Kinky Boots Research

Style and Key Themes

Kinky Boots is a musical with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the 2005 British film Kinky Boots,

written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth and mostly inspired by true events. Kinky Boots was based in the early 2000s and gives a really strong

insight too what life was like in the early 2000s for those who were homosexual and trying to discover there identity. It also covers the themes

of discovering your passion, conquering prejudice and surpassing stereotypes. These themes are familiar and certainly still real issues

because we still have yet to accept the message and these continue to be issues in society. At first glance Kinky Boots appears to be a really

over the top, flamboyant musical. Showcasing drag queens, men in dresses and over excitable songs, but after looking deeper it really shows

off these themes of accepting yourself and others for who they are and overcoming stereotypes. Kinky Boots showcases what a world would

be like if every person was accepting of one another, a world where there is no prejudice. As well as this however it also does a really good

job in showcasing the prejudice that is still rife today, there are characters who are homophobic and very tradionalist in their views. For

example, the character Don, is someone who is like this. At first he is very stubborn in his views, he doesn’t like Lola for who she is and thinks

Charlie is going to ruin the factory with what he is doing to it. However, after the fight between Don and Lola, which Lola let Don win, Lola said

to him that she had “bigger issues to worry about in her life than winning a fight”. This implied that Lola doesn’t care what people think of her,

whereas Don really cared about how if he lost this fight in front of a lot of people, to a woman, how that would affect his manhood. Later in the

musical Don becomes more accepting of Lola and learns to accept people for who they are and who they want to be. So as well as covering

the themes of discovering your passion, conquering prejudice and surpassing stereotypes. It also shows themes of learning to accept people

for who they are, which is something that still needs to be spread more around the world.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.” - Fierstein, H,

2016
This quote by Harvey Fierstein gives a strong message to people who are going through similar stages in their life just like the themes

apparent in Kinky Boots. It implies to make your life what you want it to be and not to let anyone make your life choices for you. Fierstein is an

openly gay man and has talked about his life choices and how he began to accept himself for who he was and didn’t shy away from it.

Kinky Boots Context

Where Kinky Boots was set:

Kinky Boots was based in the East Midlands town, Northampton in 2005. Kinky Boots is mainly based on a true story and is about Steve

Pateman and the attempt made to save his family owned shoe factory (W.J. Brooks Ltd), which was in Earls Barton, Northampton. Steve

Pateman took charge of his family-run shoe business in 1993 following his fathers death. The business was on a decline and was in financial

trouble, facing closure. This was because by the early nineties, demand for traditional, high-quality, men’s leather men’s brogues had

slumped. Salvation came when a woman called Sue Shepard who owned a store selling footwear for cross-dressers and drag queens

contacted him, asking if he could make high-heeled boots in male sizes. Sue explained she was having real difficulty getting hold of

well-made women's shoes which would fit men. She persuaded him the market wasn't as niche as he thought and suddenly he was keen.

Sue went on to say that:

“at one point Steve got carried away. He was talking about leopard-skin boots and other exotic lines.” (Sheppard, 2014)

Steve was convinced there was a huge gap in the market for something like this and felt it was the only choice he had left as he didn’t want to

sell the factory. There were no shoe factories that designed stilettos, knee high boots, or anything of the sort fit enough to hold a man's wait

and this is what Sue Sheppard wanted to get across.

to the 2005 film adaptation of the story Kinky Boots. It was filmed in Tricker’s shoe factory in St Michael’s Road as its main location and

includes many scenes in and around Northampton. Steve Patemen went on to write in his autobiography:

“Who would have thought it? A simple business project has created so much interest. Two BBC documentaries, a hit film, Broadway and West

End award winning musicals and now my autobiography.” (Patemen, 2016)

Steve did have his doubts when the film was being made however, different scene and script writers were coming and going so much he

wasn't convinced it was going to happen. He also said the same thing when there was talk of a musical adaptation coming out.

