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On Saturday 18th November my wife Marilyn and I attended the matinee performance of ,”ON RAILTON ROAD,” performed at The Museum of the Home,in Shoreditch. The play has been sold out. A great success. I bought our tickets on line about three weeks ago. We were lucky to get tickets.
The Brixton Pansies, specifically formed by Ian Giles and Louis Rembges to produce this play ,”On Railton Road,” take their lead from the ,”agitprop, ”style used by the Brixton Faeries whose play ,”Mr Punch’s Nuclear family,” was first performed in 1976 . That play is combined as a play within a play within ,”On Railton Road.” Agitprop is a conjoining of the words ,agitation,and propaganda, to create a politically themed art. It originated in Russia to promulgate political ideas. The Bolshevics used the ,”agitprop train” to travel all over Russia spreading their ideas. The concept came to Europe in the 1920s and became associated with the dissemination of political ideas.
RAILTON ROAD from Google images
The play, “On Railton Road,” has been written and performed to commemorate the gay community that lived on the Railton Road, in Brixton, in the 1970s and early 1980s. It relates the struggles they had to survive and to get recognition and legitimacy. It was a fight to normalise gay lives.
A play about a community living in squats is an apt play to perform at The Museum of The Home. The museum is about ,”home,” in all its manifestations.
Railton Road
Marilyn began her teaching career in the late 1970s and early 1980s at St Helen’s Primary School next to Brixton Police Station close to the Railton Road. She taught the children of people who lived in some of the squats on Railton Road. There was a whole mix in the area. It wasn’t just the gays who lived there. This is mentioned in the play although the play is specifically about the gay community and its struggles.
The different communities didn’t all get on together. The police stirred up hatred towards themselves and the government of the time and eventually it was the police , with stop and search policies targeting, in particular the black community, who ignited the Brixton Riots. This play does not deal with that particular issue. It is mainly about discrimination against the gay community. It is important to see the gay community, though, in a wider context.
“On Railton Road,” is one aspect of the cultural mix at the time. It is important social history informing us of the experiences of people who lived it. The play is also a lot more than just a history lesson. It informs us how gay people lived together in those squats and their dreams and aspirations and fears.
Number161 Railton Road from Google images.
ON RAILTON ROAD
There is a lot of humour that informs us at a deep level. The opening scene is the kitchen of a squat , number 161, Railton Road. Ned, a young man who has met Philip, one of the long term squatters, turns up wanting to see Philip. He obviously has a crush on him. Because of their situation as squatters and gay squatters at that, there is a sense of suspicion and lack of trust of anybody new turning up. A lot of joky banter is an obvious defence. The fridge in the kitchen becomes the topic of intense discussion. The plug socket, the source of electricity , the likelihood of fusing the whole house, the possibility of death by electrocution are all subjects for banter. They deflect from Ned wanting to meet Philp and confuse and bamboozle him.
The fridge and the squat as a whole are all on precarious terms with the local infrastructure and societal norms. The fridge becomes a metaphor for the precarious situation of the gay community. Exaggeration, banter and loudness cover deeper things.
The theme of Ned and Philips relationship explores the different feelings desires and wants of these two characters. Ned ,perhaps naively, wants a monogamous relationship. Philip wants to have more fluid relationships. Their interactions reveal how relationships are for gay people. Theirs is a narrow example of possible relationshsips. It also begs the question what other forms of relationships could be formed? Daire at one point mentions a party when they are all requested to sleep with somebody they haven’t had sex with before. Daire is a character who aims to shock and Ned is suitably shocked. Was a comment like that meant just to shock or was it for real? It opens up ideas about other relationship possibilities. Much of what is said and done in passing requires a deeper analysis on a second reading or watching.
There are some great comic cameos of life in the Railton road squats. Should the meat be eaten? Can the so called ,”goats milk,” provided by the next door squat be put into their tea? The next door squat does not have a fridge. We get the idea that all food is suspect apart from vegetables that is. There is a pervasive sense of suspicion that imbues all the interactions in the play. There is an edge to their lives.
Facilities are shared between the squats. Garden walls between the properties have been knocked down. It is as though they are creating their own ,”Eden,” their own world. Going beyond the environment of their community always has a sense of risk. Breaking into the local Brockwell Lido and swimming at night when nobody is around is seen as breaking into the ,”real world.” Sinking bellow, the black water, kissing in the moonlight, acts of freedom.
