Rob Madge & Luke Sheppard presents
MY SON’S A QUEER, (BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO?)
COVENTRY BORN STAR ROB MADGE
BRINGS HIS AWARD-WINNING CULT SENSATION TO THE BELGRADE THEATRE
MONDAY 15 JULY – WEDNESDAY 17 JULY
TICKETS ON SALE HERE
MEMBERS: WED 8 MAY, GENERAL FRI 10 MAY
Coventry born Rob Madge will bring their the award-winning show My Son’s A Queer, (But What Can You Do?), directed by Luke Sheppard, to The Belgrade Theatre from Monday 15 July – Wednesday 17 July as part of a new national tour. Celebrating the joy and chaos of raising a queer child, My Son’s A Queer, (But What Can You Do?) is testament to the power of unconditional familial love.
Rob Madge said, “I’m so excited to say My Son’s A Queer, (But What Can You Do?) is coming to Coventry this summer! I was born in Coventry – I grew up in the Midlands, in a little village near Tamworth and the show is all about me and my Midlands family, putting on shows in our living room when I was a child. So if you want an uplifting, Midlands-based show that’s about how to raise a kid with love. It’ll have you giggling, it might even have you crying, for all the right reasons! Come on, big up Coventry!”
When Rob was 12, they attempted to stage a full-blown Disney parade in their house for their Grandma. As Rob donned a wig and played Mary Poppins, Ariel, Mickey Mouse and Belle, their Dad doubled as Stage Manager, Sound Technician and Goofy. Unfortunately, Dad missed all his cues and pushed all the floats in the wrong direction. Mum mistook Aladdin for Ursula. The costumes went awry and Ariel’s bubble gun didn’t work properly. Grandma had a nice time though.
My Son’s A Queer, (But What Can You Do?) celebrates the joy and chaos of raising a queer child and is testament to the power of unconditional familial love.
Originating at the Turbine Theatre in 2021, what followed was a sold-out season at the Edinburgh Festival in 2022, a national tour and then two West End runs. Now, three years on, with a WhatsOnStage Award and Olivier nomination to its name, join social-media sensation Rob Madge as they set out to recreate that parade – and this time, nobody, no, NOBODY is gonna rain on it!
My Son’s a Queer, (But what can you do?) is written and performed by Rob Madge (Oliver!, Les Misérables), directed by Luke Sheppard (& Juliet, In the Heights) with songs by Pippa Cleary (The Great British Bake Off Musical, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Age 13 ¾). It has set and costume design by Ryan Dawson Laight, video design by George Reeve, lighting design by Jai Morjaria, sound design by Tingying Dong, and orchestrations by Simon Nathan. The show is produced by Bill Kenwright LTD and Paul Taylor-Mills.
LISTINGS
Dates
Monday 15 July – Wednesday 17 July
Run time
75 minutes (no interval)
Age guidance
12+
Content warning
Contains some swearing, a fair bit of precociousness and scenes of utter joy. May cause happiness!
Tickets
www.belgrade.co.uk/events/my-sons-a-queer-but-what-can-you-do/
Rob Madge (Writer and Performer) is a theatre maker, writer and actor. They began working professionally in theatre at the age of 9, having spent the majority of their childhood forcing their family to help them put on shows in the living room, most of which are now documented on Rob’s social media channels. Rob is best known for their show My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) which was nominated for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at the 2023 Olivier Awards. Following this ongoing success, Rob won Best Creative Debut at The Stage Debut Awards, 2023 and the Attitude Award for Best Theatre Production, 2023.
Theatre credits as a performer include: Peter Pan (London Palladium); My Son’s A Queer (Writer/Performer: Turbine Theatre, Edinburgh, West End); Jack and the Beanstalk (London Palladium); Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre); Macbeth (Gielgud Theatre); Oliver! (Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane); Les Misérables (25th Anniversary International Tour and Concert); Matilda the Musical (Courtyard Theatre, RSC); Bedknobs & Broomsticks (UK Tour/World Premiere); Timpson the Musical, Held Momentarily, Leave A Light On, Roles We’ll Never Play.
TV credits include: The Sarah Jane Adventures, That Mitchell and Webb Look, The Armstrong and Miller Show, Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, Poirot: Appointment with Death
Rob writes and performs their own skits on their social media channels which, as a result, have amassed a following of over 300,000 collectively, with over 11.3 million likes.