“"Unlike with the film there's no payment involved although it's still basically my story - and at first I doubted the stage show would ever

happen anyway. I've learnt enough about show business to know that most ideas never come to fruition” (Patemen, 2016)

Patemen did go on to say how much he enjoyed both film and musical despite only seeing a couple of clips online. There were of course

changes made and he notoriously said that it had “much more glamour, which wasn’t exactly how things went down”. But it was a massive hit

on Broadway nonetheless winning a huge amount of awards. When asked about Steve Patemen, the director of the musical adaptation

stated:

“Steve’s story is proof that saying ‘YES’ can facilitate miraculous change far beyond our imaginations...” (Fierstein, 2016)

The History of Northampton:

Originating about 1100 as a walled town with a castle on the River Nene. The town walls survived until the Restoration (1660) after the

English Civil Wars; they were then demolished because Northampton had sided with Parliament and against the king. The railway station now

occupies the site of the old castle. Much of the town was destroyed by fire in 1675. Rebuilding continued through the 18th century, providing

the town with a fine range of buildings surrounding the large market square, with the focal point at All Saints Church. A Roman Catholic
bishopric was founded in 1850, and the cathedral was begun in 1864 and completed in 1960. Historically Northampton was known for its shoe

and leather industry. The town is an important retail and market centre serving Northamptonshire and north Buckinghamshire. Northampton

was designated a planned new town in 1965, and expansion followed. (Sheetz, 2018)

Kinky Boots was of course based in Northampton and it has always been a well known town for its industrial impact on England. The shoe

factory industry especially. W.J. Brooks Shoe Company was one of the shoe factories that was run in Northampton and this is the factory that

Kinky Boots is based off of, as it went through a very similar transition to what Price and Son did in the musical.

The history of LGBT rights in the United Kingdom:

The Buggery Act of 1533, passed by Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII, is the first time in law that male homosexuality was targeted for

persecution in the UK. Completely outlawing sodomy in Britain – and by extension what would become the entire British Empire – convictions

were punishable by death. It was not until 1861 with the passing of the Offences Against the Person Act, that the death penalty was abolished

for acts of sodomy – instead being made punishable by a minimum of 10 years imprisonment. The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885

however, went a step further once again, making any male homosexual act illegal – whether or not a witness was present – meaning that

even acts committed in private could be prosecuted. Female homosexuality was never explicitly targeted by any legislation. Although

discussed for the first time in Parliament in 1921 with a view to introducing discriminatory legislation (to become the Criminal Law Amendment

Bill 1921), this ultimately failed when both the House of Commons and House of Lords rejected it due to the fear a law would draw attention

and encourage women to explore homosexuality. It was also assumed that lesbianism occurred in an extremely small pocket of the female

population. In May 1951 Roberta Cowell, a former World War II Spitfire pilot, became the first transgender women to undergo vaginoplasty

surgery in the UK. Cowell continued her career as a racing driver and published her autobiography in 1954.

Meanwhile, a significant rise in arrests and prosecutions of homosexual men were made after World War II. Many were from high rank and

held positions within government and national institutions, such as Alan Turing, the cryptographer whose work played a decisive role in the

breaking of the Enigma code. This increase in prosecutions called into question the legal system in place for dealing with homosexual acts. It

took 10 years for the Government to implement the Wolfenden Report’s recommendations in the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Backed by the

Church of England and the House of Lords, the Sexual Offences Act partially legalised same-sex acts in the UK between men over the age of

21 conducted in private. Scotland and Northern Ireland followed suit over a decade later, in 1980 and 1981 respectively. The Sexual
Offences Act represented a stepping stone towards equality, but there was still a long way to go. In 2004 the Civil Partnership Act 2004

allowed same-sex couples to legally enter into binding partnerships, similar to marriage. The subsequent Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act

2013 then went further, allowing same-sex couples in England and Wales to marry; Scotland followed suit with the Marriage and Civil

Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014. Northern Ireland enactment the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, making same-sex

marriage legal on 13 January 2020. (Dryden, S 2017)

The Gender Recognition Act 2004, which came into effect on 4 April 2005, gave trans people full legal recognition of their gender, allowing

them to acquire a new birth certificate – although gender options are limited to ‘male’ or ‘female’. Between July and October 2018 the UK

Government consulted the public on reforming the Act. As of 1 September 2020 no report from the consultation has been published.

The Equality Act 2010 gave LGBT employees protections from discrimination, harassment and victimisation at work. The legislation brought

together existing legislation and added protections for trans workers, solidifying rights granted by the Gender Recognition Act.

The LGBT community continues to fight for equality and social acceptance.

