For Queen and Country – Army @ the Fringe
Major Denis Rake (Neil Summerville) was a gay actor parachuted into Occupied France during WW2 to serve as a radio operator. The average life expectancy of an SOE wireless operator there was just six weeks, and he was quickly betrayed and forced into hiding. So, he did the only logical thing a man on the run for his life does and became a drag queen entertaining Nazi officers in a Parisian nightclub.
Writer/director Paul Stone discovered Rake's story while making the BBC TV programme Secret Agent Selection and decided to shine a light on the contribution of the LGBT+ community to WW2, assisted by venue Army @ The Fringe.
The venue is noteworthy here. For one thing, it's not every fringe venue where the ushers, bar staff and techies are all in military uniform. For another there's...