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Dexi - Miss Nightingale at The Lowry Theatre 2013 |
The play was brilliantly written and scored by Matthew Bugg, who perfectly captured some fabulously 'Carry On' innuendos - for instance, in The Pussy Song Miss Nightingale coquettishly sings (in a lovely Northern accent) that she has "gone and trapped me pussy in the door," and said pussy is finally set free by her next-door neighbour with his finger and tool. Ooooer. Let Me Play On Your Pipe was another, and Miss Nightingale's charm, sweetness and cute sexiness perfectly balanced the rather rude implications of the lyrics.
One of the main themes of the play is the scandal and hidden sexuality of the time - as Quentin Crisp wrote in The Naked Civil Servant, "As soon as the bombs started to fall, the city became like a paved double bed. Voices whispered suggestively to you as you walked along, hands reached out if you stood still and in dimly-lit trains people carried on as they had once before only in taxis." Oooh, the thought of that dark blackout city street with furtive, grasping hands of strangers reaching out to touch you and find comfort amid the impending bombs.... The issue of the sexual conflict is a focal point within the play, namely the illegality of homosexual acts - between Miss Nightingale's musical partner and the theatre owner, resulting in blackmail and deceit. I'm not sure how well the two gents kissing on stage went down with some of the audience, but I thought it was bloody horny, actually!
I especially loved the burlesque and striptease section - Amber showing what a quality act she is when, after discovering the affair between her two leading men and the deception involved, ends up stripping 'on stage', much to the panic of the theatre owner, Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe.
The rousing finale, Call To Arms, sees the three main characters joining together to see a better, more libertarian future, itself a brief glimpse into a future that would see the end of homosexual persecution and a more understanding and liberal society. Perhaps, unless some people manage to drag us back to the dark ages, of course.
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Dexi - Miss Nightingale at The Lowry Theatre 2013 |
With another quiet weekend coming up, I've decided that I really must pencil in some modelling - photographs are always required, whether it be for the website or Picture Of The Week. Some of you may have noticed the revamped website, where I've chosen to resurrect some of my favourite photos on the Gallery page, and had a bit of a rewrite, too. Always keen to try and make the Picture Of The Week a little different, this week's was sparked by my lovely pearl necklace (calm down at the back, gentlemen!) and one of my favourite 1940's tunes. Oh, and my breasts, too.