The Flea
Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick, London

NAOMI KUYCK-COHEN’s set intrigues as we settle in our seats; surreal furniture for a brothel and a sitting room, a weird Dali-esque desk and chairs on the upper level.  

Then come the five actors marching on, their 12 roles named on screens. Costume designer Lambdog1066 seems to have scissored through many charity shop numbers, with mutton leg sleeves on some. What do these mean? Doesn’t matter — they look great. Call it punk Victoriana with a nod to Vivienne Westwood.  

This introductory catwalk opens the emotional valves for the true (and embellished) story of the 1889 Cleveland Street scandal that rocked Victorian England, from dirt-poor Bermondsey, London to gold-rich Buckingham palace. 

The mother/son relationships played out by Breffni Holahan and Tomas Azocar-Nevin in both postcodes are stunningly good. They, like the other actors, transform: Stefan Race as Lord Arthur Somerset and post office runner Henry Newlove; and Aaron Gill as Hanks, Barwell and Euston. 

This is also the story of a chain reaction of threatened reputations: the flea that bit the rat that bit the horse that lashed out and kicked Charlie Swinscow’s tanner dad dead in the head. Hence Charlie needing a bit of extra cash to help his impoverished mother.  Where did he get that fifteen bob?  

And as for those reputations... Detective Abberline, beautifully played by Will Bliss, has flunked the Ripper case and his superior gives him the chance to expose a male brothel in Fitzrovia as a pre-retirement success. 

Then there is Victoria’s legacy as Queen of the British empire. This might take a tumble if her grandson Eddie were discovered to be a user of said brothel. Like the sexual scandals that rocked the Macmillan government (and who knows what is to come) it is hypocrisy that’s the issue, rather than the labyrinthine search for Eros.  

This is a period drama and in panto style comes with a few nods to the present; victimised Post Office employees, and a Gladstone cameo (Bliss again) telling us that change cannot be rushed “not with an Englishman anyway.” And the powerful person giving the nod for a murder in order to save the monarchy. There is a hilarious scene where Queen Victoria watches future movies of herself. 

Writer James Fritz has written something marvellous. Lighting design by Joshua Gadsby, sound by Josh Anio Grigg make this a very rich pudding indeed. Director Jay Miller also heads up The Yard Theatre, and it is clear that The Flea’s staging relates utterly to that space. Watch this space!    

Runs at The Yard until November 18. Box Office: 07756 734172, theyardtheatre.co.uk