Unhappy Birthday

Cakes, party hats and streamers were the gifts bestowed on entrants to Amy Lamé’s Unhappy Birthday, but Lamé’s quirky off the wall show is far from unhappy. This theatrical love letter to Morrissey has Lamé and audience members drinking shots of milk and dancing around while she waits for her beloved Morrissey to arrive.

It veers between an examination of teenage angst, the influence Morrissey had on Lamé’s development and the link between her love for this man and discovering her lesbian sexuality.  But it’s an odd relationship. The declarations of her love for the singer prove quite violent and bloody,  despite the comical staging, from the elaborate cutting of her ‘hair’ and brutal demolition of a very pretty looking sponge cake. These self destructive facets provide a potentially intelligent yet disturbing insight into obsession in general.

The show certainly stands out from any other event I have seen in a long while, but it seems to revel in being a spectacle. It’s smart and witty, but neither the reasoning behind the party setting, nor the particular point of the performance as a whole ever comes across and the subjects of obsession and teenage angst, while clever and sharp, don’t quite gel together with the staging but maybe that’s the point.  Nonetheless, it is fun, lively and will appeal to any lover of Morrissey and The Smiths.

Eliza Power

Guess what? Amy Lame opened up her little black book of London for us. Click her name to read the article.