There are the two strands of affirmative action, peaceful and violent, argued over. (Reminded me of the two strands of Suffragette action) Casper wants to blow up W H Smiths, who have banned the publication Gay News for a number of reasons. Daire wants a more peaceful approach by educating people with demonstrations, banners and street theatre. It certainly makes you think about what is effective and can anything be effective? What processes bring about change?
Lambeth Town Hall
The legal processes with the council to get ownership of the properties on the Railton Road is dealt with in detail. How can they get the money to put down a deposit? The tortuous scene when Marie goes to Lambeth Council to get recognition for the squatters is a lesson in dealing with officialdom. Admitting to being squatters is not the right thing. She is ignored. The council only deals with Registered Housing Associations or Housing Cooperatives. You have got to get your terms right. The interaction with the council official is comic, sad and serious all in one. The squatters need to become something recognisable to the government. They turn to Croydon Council and get registered as a Housing Cooperative. Jargon , hoops to jump through, becoming legitimate, playing the game, all come to mind. You’ve got to join them to be recognised by them. Laughable if it wasn’t serious. Once they are official Lambeth Council recognise them.
The non-relationships with other communities in the area is discussed and the effects it has on the gay community. Atom, explains.
“ The Jamaicans came to London, Casper. To Brixton. A huge established community on top of another established community. And then came us. Layer upon Layer. And at the moment we are refusing to lace together.”
The landlady of the George Pub ejects the gays from her pub. “Talking to people,” was not acceptable apparently. This reveals some of the tensions living in the area. Those layers one on top of the other, not .”lacing together.” The landlady of the pub is a sort of Margeret Thatcher. As the pub landlady she has to make an income from the people locally. She tolerated the gay community for a while . The black community are banned form the pub too. It makes you wonder how she made an income.The ,”talking to people ,”is telling though. What was the talking? Maybe it was an attempt by the gays to ,” lace together.,” the community, make links, break down the barriers. We don’t get to know. The landlady could sense friction perhaps? It makes you wonder cynically that keeping the different layers of society at odds works for her more than if they ,”laced together.”
The George pub was burnt down during the Brixton Riots.
What appears to be acceptable within the area are things such as The Gay Centre and a 24 hour hotline that has been set up for the whole country. The lack of enthusiasm by the gays for these gay facilities shows their ineffectiveness. The phone line is meant to give support and advice but is mostly abused by pranksters. Why keep that going?
The second act shows that the gay squatters communty is eventually fragmented. Have they lost? Or are they just absorbed into society?Casper goes back to his parents in Hampstead. Some of the activists in squats came from wealthy middle class backgrounds and could return home when things got too difficult. Others had to stay. They had no choice. There is a reference to one of them claiming benefits and others who didn’t have to claim benefits. Many kept quiet about where their money came from it seems. Philip becomes head of English at a secondary school.Daire writes a play for street theatre (possibly to be performed outside of W.H.SMITHS). A looping reference to the play now being performed here in the museum in 2023. Daire also has obtained a mortgage. How normal can he get? There is reference to deaths of friends. “Who is still with us? “ A reference to aids.
So much is got into this play. On one level it is light, comic and loud. But it is densely layered , a well structured play and reveals levels of social comment and personal relationships.
Things are systemic in our society and makes me think the only way to change is to start again. Maybe on one level I am with Caspar. I think that is called, revolution.
Apparent change can be superficial.. We only have to look back in history not too many generations. Families, the patriarchy , attitudes to relationships and sexuality, how have they changed? Do things get better or do they morph into something just as virulent.
Interspersed throughout the play are scenes from another play, “Mr Punch’s Nuclear Family.“ This was first performed in 1976 by the agitprop group, The Brixton Faeries. It takes the familiar Punch and Judy seaside story from Victorian times and uses it to show the nuclear family with Mr Punch as a misogynist and homophobic father. Things go wrong for Mr Punch when his wife challenges him and exerts her rights. Mr Punch strangles her. He kills his son who he discovers is gay. He is taken to court and the judge exonerates Mr Punch telling him as the master of the house he was put under intolerable stress by his family. It wasn’t his fault. He leaves the court blameless, free to start a new family. The patriarchal family reforming itself.
