ED2018 4/5 Reviews ED2018 Theatre Reviews

Love Song To Lavender Menace (James Ley)

By | Published on Tuesday 7 August 2018

Carving out genuinely queer spaces – not just a Barclay’s float at Pride – is precious, precarious work. That’s brought home in this portrait of Lavender Menace, a gay and lesbian radical bookshop on Edinburgh’s Forth Street that was open between 1982 and 1987. The writing is very good – if sometimes a bit thinky – and the production effective: funny and tender. It’s self-referential, a performance of a performance, a queer theatrical space dedicated to a queer physical space. The acting duo bear it all with warmth and charm, though in their main roles they occasionally fall just short of selling us the lust and humour of their rapport. But they’re extremely dexterous throughout, cycling through the play’s potpourri of scenes and characters.

Summerhall, until 26 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alexander Hartley]



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