★★★★☆
SLAM! An explosion of queer joy, farcical delight, and leather. The Rug Of Identity at The Kings Arms, Salford is a hilarious evening of lesbian farce, bound to leave your face sore from laughing.
Calima Lunt Gomez’ revival of Jill Fleming’s 1986 play – the first production of the play in almost 40 years – follows protagonist Joanna, as she discovers her incarcerated mother, Mona, was in fact not a one-time murderer but a full-fledged assassin. She embarks on a journey to find her father – naturally, a man that Mona had a one-night-stand with in the Charing Cross Gents.
This revival feels more than needed in the present day, as Director Calima told ilovemanchester: “Compared to the 1980s, queer people are more mainstream than we ever have been but many of the stories about us are still about oppression.”
Gomez brings together a cast of brilliant, sharp performers to awaken Fleming’s lost gem of a play. Walking into The Kings Arms theatre space, Eleanor Haigh (Mona), ferociously knitting away with a distinctly absurd expression across her face, felt immediately captivating and exciting. Haigh set the tone marvellously for the farcical nature of the production.
Behind the preset actors, two windows made of cardboard are suspended from the back wall curtain; I really appreciated the attention to detail from the designers (Carolyn Pickering and Meg Bowron) with this set piece. The windows change from jagged cardboard prison bars, to normal windows, and to the Charing Cross Gents towards the end.
The cast work well together to perform these set changes, incorporating them into the comedy. I particularly loved the scene change from Mona’s prison cell to Laurie’s flat, where the cast leaped and frolicked across the stage, grinning at the audience as they laid out the rug and furniture to make up the upcoming scene.
During the first act, Kate Butler (Joanna) had the audience in stitches each time she leaned or posed against the non-existent wall of Mona’s prison cell, while Haigh (Mona) performed with such decadence and poise, adorned in her pale blue silky coverup. Leah Marks was particularly great as the Prison Officer and a few multirole characters, however I was left wanting her to pop up in a few more scenes than the handful she was in.
Dress-maker Laurie (Stella Cohen) joins the theatrics, fawning after Joanna (Kate Butler) as she questions her sexuality and attempts to kick out her “more like a man in drag” mother, Mrs Proctor (Niamh O’Toole). Cohen and Butler’s chemistry was charming and well directed. Notably, Cohen was extremely quick, not missing a beat with her remarks, and subtly got across her character’s subliminal wit, which Laurie’s mother disregards, through her superbly delivered asides.
Mrs Proctor’s (O’Toole) leather-clad drag performance to ‘I want to break free’ by Queen was raunchy and exciting but perhaps went on for just slightly too long. Nonetheless, Niamh had the audience whooping and cheering for them throughout the number and it was a joyous moment to break up the drama.
All in all, the production was a fabulous evening of queer celebration and sensational performances, where the audience was left hanging on the casts’ every quip, remark or mannerism.
The Rug of Identity runs at The Kings Arms, Salford on April 10, 11 and 12.
Photo: The Rug of Identity
JADAR 