The Code - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

*****

Written by Michael McKeever

Directed by Christopher Renshaw

Tracie Bennett

Michael McKeever’s The Code opens at the Southwark Playhouse in an evening of stunning drama. In a tight 90-minute one act piece set in the 1950s, the titular code is the puritanical Production Code drawn up by the major film studios and which sought to drive out homosexuality from the movie industry. Lob in a backdrop of McCarthyism and McKeever paints a grim and toxic picture of Hollywood.

The drama’s two protagonists are the actor Billy Haines (played by John Partridge) and the agent Henry Wilson (Nick Blakeley). Haines had famously fallen from the very heights of stardom for his refusal to accept the Code and walk away his long term gay relationship. Willson however defined the very depths of Hollywood’s hypocritical toxicity - hiding his homosexuality and publicly complying with the Code. In an ingeniously and cruelly scripted arc, we see Willson preying on Chad (Solomon Davy), a handsome young wannabe male actor who is deviously and heartbreakingly manipulated by the agent.

McKeever’s masterstroke in this fictional piece is to create a triumvirate of leading voices, drawing Hollywood star Tallulah Bankhead (Tracie Bennett) into the narrative. At times Haines’s sparring partner, other times a Greek chorus, Bankhead’s presence makes the narrative crackle with a riveting intensity. The dialogue throughout is piercingly sharp, with Bennett on her finest form delivering acid drops of perceptive irony that add frequent moments of perfectly formed comedy, and at times where one least expects to laugh. Partridge too brings a compelling authenticity to the nobly principled Haines, while Blakeley’s despicable Willson is chillingly convincing.

Christopher Renshaw’s direction is meticulous – with each of the quartet precisely drilled in the timing and nuance of their performances. Ethan Cheek’s designs for both stage and costume are exquisite. Bennett’s gown is wondrous, while the men’s black patent shoes that complement their tuxedos are to die for!

The Code is as much a history lesson as an evening’s entertainment. Boldly and brilliantly staged, this production deserves a West End transfer.

Runs until 11th October

Photo credit: Danny Kaan