(Dryden, 2017)

Relating this back to Kinky Boots we can see that it wasn’t until 2005 where people were legally allowed to change their gender on their birth

certificate to what they felt comfortable with it being. So we can see for someone like Lola, how much of an impact someone like her would

have had on other people going through something similar to her. As the law was only passed that year it was still a very taboo and raw

subject to cover and of course there were going to be a lot of people who disagreed with this. But someone like Lola being the focal point

would have helped other people come forward. So for Steve Pateman turning his factory from a traditional leather shoe factory into a factory

that creates stilettos and knee high boots suitable for men would have been a huge turning point for the county and the world becoming more

accepting of other people. Homosexuals, cross-dressers, drag-queens, transexuals, et cetera all now had a place to buy their shoes from

where they wouldn’t be judged so harshly and would find hundreds of other people just like them. Steve Pateman and Sue Sheppard were a

huge focal point for this adaptation. Despite there still being a lot of prejudice towards these people it was a huge step in the right direction, to

making them feel much more comfortable and at ease with being who they want to be.

The History of Drag

impeccably dressed and flawlessly painted, the person underneath the queen disappears almost completely. Oftentimes, I've heard drag

performers describe their personas as though they were another person. They've plunged their hands deep down into their own psyches and

pulled out the weirdest, fiercest, and most theatrical parts of themselves, then mashed them together to form something new.” (Roschke, R,

2018). This is how a journalist had described drag performers and it is a completely just way to describe them. Drag performers have become

more and more socially accepted in the 21st century, with several films, T.V series, Musicals, celebrities, et cetera all coming to the surface.

For example RuPaul’s Drag race is a television series which is about drag performers who are put through challenges to see who becomes

the most entertaining and who will be crowned the UK’s number one Drag performer. Following the show's success in America it was brought

over to the UK. It has just had its most successful series in its history taking up almost one million viewers for the premiere and eight hundred

thousand viewers for the series finale, and so drag has definitely surfaced as a much more well known lifestyle all around the world.

However, it hasn’t always been like this, drag like this has only really become more known in the past decade or two. Before that, drag was

submerged deep in underground clubs and back-alley bars. And before that, it was an exaggerated and integral part of the theater culture.

The fact is, drag has been a part of our culture for centuries. And every era and every new iteration of the art form has been crucial to the

shape and success of drag today. Drag hasn’t always been colourful dresses and faces of makeup it started off a little less extravagant where

men would wear women’s clothes, often on their own so no one would see or in some cases happily show off what they were wearing.

In his book “Drag Diaries”, Jonathan David focuses on two long-ago origin points: ancient ceremonies (Native American, indigenous South

American, and Ancient Egyptian) and Japanese theater. David writes that:

“cross-dressing was widely documented among the Aztecs, Incas, and Egyptians, among other great civilizations of the past, and exists today

in tribal ceremonies around the world." (David, 1995).

As well as this in David’s book he writes that it definitely began to surface in the 17th century in Japanese theatre. The two styles of which

drag was cantered were called Kabuki drama and Noah drama. Kabuki drama was a form of classical theater in Japan known for its elaborate

costumes and dynamic acting. The phrases Kabuki theater, kabuki dance, or kabuki play are sometimes used in political discourse to

describe an event characterized more by showmanship than by content. Noh drama Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama
that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still

regularly performed today. David notes that:

“Kabuki is more popular and less ritualistic than Noh. In Kabuki theater, the female impersonators are "carefully made-up, speak in falsetto

voices, and move to suggest the essence of femininity." (David, 1995)

Women never played these cross-dressing roles in the theatre, it was very much looked down upon. In his book ”Drag: A History of Female

Impersonation in the Performing Arts” by Roger Baker. Another very well known book on the history of drag performers, Baker wrote:

“Women played no active part in the services and the offices of the church, so the original acting was done exclusively by men, choirboys

assisting the clerks and playing women's roles when required," (Baker, 1994)

However this rule did just apply for theatre performances that were about the church, despite this when western theatre transitioned from its

religious routes to something much less sacred this rule was kept in place. This was because the medium of drag was believed to be part of

the homosexual world. It wasn’t until much later on that the two became separate.

In Kinky Boots you can see that character Don is very against this way of living and is very patronising towards Lola throughout the play. This

is something that people who cross dressed had to face on a daily basis when it started to become a much more recurring theme in society.

