Heelz on Wheels (2006/2007)

"...a post apocalyptic musical romp with shoes, sex, crips, queers and dressing up."

Robert Softley as Blanche

'Heelz' continued our exploration of hidden voices in a show inspired by the world of drag queens and the radical drag movements of the late 60’s and early 70’s in the UK and USA..

Radical Drag took its inspiration from the counterculture movements of the Beats and their colourful progeny the Hippies and in the midst of a period of fundamental moral and political upheaval, burst upon the world in a shower of glitter, sequins, satin and beards!

Challenging traditional sexual mores, lifestyles and gender divides, their communal lifestyles, in particular the infamous London squat Bethnal Rouge provided the joie de vivre (the English just don’t have a word for it!) for the GLF, CHE, Oz, Stonewall and other radical movements in pre-Thatcherite Britain.

Heelz on Wheels, a play with songs written by Noel Greig with music by Akintayo Akinbode and inspiration from Bette Bourne, is rooted in the wild cosmic theatre of the two prime movers of radical drag the Cockettes and Bloolips and restores this movement to centre stage, celebrating the joy and general silliness of love, life and difference.