Two of the most famous drag acts ever flash eye lids back stage. A play about gender, about class, about 2 elderly respected gay showmen who in life had seen – and done it all
Shuff and Byng is my second project with the writer/director Tony Lidington. It focuses on two ‘giants’ of drag performance history, imagining them meeting back stage one night in a cabaret bar.
Rex Jameson (aka Mrs Shufflewick) was a down to earth, plain speaking, working class ‘woman’. She performed in variety halls, pubs, clubs and across the working men’s circuit. Often lewd, and very bawdy, she was adored by the gay community in particular.
Dougie Byng was the most glamorous female impersonator of the pre-war era in cabarets such as the Café de Paris, a precursor of Danny le Rue. Risque, but never lewd, he was with Noel Coward on the opening onight of The Vortex and had an affair with the Duke of York.
At this stage the project is about research and development – time for Tony and the creative team to research and develop an early draft of the script and to test it with actors and an audience
Development period: Research and development in Summer/Autumn 2018, followed by sharings in London and Essex in October 2018
Key Dates: Sharing dates to be announced soon
What we are looking for: Venues and promoters from theatres, working mens clubs, variety clubs to come and see the sharing