Frances Barber as Billie Trix in MUSIK by Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan Harvey. Photo Marc Brenner.In a blistering 60 minute journey, the self-obsessed legend bawdily reminisces about her childhood as Hildegard (daughter to an East German mother who smelled of cabbage soup) who, desperate for a life of art, sets sail for New York with Otto (a cabin boy with hair like Shredded Wheat and a Walnut-Whip for a penis - one of several references to the current incumbent of the White House)!
For an actress of 62, Ms Barber offers an energised masterclass worthy of a gal considerably junior in years. In a figure-hugging black bustier - and occasionally straddling a cocktail bar stool - she recounts Billie’s escapades through a non-stop, delusional, coke-fuelled, whiskey-swigging, garrulous ramble, in which she shares her life spent crisis-crossing the globe encountering everyone from Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol to the Dalai Llama and Jean-Paul Sartre. Her strutting, swaggering, ranting and dead-pan asides are only parked when she takes a turn at the microphone to sing the six songs provided by the Pet Shop Boys (who as co-writers, were sat a few rows in front of this reviewer on Press Night, and were clearly enjoying every moment).
The squeamish and faint-hearted may wince at some of the more vulgar references (literally nothing and no-one is sacred - even the venue is scathingly dubbed a ‘community hall’), but the out-loud guffawing from the overwhelming majority of audience members makes this a must-see for anyone who enjoys irreverent hilarity.
Rafe Spall delivers a highly skilled performance in Roy Williams and Clint Dyer’s DEATH OF ENGLAND. The monologue reflects at large on why Great Britain finds itself in the current political situation and no doubt for many will present as a highly charged piece of political theatre.