photo by Dee Shulman
"Keeping your hands clean can be a very dirty business"
SLEAZE, set in the 1960's, is a musical inspired by Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. With a book and lyrics by Robin Kingsland, and with music and additional lyrics by Chris Barton, the show was first performed by upper School Students of Westminster School in 2008. and later at the Jermyn Street Theatre, one of London's most prestigious off-West End venues.
THE PLOT
PM David Dukes is under pressure. His administration has seen a burgeoning of brothels and questionable gentleman's clubs, many run by the notorious Pompey Twins, and his popularity is plummeting.
Salvation comes - almost literally - in the shape of born-again back-bencher Simon Di Angelo. He speaks his mind, and thumps a tub for a New Moral Crusade - what's more, the people seem to love it. Dukes, guided by his advisor, Lady Escalus, invents a "Fact- finding Mission"and promotes Di Angelo to acting PM, planning to to step aside while Di Angelo cleans house. Dukes will then return, fire Di Angelo before things get excessive and all will be well. But Dukes underestimates Di Angelo's self-righteous zeal and determination. Before long, a young pop-star, Claudio Feather, has been sentenced to death for impregnating his young fiancee before they are married, breaking the new morality code.
Enter Charley Lucre, a once campaigning journalist who has long since lost his moral compass, and now scratches a living as a gutter-press hack. initially looking for a cheap scoop, he tracks down Claudio's Novitiate sister, Isobel. But he soon discovers that both the new moral movement, and its squeaky-clean instigator, have their darker sides. With Isobel's help, he rediscovers his campaigning spirit, and mounts a campaign to challenge Di Angelo and save Claudio.
What follows is part political satire, part chaste and bitter-sweet romance, as novice and hack find themselves work to expose the corruption behind the moral campaign.
Reviews of the
Jermyn Street production
(by BANTER PRODUCTIONS)
"A superb yet audacious production [...] Kingsland's script is superb [...] littered with smart jokes [...] exactly what fringe theatre should be - inventive, energetic and ambitious [...] a must see."
British Theatre.com
"The production feels slick and professional [...] There is wit, imagination and attack [...] a pun filled script (that) would make Shakespeare proud"
A Younger Theatre
"The modern transposition holds up. Nunn (Ellie Nunn, as Isobel) is genuinely moving, and there are funny lines"
Neil Norman, the Telegraph
"Gutsy musical fun with a fantastic young cast [...] a great deal of potential shining through [...] often works best in its spoken scenes, where the wittiness of Robin Kingsland's script gets to sparkle and the cast really runs with it..."
Rowena Hawkins, playstosee.com