On Railton Road cast announced for the Museum of the Home

A powerful and moving story of queer communities in Brixton called On Railton Road is coming to the Museum of the Home later this month.

The first theatre production to be staged at Hackney’s Museum of the Home, the play will run from 31 October to 18 November 2023.

The cast includes Hannah van der Westhusysen (Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga) as Casper, with Thomas Royal (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) as Philip, Manish Gandhi (Call the Midwife) as Ned, Jamal Franklin (Midsummer Mechanicals) as Darie, Jaye Hudson (GRILLS) as Atom, Dan de la Motte (Queer Tours of London) as Clifford, Aoife Smith (If This Is Normal) as Marie and Nicholas Marrast-Lewis (Bogeyman) as Jack.

Created and directed by Ian Giles, and written by Louis Rembges (Chatham House Rules), the play is billed as hedonistic drama about the pioneering Brixton queer squatters who fought for a place to call home.

Developed with the support of Jerwood Arts, On Railton Road will be performed by The Brixton Pansies, a theatre troupe of queer actors formed by artist and director Ian Giles (A Reflection in Time, BBC Sounds) to tell the story of Brixton’s gay squatting community.

The score for the play is devised by Sophie Crawford (War Horse), and all puppetry is designed by award-winning London-based puppet artist Oliver James Hymans. The producer is Aurelien Enjalbert, costume designer is Valeriya Voronkina, prop design is by Harry Stayt and photography Roxy Lee.

Creator and Director Ian Giles said in a statement: “What came through during auditions was how timely this play feels – the housing crisis and cost of living crisis echoes the 70s when over 30,000 people squatted across London. Squatting enabled queer people to live together like never before – they had the creative freedom to make new spaces, protest and make art. The 70s are undoubtedly a key decade in queer rights, it’s the period between the Stonewall uprising and before Section 28; gay people began to find space within society and made their voices heard – this echoes trans rights today. The mantra of the Gay Liberation Front was ‘Gay is Good’ -a message that still needs to be held aloft around the world today.”

Links:

Museum of the Home