One of the main strands of ,"On Railton Road," is about family. Are we born into a family or can we choose our family? Can we form new sorts of family? A family should be about love, acceptance nonjudgement. A dream perhaps. The play illustrates the underlying attitudes of society as a whole to the family, patriarchy and gays.
Although this play is specifically about the gay squatters on the Railton Road in the 70s and 80s it is much more than that. By looking at one aspect of society it makes us think much more broadly about the whole of society. How is it structured? What are its prejudices?How does it work against so many people ? Why do these systemic prejudices occur, whether it is homophobia or racism or sexism? How is the struggle to be continued?
The acting is joyous. There are flamboyant performances throughout that are larger than life. The audience sits either side of the stage and the play is performed in the middle. We felt as though we were in the action.
A musician plays and sings to provide background music. I often got side tracked to focus on her quiet beautiful voice and playing.
The play ends with quotes from some of our greatest poets.
Chaucer: so fair a garden do I know of none.
Milton: They hand in hand with wander steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way.
Spencer: “Where justice grows there grows eke greater grace.”
Shakespeare: “I know a bank where oxlips and the nodding violets grows.”
A world that is within grasp?.
SEX EDUCATION TODAY
We as a society still find it difficult to normalise different groups. In a way there should be no groups, just people, and an acceptance of everybody as they are. There are debates about how we teach sex education in schools? This government, a right wing one, is heavily involved in what and how we teach. The National Curriculum is not education. It is a particular set of things our government think we need to know and understand in the way they want us to understand them. Schools are required to discuss with parents what they are going to teach in sex education. It is the only curriculum area where that happens. Does that mean it’s the parents who write the sex education policies in schools? Is this a way for society to progress or is it a way of freezing our attitudes and nothing changing? The teaching of history can’t be far behind when it comes to government control. The right wing press say and write WOKE with a snarl of disgust. In its simplest definition it means being aware and awake to things. That can only be good. So how can change occur? We need a much more open societal discussion about sex education and different sexualities and what it means. (The ,”talking,” that was attempted in The George and got short shrift.)
Recently there was an outcry, during the covid pandemic, about relationships between teenage boys and girls. Some girls decided to publish on social media the misogynistic and rape culture they experienced from certain boys of their own age . Schools were named. This seemed to be more so with single sex schools and, rather pertinently ,seemed to happen more in private schools than state schools. Good sex and relationship education should be a priority for all schools taking into account all sexualities.
The conservatives, and in particular Rishi Sunak ,are against transgender children even being allowed to discuss and explore their sexuality. They are condemning children to suffer in silence. That is a form of torture if ever there was. We are who we are.
Maybe the answer is to look at family life, school and society again. What should a healthy family look like? What should a healthy school look like? What can we do to change things? It takes a lot of open conversations which of course are not allowed incase some people are upset. We know who will be upset of course.
Some Christian churches are tentatively accepting gay marriage. Some refuse to condone gay marriage. Systemic homophobia is part of societies fabric still. We still live in a very narrow thinking society. What can be wrong and dangerous about people wanting to be themselves and all of us joining the conversation.
THE MUSEUM OF THE HOME
The Museum of The Home is in a struggle to have Robert Geffrey’s statue removed. He was an enthusiastic promoter of slavery in the 17th century. The Museum of the Home would like to set his statue within the context of his life and times, so an informed discussion about his life can take place. A museum, part of the establishment, is at odds with the establishment. How can things really change and develop so we live in a world fit for everybody?
NOTES:
W H Smiths:
From the Ian Townson archive.
“ Throughout his time living in the Brixton gay community in the 1970s, Townson took part in demonstrations regarding other political causes including antifascist solidarity with working class struggles, the W H Smith campaign to defend free speech, defence of Gay News against prosecution and many others.”
Wikapaedia:
“ In January 1978 W. H. Smith dropped Gay News from distribution after a row with the paper over its coverage of the ,”Paedophile Information Exchange.” W. H. Smiths action prompted widespread backlash causing protests outside of its branches and at the firm’s Annual general Meeting.”
Links:
The Ian Townson archive: https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/ian-townson-archive
Brixton Faeries: https://www.unfinishedhistories.com/history/companies/brixton-faeries/
Brixton Pansies at The Museum of The Home: https://www.thereviewshub.com/on-railton-road-museum-of-the-home-london/
The Museum of The Home:
https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/
“The George,” pub Railton Road Brixton:
https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/the-george-public-house-railton-road-brixton-3/
