My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) review: A joyous outsider tale is a must-see

My Son’s A Queer review and star rating: ★★★★★

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room: Rob Madge’s autobiographical show about his life growing up as a queer outsider is intensely joyous, and required viewing for queers and their allies. (And most importantly, required viewing for the people who wouldn’t think to book a show with a title like this.)

It’s a hysterical, relatable 75-minute whizz through Madge’s childhood growing up in the early noughties when teachers called him out for the “dramatic” way he looked at other students. But it was also the era when Madge flew around his living room, playing characters like Peter Pan and Cinderella, in make-believe shows he’d stage with his family.

It’s a familiar format, and there will be a dozen shows at the Fringe this year doing the same kind of thing, but Madge’s talents for singing (he was in Les Miserables as a 9-year-old) and his immense likability take My Son’s A Queer to the next level: it’s an absolute joy that never loses pace. One minute Madge is pulling out old wooden props from the miniature theatre his grandparents adorably made him as a child, the next he’s wearing a fabulous Arial dress from The Little Mermaid complete with tale and restaging a ditty last seen in his family home in 2001. 

It’s lucky Madge has such a spectacular – and heart-warming – collection of home videos from the era to back up his story, which are displayed hugely behind him on a screen. They’re engrossing and take up a fair amount of the run time. 

Another pertinent image was of Madge sitting, aged perhaps one or two, next to a football his dad had bought him that he refused to play with. Madge’s experience as a queer outsider growing up is relatable to anyone who felt different at school. Anyone who felt a spike in anxiety whenever the football went anywhere near them. But it never gets bogged down in the sadness. A must-see.

My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) plays at the Ambassador’s Theatre until 1 April

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