There’s no denying that the darkened space of the Brixton Club House is the ideal venue, with just the right hint of louche, for this revival of Taboo (2002), the “Boy George musical”. The Boy himself provided the music and lyrics for this parade through Eighties clubland and counter-culture, and his salutary rags-riches-ruin career trajectory supplies a nifty story arc.
Yet while the snaking, catwalk-style stage plays stylish host to lots of lonely souls with big hair and bigger make-up, there’s no getting away from the fact that Taboo is wildly over-extended.
In the near-disastrous second half, with its almost total loss of narrative focus, Christopher Renshaw’s production threatens to go on for as long as the decade itself. There are some cracking voices in the cast and the songs are decent but 27 of the blighters is way too many.
The trouble with Mark Davies Markham’s script is that the cipher he uses to introduce us to this sparkling demi-monde, frustrated Bromley boy and would-be photographer Billy (Alistair Brammer), is very dull.
The star of the show is, rightly, George (Matthew Rowland, who has real poise and real cheekbones), whom we first encounter draped in a white sheet, sporting a silver centurion helmet with white feathers pluming out abundantly.
Whether Billy falls for George and his marvellous panoply of hats is of little concern to us. Performance artist Leigh Bowery (Sam Buttery) also appears occasionally from a cubbyhole, perched like Buddha to add some feisty cattiness to proceedings.
Until December 23 (08444 771 000, ticketweb.co.uk/BrixtonClubHouse).
