It’s the mid-80s in London, and above a bookshop in King’s Cross, a group of women answer calls at the newly renamed Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.
Eager trainee Jackie (Áine McNamara) earnest Joan (Megan Keaveny), supervisor Lou (Fatima Abdullahi) and – back from months away – Nana (Hannah Balogun) represent of cross-section of the advisors who took on the role of confidant, information point, and non-judgemental ear.
In a richly detailed set (by Dan Southwell) of window, box files, posters, old rotary phones and office litter, the women work through their shifts on a variety of calls. For some we hear both sides, others just the switchboard.
The topics and ideas have come from research and archive material of the time. It’s almost period perfect (only the mention of ‘year 11’ jars), and even the most transient of characters are believable.
The 13 year old boy who knows he is gay, and is forced to leave home. The ageing mother with a plan to leave when her children come of age. The advisor who is in and out of hospital with bouts of pneumonia.
Lou and her staff are very much the minority, with more than 100 gay men on the phones but only a handful of women. Their concerns (such as women’s refuges) are far down the list when the AIDS crisis hits.
In the meantime there are personal battles. Lou and Joan have history; Jackie and Nana find common ground. The surrounding reality of fear, disgust, prejudice and abuse is clearly shared.
Whether you remember the 1980s or not, this depiction of safe sex, safe spaces, and lesbian is a devised production by Doubletake. It is a play that is largely a character piece with no major moment of conflict or reveal, but it unfolds with great skill.
Some truths are uncomfortable (gay men on the Switchboard often declined to help women, the community split and then came together). The witch hunt around gay and lesbian spaces isn’t far removed from what is happening to trans women now.
The Lesbian and Gay Switchboard was there to advise on clubs, flat shares, solicitors, coming out, safe sex practices, and communication. They often had phones that cut out or stopped working – but they never did.
Director Molly Byrne, associate director Cassia Thakkar, producer Ella Pound, with Ella Muir (costumes), Arianna Muñoz (sound), Sameer Aggarwal (lighting) bring the world of The Switchboard Project to life.
Educational, emotional, and engaging, The Switchboard Project is an important addition to the corpus or verbatim/devised theatre.
4 stars.
The Switchboard Project is at the Hope Theatre. Fully sold out until closure on 20 Sep, you can find out more about Doubletake and the production at their Instagram.
Photo credit: Ella Muir