My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?)

by Rob Madge

When Rob was twelve, they attempted a full-blown Disney parade in their house for their Grandma. As Rob donned wigs and played Mary Poppins, Ariel, Mickey Mouse and Belle, their Dad doubled as Stage Manager, Sound Technician and Goofy.Unfortunately, Dad missed all his cues and pushed all the floats in the wrong direction. Mum mistook Aladdin for Ursula. The costumes went awry. And Ariel's bubble gun didn't work properly. Grandma had a nice time, though.My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?) is the joyous, chaotic, autobiographical story of actor, writer and social-media sensation Rob Madge as they set out to recreate that parade – and this time, nobody, no, nobody is gonna rain on it.It was first performed at London's Turbine Theatre in June 2021, directed by Luke Sheppard, with music by Pippa Cleary – and starring Rob Madge as Rob Madge, alongside hilarious home movies of the Madge family (plus Granny Grimble).This edition features the complete text of the play, including links to and transcriptions of the video footage, colour photographs and extra bonus content from the RDM* Productions Archive. It concludes with an afterword by Mum and Dad about the joys to be found in championing the creativity of children – and why playing Tinkerbell, with a smile, might be the best thing you can do for your kids, and for yourselves.* Robert Dennis Madge

Genres: Plays, LGBT, Theatre

116 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 17, 2021

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd never heard of this show till I watched Mickey Jo's 5-star review on YT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk095...) which impelled me to order the script right away. Now, had I just read the script solo, I might have given this, say, a 3-star rating - because even with copious information in the foreword, plentiful pictures and other ephemera in the book, it doesn't quite convey what the show is actually like in performance.

Madge was a child actor appearing professionally in West End productions of Les Miz, Mary Poppins, Matilda, etc. and their precociousness (and budding gender and sexual identity) were encouraged by their long-suffering parents, preserved in some homemade VHS tapes. The specialness of the production is entirely dependent not only on the visuals provided by the old childhood videos of Madge used in the show, but also the songs and the unique persona of Madge themself (... which is the author's preferred pronoun, however clunky ... whatevs!).

Luckily, the entire CD of the score is ALSO on YouTube, as well as most of those aforementioned videos (helpful links provided in the back of the book). If one watches vids and listens to the songs alongside reading the book, one more or less can get a clear idea of the production, hence my full 5-star rave, along with virtually every major newspaper review of the current London run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbhea...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf1f-...
https://www.playbill.com/article/revi...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful to read! I love the soundtrack and desperately want to see the show, but though I got tickets when it was at the Garrick theatre, I was ill and unable to go, so getting to read the script is wonderful.
As a non-binary person,I can relate to so much of this, and the fact that a show which literally has a song about how it feels to try and fit in the boxes you can't fit in (Yellow Dress) brings me so much joy because. That's someone like me. That's my experiences in so many ways - not exactly, obviously, but I put on plays with my siblings at home,my granny made me costumes, and although I'm not a professional actor I do love performing. This script is wonderful, and I hope that one day I can see the show in person. In the meantime,I'll keep singing along to the soundtrack and reading the script, and be eager to hear where Rob Madge is going next.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtly different from the version being performed in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, and therefore interesting to see how the show has developed.

[✰matthew✰ · Rating 4 out of 5]

just a joy to read. would love to see this performed one day!