Blue Blood

On 27th April 2024, I attended the Blue Devil production of Blue Blood at the Grove Theatre in Eastbourne. It was a hugely enjoyable evening.

The plot is a modernised (but set in the 1950s, when homosexuality was illegal) adaptation of the book that inspired the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets. This production was, like that film, a light-heartedly humorous entertainment. Gabriel Jones is a charming but utterly amoral young man with a penchant for sleeping with both men and women. Because of a family feud, he has grown up in relative poverty despite being fifth in line to a dukedom. So he decides to murder those standing between him and his inheritance. What could go wrong? Of course, there is a significant hiccough on his way to becoming Duke.

The cast was uniformly strong but three actors stood out for me. Anna Fraser gave the character of Nadine Stapleton a delightfully nuanced range of voice, gesture and expression. Alexander Hunt, adroitly used voice and mannerism to distinguish each of his multiple roles. Finally, Maximus Polling, permanently on the stage as lead character Gabriel Jones, managed to combine charm and chilling amorality both when acting with the others and when directly addressing the audience.

Costume played a key part in the production. Maximus repeatedly change jacket, tie and sometimes even trousers on-stage whilst continuing to address the audience but perhaps the greatest costume coup was what Caitlin Cameron as Edith Gascoigne appeared in after divesting herself of a wedding dress. Other props were kept simple except for the endless variety of (mostly alcoholic) drinks available.

I was a member of a nine-strong group of adults who attended the performance and everyone afterwards said how much they enjoyed it. I look forward to seeing more productions from this talented theatre group.

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God