McQueen at the Theatre
Royal Haymarket 
Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer, committed suicide in 2010, just over a week after his beloved mother died of cancer. He hung himself with his favourite brown belt after taking a cocktail of drugs. This play, which opens with McQueen alone on stage with a brown belt, has been written to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his death by showing a night, possibly the last, in the life of Alexander McQueen. He is visited by a quirky American woman, Dahlia, who breaks into his studio to steal a dress. This visually stunning piece is a work of fantasy, imagining Lee (his real name) showing his favourite places in London to this gamine like stranger while explaining what fashion means to him. Aside from an interesting scene with Isabella Blow, an appearance by a Savile Row tailor and an interview with a journalist, the play consists of Lee rambling on to Dahlia while magically transporting her to different locations. The scenes are tied together by dancers dressed like fashion mannequins, moving to music from McQueen’s fashion shows, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax. The whole play is inspired by themes from McQueen’s shows, but unless you have read your programme notes or are a dedicated fashionista, you could be just as confused as I was. There is no particular story, nothing tHeAtre significant really happens and the highlight of the evening is when McQueen builds a dress on Dahlia out of seemingly raw materials, without cutting or measuring. Aside from that dress, a golden wing-like coat and another feathery dress in the initial scene, we see very little of what made Alexander McQueen an artist- his clothes. It is like doing a play about Monet or Rembrandt and forgetting to show us their paintings.
The script, by James Phillips, is intelligent, at times poetic and occasionally funny, but sometimes feels a little self-conscious and pretentious. I have seen his “magic realism” monologues, City Stories and actually preferred some of them, as although they have a similar rambling quality, a monologue, even a long one, is a better form for his style of writing. This play lacked any structure and at two hours it was quite long. The characterisation of McQueen had little light and shade and although Stephen Wight is an excellent actor who did his best to capture his mannerisms and also physically resembled him, he just came off as a grump who sometimes loses his temper and shouts a lot. Tracey-Ann Oberman was wonderful as Isabella Blow. An examination of McQueen and his mother would also have been interesting. As it was, I felt this play did not do justice to a man who was a creative genius, but whilst it may not have been excellent for me, others may disagree.
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Image: Stephen Wright as Lee with Dancers in McQueen. Photo credit Specular.
Reviewed by Lydia Parker.
