, are super fans and began messaging me when I published the archive on Instagram and Soundcloud in 2021, my lockdown project.
I hosted a listening room at The Cock Tavern in Kennington with the original cast and crew in August 2022 and it felt like we had something that we love, that we believe in and that will somehow benefit the world.
I had seen Sasha Regan’s all-male Gilbert and Sullivan shows, we had a table read at the Union Theatre last summer and I loved her ideas for the show and here we are!
How do you think that queer lives and culture have changed over the past 15 years since 2009?
Frank’s Closet was pre-Grindr and pre-Instagram. I came out in London in the late 1980s when the music scene ignited a 7-night-a-week club culture. Being out at that time was a political statement in the days of the AIDS epidemic and Section 28. Our goal was survival in those days. Then we fought and marched for equal rights and they were a long time coming. Frank’s Closet is really a celebration of the closet and what a lot of fun we had in there as well as dealing with the massive dysfunction of our families and society. I, like many queer folks, am a survivor of trauma, and Frank has, and is, playing a role in my healing.
How has Frank’s Closet evolved since its previous incarnation?
I’ve expanded the score. Originally there were six divas, Marie Lloyd, Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, Judy Garland and Agnetha Fältskog and, because we need to sell beer in good ol’ Music Hall tradition, an interval was called for and so I have added a final seventh Diva.
And who is it?
Ah, well I’m not telling! She has completed the Pantheon of Goddesses, though!
Catherine Phelps has redesigned the show to fit the Union and the set and score are wonderfully integrated. The cast are hugely talented and I know Sasha’s rehearsal process is highly creative so I won’t really know how it’s evolved until opening night. I was given the opportunity to finish the work, originally inspired by my own marriage back in 2006 and only completed three years after my divorce! Don’t worry there is a happy ending!
What would you do in Frank’s position?
I would get help! I now know that entering into a committed relationship doesn’t mean losing yourself in the process. My personal belief as a Nam Myoho Renge Kyo Buddhist is, like Frank, identification with the goddess within. I have benefited from the wisdom of my Queer Nanna, Madge, (IG @gaylifecoach) There is so much to learn from the elders in our community, and if we are fortunate, we will all become them. I resonate with the words of Frank’s final Diva, ‘It’s not about changing who I am, it’s letting go of who I’m not’. So, the very idea of giving away one’s diva dress collection, well donating it to the V&A, makes me feel quite ill, dear.
It’s a fab show! I can’t wait for the launch.
Instagram @FranksClosetShow opens at the Union Theatre, 229 Union St, London SE1 0LR, on March 6th and runs until April 13th. Tickets start at £25 - everyone is welcome. http://uniontheatre.biz/show/franks-closet/
Labels: 2024, Franks Closet, London, preview, Sasha Regan, Stuart Wood, Union Theatre
