I must admit to having a bit of a thing about shoes. I suppose it started in my teens when, not being quite a mod, but interested in the more preppy style, I always had a pair of Chelsea boots and Clarks sand coloured desert boots in my wardrobe, in fact, I still do, not the same ones obviously, and sported the latter at this show. Whilst not thigh length red patent, I am sure that someone with a little more restrained, sophisticated taste might find my crepe soles somewhat kinky.
We seem to be in the middle of a run of musicals where the star is the most important component in the piece, and, as I am not a ‘reality’ tv watcher, I had no idea who Johannes Radebe was, other than I saw somewhere he was on Strictly Come Dancing. I always see my ignorance of the personality cult as being an advantage when reviewing shows, as it means that I can judge the work in its merits rather than one performer’s reputation. My hopes were also not sky high after having tried to watch the film, which was billed as the Northampton Full Monty, but I thought was a pale imitation and I didn’t see it through. Still, I threw open the doors of my mind, set aside all preconceptions and settled down to watch the show.
The musical is based on a film which, in turn, is based on a television programme, a half-hour documentary in the Trouble at the Top series, examining companies struggling with finances or inner turmoil in the UK. It ran from 1997 to 2007. The episode featuring W.J. Brooks Ltd, a family-run shoe factory, being the original source. I will review the show before revealing the real story behind it.
Mr Price runs a top end footwear company in Northampton which is rapidly failing due to the flood of cheap imports, I suspect that the fashion for trainers didn’t help either. His son, Charlie, played by Dan Partridge, has finished higher education and has decided to move to London with his girlfriend, Nicola (Kara Lily Hayworth), and become an estate agent. They are just settling into their new flat when Charlie gets a phone call telling him that his father has died, so he heads back to sort out the estate. He has no intention whatsoever of continuing in his father’s footsteps, especially when he discovers the dire financial straits the company is in. When he meets with the workers, some of whom are third or fourth generation employees, including Don – Joe Caffrey – who, for some reason, has still got a strong Geordie accent, he resolves to continue his father’s legacy – or footacy in this case.
After the funeral he returns to London and approaches a friend and shoe salesman, Harry (Liam Doyle), to ask for help, which he gives, but it is only a stop-gap. On his way home from the pub Charlie sees a woman being beaten up by a couple of drunks and goes to her aid, but is knocked unconscious. When he comes round he is in a nightclub with the ‘woman’ he helped, who turns out to be the establishment’s drag queen, Lola – Johannes Radebe. He notices the red boots in his dressing room are not able to hold a man’s weight, a fact which which Lola confirms and adds that they are also very expensive.
Courtney Bowman as Lauren. Photograph Pamela Raith
Charley goes back to the factory and starts laying off the workers, one of whom, Lauren (Courtney Bowman) tells him that other firms in the same predicament are finding niche markets, such as hiking boots. This is when the penny drops and Charlie asks Lola to come to the factory to help him design more appropriately constructed stage wear. He arrives team-handed with his dancing troop, the Angels, and they begin work. The first prototype is rejected on colour grounds, it is claret rather than scarlet, and not high enough, ‘the sex is in the heel’. George – Scott Paige – the factory manager, comes up with a solution and Charlie asks Lola to stay during the production. They have a deadline of three weeks to get the boots made so that they can promote them in a fashion show in Milan. Lola has started to receive negative comments from some of the staff, especially Don, but decides to stay.
The next day, Lola turns up in men’s clothes and is again mocked by Don and his mates. He goes into the toilet where Charlie follows to reassure him. Lola tells Charlie that his father (Ashley-Jordon Packer) was a boxer and trained him in the sport but disowned him when he turned up to a bout in a white cocktail dress, he also says his real name is Simon. Charlie reciprocates by explaining it was his father’s wish that he take over the factory, despite him not wanting to.
Nicola arrives with her boss, Richard Bailey, who I believe was also played by Liam Doyle, but no credit in the programme. He has drawn up a plan to turn the factory into flats, as requested by Mr Price before his death – obviously. He refuses and the workers celebrate as the first pair of kinky boots are completed.
Time for a drink.
The second half begins with an argument between Don and Lola as to what makes a real man and they come up with a solution. They will each throw the other a challenge. Don begins by saying that Lola should face him in a boxing match, but obviously, being trained, Lola wipes the floor with Don but takes a dive so as not to humiliate him in front of his mates. Don asks what Lola’s challenge is and he told it is to ‘accept someone for who they are.’
Production of the boots hits problems and swallows all of Charlie’s money, including his remortgage of the London flat. Nicola arrives and breaks up with him. Meanwhile Lola has been making executive decisions without asking Charlie who lets rip with a torrent of abuse, humiliating Lola. He is further enraged when Lola tells him that he has arranged for her Angels to model the boots in Milan rather than spend money on expensive models. Everyone storms off.
Hard at work in the factory. left to right: Cole Dunn, Onstage swing, Johannes Radebe as Lola in dress down mode, Courtney Bowman, Lauren, Kaya Farrugia, Ensemble, Deena Kapadia, Onstage swing and Cerys Burton, Onstage swing and possibly fashion editor. Photograph by Pamela Raith
Lauren finds Charlie and persuades him to come back to the factory where Don has arranged for the workers to finish the job, without pay. Charlie asks Don if he has paid up on the wager and is told that the person Don has accepted is Charlie himself.