Luke Sheppard (Director)’s theatre credits include: The Little Big Things (@soho Place); Just For One Day (The Old Vic); My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) (Turbine Theatre, West End, Edinburgh Fringe); Startlight Express (West End); Paddington (London); In Dreams (Toranto, Leeds Playhouse); Rent (Hope Mill Theatre); & Juliet (West End); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾: The Musical (West End, Menier Chocolate Factory & Leicester Curve); Billionaire Boy (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton & UK Tour); Newsies (Arts Ed); Murder For Two (Watermill Theatre, The Other Palace & UK Tour); Spring Awakening (Hope Mill, Manchester); In the Heights (Kings Cross Theatre & Southwark Playhouse); Peter and the Starcatcher (Royal & Derngate); Night Must Fall (Salisbury Playhouse & UK Tour); Stig Of The Dump (UK Tour); Oliver! (Watermill Theatre); Working; Casa Valentina; Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse); A Christmas Carol; The Adventures of Pinocchio; The Hundred and One Dalmatians (Castle Theatre); Bed and Sofa (Finborough); The Great British Soap Opera (Jermyn Street & Edinburgh) and Jet Set Go! (Jermyn Street & Theatre 503).
His production of In the Heights won three Olivier Awards and a nomination for Best New Musical. The show also won the Broadway World Award for Best New Production of a Musical and received nine WhatsOnStage Award nominations, including Best Director. His production of Spring Awakening was awarded the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Regional Production. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ received nominations for the Evening Standard Award for Best New Musical and the UK Theatre Award for Best Show for Children and Young People. Luke was also nominated for the Off-West End Award for Best Director for Casa Valentina.
Pippa Cleary (Songs by) is a musical theatre composer, songwriter, lyricist, and singer based in London. Recent work includes: The Great British Bake Off: TheMusical(Cheltenham Everyman, West End 2023); My Son’s a Queer, (But what can you do?)(Turbine Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, West End); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ (West End Ambassadors Theatre, Menier Chocolate Factory, Leicester Curve Theatre); In the Willows(UK Tour, Metta Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Musical(BBC Teach).
Further composition credits include: The Iron Woman (Workshop, St James’ Theatre); The Ascension of Mrs Leech(Workshop, Laura Evans Productions); Prodigy (St James’ Theatre, London); Chicken Little and Treasure Island (Singapore Repertory Theatre); The Snow Gorilla (Rose Theatre Kingston, Steve Bor Productions); Red Riding Hood (Singapore Repertory Theatre, Pleasance Theatre London, Middle East Tour); Tess of the D’Urbervilles (St James’ Theatre London, South Hill Park); Alice in Wonderland (Polka Theatre, London); Jet Set Go! (Theatre 503, Jermyn Street Theatre, Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, Turbine Theatre); The Great British Soap Opera (Jermyn Street Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Night Before Christmas (The Humble Theatre Company, Letchworth); Katy’s Road Show (CBeebies); The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Wickham Theatre, Bristol); A Song Cycle for Soho (Soho Theatre). Pippa is the winner of: The Arts Foundation Fellowship for Composition for Musical Theatre Award (2012), The Times Christmas Carol Competition (2011) and the MTM Judges Discretionary Award for Composition (2008) for Jet Set Go! And she has been mentored by Claude-Michel Schonberg.
The Belgrade Theatre
Together, with the diverse communities across Coventry and the region, we aim to enrich and fundamentally change people’s lives for the better through theatre. In our landmark building, across the region, the UK and online, we will use theatre to entertain, inspire, share the city’s stories, uncover hidden histories and unleash the creativity in our communities. The Belgrade is the largest professional theatre in Coventry and so we act as both the city and region’s commercial and producing theatre. We are also highly respected for our ground-breaking community and education initiatives. In January 2022 the Belgrade welcome two new leaders – Laura Elliot as Chief Executive and Corey Campbell as Creative Director. The Belgrade is a registered charity and receives revenue funding from Coventry City Council and Arts Council England as well as project funding from these and other government sources. The Belgrade played a key role in securing Coventry as UK City of Culture 2021 and in 2019 Corey Campbell, Balisha Karra and Justine Themen were appointed as Co-Artistic Directors, with a remit to programme and direct the Theatre’s produced work for UK City of Culture 2021.
www.belgrade.co.uk | @belgradetheatre | facebook.com/belgradetheatrecoventry