Uneven evocation of haunted generation in anti-gay era
A Haunted Existence
The Island
TOM MARSHMAN’S site-specific exploration of victims of the post-war persecution of homosexuals is heartfelt and worthwhile. But it lacks coherence and its staging fails to take full advantage of the decommissioned subterranean police cells of Bristol’s former Bridewell.
Sincere: Tom Marshman Pic: Paul Samuel White
The arrest in 1954 of a 17-year-old on a train going from Exeter to Bristol for propositioning another male passenger led to the prosecution of a further 15 men. Their hidden lives, interrogations, imprisonment and the electrical aversion therapies that followed are all elements of the performance.
Similar stories
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year



