Lewd and Lascivious Acts – Hope Street Theatre

Danny Partington’s Lewd and Lascivious Acts is a heart wrenching love story wrapped in an unflinching examination of the brutality experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community at the hands of the Nazi regime. It’s 1931 and Freddie (James Sprague) and Paul (Evan Watkinson) have just met in Berlin’s famous Eldorado club. The chemistry between the actors is palpable, with Sprague’s earnest and vulnerable sincerity contrasting beautifully with Watkinson’s more flamboyant and captivating presence.

An inescapable air of dread follows Freddie and Paul as they begin their enduring romance. While they hold one another and dream of better times, the audience is ever more aware of the horrors lurking on the horizon. Partington’s script plays on this awareness to great effect, frequently honing in on the old adage: It’s the hope that kills you. The two men are captured and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, sometimes referred to as ‘Auschwitz for homosexuals’ due to its notoriously brutal treatment of gay prisoners. There, Freddie, Paul and new cell mates Joe (James Jarman) and Karl (Samuel Blackhurst) are beaten, experimented upon, mutilated, raped and, in some cases, executed. Charlie Forrest’s Soldier acts as a stand in for the Nazis, relishing in the torment he causes and justifying his acts with talk of how ‘being a real man’ means exerting his dominance over those who are ‘scarcely even’ men. Forrest’s performance is truly unnerving.

I won’t go into anymore details, but Lewd and Lascivious Acts excels at shining a much-needed light on the often-overlooked suffering of the LGBTQ+ community in Nazi Germany. The closing moments of the play serve as a final gut punch, as Freddie explains that homosexuals were not initially seen as victims of the Nazis, with many even forced by the East and West German governments to complete their prison sentences; solely for the crime of their sexuality. It was only in the year 2000, over half a century later, that The Bundestag officially apologised to the LGBTQ+ community for the abuse they experienced under the Nazi regime. This final monologue served as a sobering reminder of the very real persecution LGBTQ+ people still experience. Their suffering was not defeated alongside the Nazis, and there is always more work to be done to ensure their freedoms.

On a technical level, Lewd and Lascivious Acts is perhaps less accomplished. The first act in particular, beginning with an unnecessary preset which did little to establish the tone of the Eldorado, lacked an element of slickness in the blocking, and there were occasional flubbed lines and/or moments of stilted dialogue. I also would have liked to have seen more done with the lighting and sound design in this act. For instance, making the Eldorado truly pop in contrast to the bare and brutal lighting of Sachsenhausen would have further highlighted just how far Germany fell under the Nazis. That being said, given the show was only in the Hope St Theatre for two nights, I’m not going to judge that too harshly. Indeed, all of my little nitpicks pale in comparison to the phenomenal storytelling of Partington’s script and a talented cast.

Lewd and Lascivious Acts is beautiful, brutal and haunting. By no means is it an easy watch, but it is essential. Unfortunately, it has finished its run at the Hope St Theatre, but I urge you to seek out any future performances, wherever they may be.

Reviewer: Ben Pearson

Reviewed: 9^th November 2025

North West End UK Rating: