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A Haunted Existence
The Island
TOM MARSHMAN’S site-specific exploration of victims of the post-war persecution of homosexuals is heartfelt and worthwhile. But it lacks coherence and its staging fails to take full advantage of the decommissioned subterranean police cells of Bristol’s former Bridewell.
Sincere: Tom Marshman Pic: Paul Samuel White
The arrest in 1954 of a 17-year-old on a train going from Exeter to Bristol for propositioning another male passenger led to the prosecution of a further 15 men. Their hidden lives, interrogations, imprisonment and the electrical aversion therapies that followed are all elements of the performance.
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