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.

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.

The inhuman treatment and the personal consequences are described against a backdrop of sentimental and escapist pop songs of the period, accompanied by projections of varying clarity, while Marshman goes through a series of mimes, songs, dance routines and direct narrative about his research into this shameful period and the victims of this specific case.