Review: Apollo Theatre, Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Out of the darkness and over the wall, Jamie's stepping out into the spotlight - in a glamorous pair of glossy red high heels...

Jamie New steps into the spotlight at an exciting time for theatre - a time which sees an inspiring array of representation, from race to sexuality to gender. At the live screening of Everybody's Talking About Jamie, my expectations of this award-winning production were met, and surpassed. Seeing it live at the Apollo Theatre on London's West End had me falling for it all over again. This is a joyous production filled to the brim with humour, emotion, and strong moral messages. Here's my thoughts.

There's a kind of thrill in going to see a production that you know, from the outset, you're going to love. I was sure, walking into the cinema for the live screening of Everybody's Talking About Jamie on 5 July, that I was going to enjoy the story, but I wasn't prepared for how hard I was going to fall for the characters, the music, the atmosphere. I booked tickets to see it live in London straight after. As the day approached, I wondered if it's magic would still be the same - I knew the songs almost off by heart; I could anticipate every twist and turn; plus, some of the cast members had changed since I had first seen it. But as soon as I took my seat in the Apollo Theatre, I knew that booking to see it 'in the flesh' had been a great decision. It was even more magical - heartbreaking and heartwarming all in one - than I had remembered.

There's an energy that exudes from Jamie, a vividness and freshness that's unlike anything else going on in the theatre world right now. The National Theatre's 2017 production of Angels in America was a landmark production, bringing Tony Kushner's story of homosexuality and AIDS in 1980s America into bold technicolour. It's a crucially important piece of writing, as striking today as it was when it premiered in 1991 - but Jamie is just as important, moreso perhaps, for a 21st-century audience.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie, is a 'coming of age' story, but interestingly, it is not a 'coming out' story. Jamie (John McCrea), when we meet him as a 15-year-old schoolboy in the very first scene, is already openly gay. 'Away with the fairies' in his careers class, he brushes off the sniggers of his fellow students with a breezy: 'yeah yeah, gay kid, ha ha -'. His confrontation with school bully Dean (Luke Baker) sees Jamie fully accepting of his identity, defending his differences and giving as good as he gets:

'Yeah Dean, I'm gay. I am gay - so if I call me gay then being called gay in't an insult. Cos I am bent, and I am queer, and I am a faggot batty bum boy - you tragic meathead micro dick retard scrounger povvo waste of space wanker -'

What Jamie does is to push the subject of sexuality, gender, and identity even further, by showing the rise of a boy who, in his first aside to the audience, wholeheartedly confesses his own truth: 'what I really wanna be - is a drag queen'.

Jamie has already made this revelation - as Ray says in a later scene: 'you've always known who you are Jamie New, better than most of us'. With his loving mother Margaret (Rebecca McKinnis), and adoring mother-figure Ray (Shobna Gulati), Jamie has grown up in an environment where he is allowed and encouraged to be who he truly is. At sixteen, often hailed as 'the beginning of the rest of your life', his dreams and aspirations are set. This is not a play of self-discovery, not even of self-acceptance - Jamie knows and accepts who his is and who he wants to be. The play tracks Jamie as he learns to embody Mimi Me and carry her confidence and beauty in his everyday life, win over the acceptance of others, and let go of those who cannot. It is life-affirming, moving, and empowering - it reflects where we are now, in the 21st-century, with LGBTQ acceptance, and how far we still have to go.

Yet it's not only the LGBTQ community which gets time in the spotlight here. Topics such as race, religion, family, and class get visibility in Jamie. In a touching scene, as Jamie reels from the news that a complaint has been lodged against him, his best friend Pritti Pasha (Lucie Shorthouse) comforts him with the meaning of 'beautiful'. It may seem, from early scenes, that Pritti is from a stereotypical Asian family, restricted by house rules, yet hardworking and with ambitions to become a doctor.  Indeed, even Jamie makes the odd offhand comment: when Pritti prompts 'You never asked me why I wear a hijab', he responds without thinking: 'I know why - cos of your dad'. Pritti patiently corrects him, opening up about her own personal choices, and uses her culture to reassure Jamie his worth. Through her, audiences get to see more than just a token girl in a hijab - she is not defined by her race or religion, but uses her experiences to become the play's moral compass. Like Jamie, Pritti has always been able to ignore the insensitive comments made by other students. She proves that a quiet girl who just wants to stay 'simple' can be 'brilliant / and resilient', a beacon of hope for little girls of all races in the audience.

Also explored in Jamie is the importance of family, and the problems that arise because of traditional working-class mentalities. Jamie's strong bond with his mother Margaret New is directly inspired by the relationship between the real Jamie, Jamie Campbell, and his mother. This mother-son dynamic becomes pivotal to the play - the struggle, but also immense joy, with which a single parent raises an only child. Mr New (Ken Christiansen) poses challenges to both Margaret, and though she tries to shield him, Jamie. Even this deception causes conflict in their relationship, as a hurt and insecure Jamie accuses his mother of lying about his father's involvement in his growing drag career. Yet Jamie and Margaret are not lacking - Ray is 'twice the man he'll ever be. And with bigger balls', and Hugo (Lee Ross) has been a father-figure to the young protégé from their first meeting at Victor's Secret to the moment he pins a corsage on Jamie's wrist at prom. By the end of the play, both mother and son believe the defensive statement Margaret threw out in an earlier confrontation with her ex-husband: 'you were lucky to have us'. Together, they'll never be unloved, and never be alone.

As well as its lessons about life, love, and letting go, Everybody's Talking About Jamie is two hours and twenty minutes of spectacular theatre. A familiar glimpse into British public schools, but with the technicolour ambience of musical theatre, the story is interspersed with pop songs, ballads, and energetic dance numbers that never allow the tempo to drop. The stamina shown by the company of young actors in the roles of the students is remarkable. The kitchen scenes between Margaret and Ray are a heartwarming glimpse into the resilience of working class households; the dressing room of Legs 11 reveal to us to comedy and camaraderie in a sisterhood of drag queens, and their openness to new, young talent. John McCrea's attention-stealing performance as Jamie is the crowning jewel atop all of this brilliance -  moving effortlessly around the set with a natural flair which makes it seem as though he were improvising, he fully embodies Jamie's quick wit, melodramatic tenancies, and lovable personality. McCrea is definitely a star on the rise.

In some small way, Angels in America paved the way for Everybody's Talking About Jamie. Queer stories were stepping out - not only onto the stage, but into the spotlight. Queer life and divergent gender identities were being celebrated, and not just as a token addition to the hetero-normative main plot - they were taking centre-stage. It's not hard to imagine Prior addressing Jamie as a 'fabulous creature', and passing on the baton: 'and I bless you: more life.' Because that's what Jamie delivers - unshakeable, undefeatable life.

The current booking period of Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre is to 6 April 2019. The show will be followed by a film (casting unconfirmed), which is being produced by Warp Films.    


Photo credits: 
Mothers and sons photo found here.

• Note: I saw the production with both Josie Walker and Rebecca McKinnis as Margaret New - both were utterly fabulous in the role. Both renditions of 'He's My Boy' brought me to tears. Pictured in this photo is Josie Walker.

All other production photos found here.