BOY IN A DRESS

[CULTURE] Do not miss your chance to see Out There's La JohnJoseph's return to the London stage 

Photograph by: Martin Perry

We are very proud to announce that our multi-talented Berlin based culture correspondent, the inimitable LA JohnJoseph will be laying soul bear once again on the London stage once again bringing together all three of his solo memoir shows I Happen To Like New York, Underclass Hero and Notorious Beauty in what promises to be a must-see series of illuminating, entertaining and moving performances. 

Autobiographical, political, raucous and accidentally profound, Boy in a Dress (link to Oval House website) details the life thus far, of one third-gendered, fallen Catholic, ex-fashion model from the wrong side of the tracks as she moves from the council estates of Bootle to the strip clubs of San Francisco, via Penny Arcade’s living room. 

Embracing themes as apparently diverse as Catholicism and drag, public sexuality and body dysmorphia, La JohnJoseph brings together an outrageous but heartfelt slew of true-life tales presented as monologues, and studded with reworkings of iconic songs from wide ranging artists such as Leonard Cohen, Justin Vivian Bond and Cole Porter. 

His three week ‘retrospectacle’ starts on Tuesday 14th February until Saturday 3rd March at Ovalhouse Theatre, Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW.

Evening programme: I Happen To Like New York and Underclass Hero 

Saturday Matinees: Notorious Beauty 

Boy in a Dress is presented as a part of Ovalhouse's If only... season. This is the second season of diverse and thought provoking work programmed by Ovalhouse’s new Directors of Theatre; Rachel Briscoe and Rebecca Atkinson-Lord. If only... is performance driven by an ambition for complexity; a search for something to believe in; a desire for someone somewhere to do something surprising.  

Written and performed by La JohnJoseph with Anna Lewenhaupt
Ovalhouse Downstairs: Tuesday 14 February – Saturday 3 March 
Dates and Times: Tuesday-Saturdays 8:00 pm, Saturday Matinees 2:30pm
Ticket Prices: Adult: £14, Equity, BECTU, Under 26: £10, Concessions: £7

UNDERCLASS HERO

 

Underclass Hero. Oval House Theatre Thursday 9th March 2011

REVIEWED BY MARTIN PERRY

In the middle of a small dark theatre space, lit by a single spotlight knelt the androgynous figure of La JohnJoseph, dressed in an electric blue shellsuit, head bowed, hands clutched as if in prayer. The wall in front of him was decorated with reflective shards of mirrored paper resembling a large arched stained glass window, or perhaps the head of a huge penis or is a bishops hat? Shiny silhouettes of rats rush up towards its centre.

Over the next hour we are taken on a journey, beginning with the Pope's first visit to UK in 1982, an event that also marked the date of our Underclass Hero's birth into a life of poverty in a Liverpool housing estate. Punctuated by iconic indie torch songs the formative years of La JohnJoseph are recounted, often surprising, sometimes funny but always poignant and unshrinkingly candid.

La JohnJoseph's studied delivery of his own exacting prose transported the audience into a vivid world of childhood turmoil, multiple house moves, an unending stream of 'stepfathers', of child abuse, a wayward mother, Catholisism and uplifting adolescent sexual explorations in the most ungodly of locations. 

La JohnJoseph's haunting singing voice accompanied by violin and harmonium was the perfect tool to convey the mixture of melancholy and pathos. The makeshift screens, hung either side of the stage faintly reflected scenes form Thatcher's Britain subtly adding historical context to La JohnJoseph's monologue. By his own admission part Noel Coward, part Joan Crawford, part Penny Arcade, part Quentin Crisp La JohnJoseph owns the stage and brings vivid light and shade and not a little charm to what must clearly be a painful, yet cathartic story to tell. A story which on paper could sound depressing, but the overall effect of the show created the complete opposite effect. It was both life-affirming and heart-warming and I urge anyone with an interest in contemporary queer performance to seek out the next (as yet unannounced) performance from this most talented of orators. 

Underclass Hero is the third of a trilogy of monologues, and I was left wishing I'd seen the other two. I'll certainly be first in the queue as and when La JohnJoseph's next sermon is delivered. 

Underclass Hero was written and preformed by La JohnJoseph and directed by Jeffery Gordon, set design was by Stevie Hanley and musical accompaniment by Jordon Hunt on the Violin and Jack Tame on the harmonium. The show is a work in progress and is planned to be developed further so check La JohnJoseph's website for details.

Underclass Hero formed part the First Bites: Transgressions series taking place this month at the Oval House in Vauxhall a shining light of London's experimental Queer theatre. The same series will see the next offering by the Writer Director Nathan Evans I Love You But We Only Have Fourteen Minutes To Save The Earth. Watch this space for a blog by Nathan himself on the process of working on the piece which stars David Hoyle, Fancy Chance, Timberlina, and Bette Bourne with projections by video artist Kate Pelling.