On his way to the airport Charlie leaves a heart-felt message on Lola’s voicemail and jets off for Milan. Lola is performing at a nursing home after which he leaves the stage and speaks with his wheelchair bound dying father.
Lola, Johannes Radebe, and the Angels. Photograph Pamela Raith
The show concludes with the fashion show where, as there are no models, Charlie has to model the boots on the catwalk himself. Just as the show seems to be heading for disaster – you are well in front of me here – Lola and the Angels arrive to complete the presentation and make it a resounding success. Who’d have thought it. Lauren, and Charlie, who she has been fancying for some time, share a kiss and we have the big final number.
As you would expect, a certain amount of embelishment has been employed – actually, tons of it. I have just read an interview with Steve Pateman, the real Charlie Price, who says that about 50% of the film was true. He was heavily involved in its making and said he was happy with how it turned out.
Spoiler alert! There is no such person as Lola, he was a composite of the transvestites Steve met when developing the company’s Divine range of women’s footwear for men. This also meant that he obviously could have had nothing to do with the designing, or instigation of the idea, which, in fact, came from another footwear manufacturer in Folkestone, who asked if Steve’s firm could develop a fetish line for that purpose. Steve was the driving force behind the whole project. There is also no Don, the factory worker who believes that men should be men and not dress like women; he is very loosely based on some of the less open-minded members of the workforce.
The final scene is also a fantasy. Steve had to shave his legs to model the kinky boots, not in Milan, but in a local studio where they were photographed for the company’s catalogue.
One thing which is true, and this really is the most important part, Steve made sure that the transvestites in the tv documentary, as well as the ones he relied on for information when designing the footwear, were not treated or portrayed as being weird or freaks, and as someone to have the Mickey taken out of them. He said that they were ‘the kind of people who either love you, or if they don’t get on with you, ignore you.’ He also said that he found that he became more accepting of the cross-dressing community the more he came to know them. Isn’t that usually the case in all forms of life.
The show was written by American, Harvey Fierstein, who saw the television programme and was touched by its soul. The music was composed by Clyde Lauper, who proved herself amazingly talented in providing great songs to suit every mood in the story. The Director was Nikolai Foster.
The main actors were all superb, and obviously Mr Radebe was no slouch in the dancing department. Actually the others were very good too, if not so flamboyant. Dan Partridge, as Charlie, carried his character through all of the phases between despair and elation with aplomb, whilst the other adult cast members, including Courtney Bowman as Lauren, had superb comedy timing in both speech and movement. I say adult characters, as there were two young boys who played the prepubescent versions of Lola and Charlie. They are part of a team who work on rotation so I am not sure who was who, but the were both very touching.
A couple of cast members who stood out for me, were Jonathan Dryden Taylor and one of the female workers, whose name I don’t know, and you will learn why later. Mr Taylor played in the first scene of the show as Mr Price, Charlie’s father, looking every inch the old school family business head, with tweed suit, which looked as though it would have been expensive when bought, but had been well worn. He also had more or less the same haircut as I do, grey sides and a middle parting as wide as the M1. A man made for utility rather than fashion. I was astounded when he reappeared later, post mortem, as one of the Angels in full red sparkly drag.
The unknown female worker did the same trick and, after singing, dancing and bookmaking throughout the show, turned up sitting on the front row of the catwalk, in bob style wig and big sunglasses, looking uncannily like Anna Wintour, the British editor of Vogue. Brilliant touch.
The show was an undoubted hit with the audience, who seem to lap up reality star centric productions, but the message was so much overplayed that it felt as though it was almost compulsory to be a transvestite. There are no images of the closing scene, where all the cast came onto the catwalk in patent leather women’s clothes, even Don. As I have stated on many occasions, I have always accepted everyone for what they are, I don’t need to be bashed over the head relentlessly for two and a half hours to remind me. Those who are unable to follow that code probably wouldn’t be in the audience anyway.
I would just like to share this last thought, which might be of interest and amusement for my overseas readers unfamiliar with the towns and cities of England. Northampton is situated about 70 miles north of London, and has been the traditional centre for shoe making for centuries due to the many cattle farms in the area for the leather, and oak trees for the clippings to season it. No offence intended, but it is not one of the best known towns in the country, the first time I heard of it was 60 years ago, almost to the day. It was April, 1965 and their football team, Northampton Town, had just been promoted to the old First Division for the one and only time, being relegated the following year. This sticks in my mind as it meant that they would be playing my home town club, Leeds United, and the geography teacher gave us a rundown on the place. I mention this because their nickname is, unsurprisingly, The Cobblers, which, apart from meaning shoemakers, is also slang for testicles, so, to hear a few thousand people in the stand at Elland Road, chanting ‘Cobblers! Cobblers!’ was confusing. Were they cheering on their side or insulting ours? Whatever, it was hilarious to a 15 year-old lad.
Kinky Boots runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until 24th May. For more details and to book, please go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/kinky-boots-2025/ but be quick as it is already limited availability.
Further tour dates can be found at https://kinkybootstour.com/
For everything else at Leeds Heritage Theatres it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/
Tyke It To The Limit 