Relative values in warm, gender fluid comedy

THERE will be fake furs and Gucci galore in a new adaptation of a Victorian gender-blurring drama at the Watermill in Bagnor, which opens tonight (Friday).

Charley’s Aunt, written by Brandon Thomas, was first published in 1892. Now writer Rob Madge, the creator of My Son’s a Queer (But what can you do?), has adapted it for the 21st century, collaborating with director, Sophie Drake.

Students Charley and Jack are interested in Amy and Kitty, but in a time of chaperones, first they have to get around Spettigue.

Waiting for Charley’s aunt to arrive, they are ready to seize the opportunity. Plans start to go awry, but then they come up with an alternative arrangement… Cue hilarious mishaps and mistaken identities, leading up to a fabulous big bash.

Maggie Service plays Charley’s actual aunt, Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez, in the production.

Maggie says: “Charley’s Aunt is a Victorian farce and they have just done a brilliant job updating it and it’s still got all the old jokes. It’s clever and it is very silly but it has also got really lovely heartwarming moments and we hope that we’re making a show that is full of joy and acceptance.

“In that time, girls couldn’t be alone with boys without a female chaperone. In our version the girls are desperate to be with the boys too.

“Both sets of couples think it’s their idea so kind of everybody is hoodwinking everybody and nobody is being taken advantage of.”

Charley is played by Jonathan Case, Jack by Benjamin Westerby, Amy by Mae Munuo and Kitty by Yasemin Özdemir.

Babbs is played by Max Gill, Spettigue by Richard Earl and Eli by Elijah Ferreira. Costume design is by Alex Berry, lighting by Ben Jacobs, sound by Russell Ditchfield and composition by Lauryn Redding. Music supervision, arrangement and orchestration is by Candida Caldicot, with Anna Morrissey as movement director. “We’re sticking true to Brandon Thomas’s story of the Victorian era but the costumes are a bit Gucci, a bit Seventies, a bit Boho,” says Maggie.

“Donna Lucia will definitely have a big fur coat at some point. It’s Oxford lads plus Gucci plus ‘Brideshead Revisited x 3,000’ camp for the lads. There’s feathers and colours and textures, there’s a lot of bows.

“We realised bows are probably the thing between all of us. We’re definitely leaning into the joy and camp factor.

“In the Victorian version a straight man in a dress all along was the impersonator whereas in our version we have a gender-fluid actor. Certainly through pretending to be Charley’s aunt they kind of find themselves and then we just have a lot of queer joy and some gorgeous anthems that have been put to this amazing orchestral track. We’ve got Sam Smith and Chappell Roan, we’ve got Kylie and Madonna, but it’s all given a reworking. So it’s an absolute tapestry.

“There’s love, there’s money, it’s all a big tangled weave of that but each character finds out something about themselves and all over this one day.

“It’s epic surprise after surprise and it’s just a domino farce.”

Maggie is enjoying life at the theatre space.

“I’ve never been to the Watermill before, it is beautiful. We the actors have coined it a ‘holijob’, it’s just so beautiful being here and we’ve all moved on site.

“Everybody who works here is just so kind and so we’re able to work in a way that’s really vulnerable and really take big chances. We’re all in this lovely countryside too with the birds and the trees and it’s just rather magical.”

On Monday, October 27, there is a “Come as you are” night in conjunction with Newbury Pride.

“I had actually accepted the job already and then read about that, and I have to say I just burst out crying with happy tears,” says Maggie.

“I think it is wonderful and I hope that that show particularly will be a riot. Each audience member is encouraged to literally come as they are and, if they don’t feel comfortable or safe coming to the theatre as they are, there will be changing booths provided and there are drinks and nibbles from six o’clock. It feels like it’s the audience version of what our play is trying to do.

“We’re not trying to say everything’s fine — because the world is tricky and hard and there are some odd people in power — but we get to make a couple of hours of knowing that you can be safe and have a laugh with us here. I feel very lucky to be part of it.”

Maggie, who lives in London, has appeared in television series such as Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens — as two different characters.

“I’m a Satanic nun, Sister Theresa Garrulous, in season one, who sadly gets killed off by a demon. Then Neil wrote a part called Maggie and so then I got wear make-up and have nice clothes and I did survive season two — yay!”

l Charley’s Aunt is at the Watermill Theatre in Bagnor, near Newbury, until Saturday, November 15. For more information, call 01635 46044 or visit watermill.org.uk