Throughout the musical you can see the change and the journey Don goes on to become more accepting of this lifestyle, after Lola let Don

win the fight he gained a new found respect towards Lola and this changed him to accept people for who they are.

Director, Lyricist and Original Production

Harvey Fierstein:
Harvey Fierstein (born 6th June 1954) is an openly gay American playwright and actor famous for his unorthodox and outlandish

performances that not only entertain people, but also drive home an important point—that gays and lesbians are inherent components of the

contemporary society. He played Frank Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire and he voiced Yao in Mulan. However, he is mainly known for his works as a

director. His most notable works include: Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles, Kinky Boots, Casa Valentina, Newsies, A Catered Affair,

Legs Diamond and Safe Sex. Fierstein has also won several awards for his work, these include: Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his

own play Torch Song Trilogy (about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family) and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a

Musical for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. He also wrote the book for the musical La Cage aux Folles, for which he won the Tony Award

for Best Book of a Musical, and wrote the book for the Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of

Fame in 2007.

However, Fierstein really rose to fame with his collection of plays, ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ which he wrote and starred in. The plays which won

him two prestigious Tony Awards dealt with the life and loves of a gay drag queen in the early 1980’s. Homosexuality was still considered a

taboo topic during those times but Fierstein had the courage and creativity to successfully address this issue in his plays. He was one of the

first celebrities to come out of the closet. He was a daredevil who had no qualms about playing a lesbian cleaning woman in his theatrical

debut, Andy Warhol’s ‘Pork’ in 1971.

Cyndi Lauper:

The Musical composer of Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper was an American singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Her career has spanned over

40 years. Some of her most iconic works include: Her album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve

four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night"—and

earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion

picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors (1986). Since 1983, Lauper has released eleven studio albums and participated in

many other projects. In 2010, Memphis Blues became Billboard's most successful blues album of the year, remaining at number one on the

Billboard Blues Albums chart for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2013, Lauper won the Tony Award for best original score for composing the

Broadway musical Kinky Boots, making her the first woman to win the category by herself. The musical was awarded five other Tonys
including a Tony Award for Best New Musical. In 2014, Lauper was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the cast

recording. In 2016, the West End production won Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards.

The Kinky Boots film was made in 2005 and was a British-American comedy-drama directed by Julian Jarrold and written by Geoff Deane and

Tim Firth. Based on a true story, the movie tells of a struggling British shoe factory's young, strait-laced owner, Charlie, who forms an unlikely

partnership with Lola, a drag queen, to save the business. Charlie develops a plan to produce custom footwear for drag queens, rather than

the men's dress shoes that his firm is known for, alienating many in the process.

The original production of Kinky Boots premiered at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago in October 2012, with both direction and

choreography by Jerry Mitchell, and starring Stark Sands and Billy Porter as Charlie and Lola, respectively. The musical began a US tour in

2014. The musical then ended on April 7, 2019.

It first opened on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 4, 2013, the cast featured Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, and Billy Porter,

who went on to win the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as the fierce, fabulous drag queen Lola. The musical,

which centers on the unlikely partnership between a young man who inherits his father's down-on-its-luck shoe factory and a London drag

queen in need of some stronger stilettos, also took home the Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as Tonys for Cyndi Lauper's score, Jerry

Mitchell's choreography, Stephen Oremus' orchestrations, and John Shivers' sound design. The show has gone on to enjoy a successful six

year run and has had productions in London, Australia, and Canada, a national tour, and an international tour that played Japan, Korea, and

more.

How I Will Develop as a Performer in Kinky Boots

After the audition I was informed I had got the role of an angel, one of Lola’s drag queens. This role is something completely different to

anything I have ever done before. It is going to really push me outside of my comfort zone. It is a role that is completely different to any other

role in other musicals and for that I am grateful as it is definitely something I can add to my portfolio and will definitely help me to become a

more versatile actor.

dancers. Dancing is something that at the beginning of the course in 2018 was something I wouldn’t even think about attempting. I was a very

tunnel visioned performer and only wanted to do shows that were comical and weren’t very challenging at all. But over the years I feel I have

adapted considerably and have progressed into a more versatile performer. Dancing is now something I really enjoy doing and show a

positive interest in so Kinky Boots is going to help take my versatility one step further.

The angels also have a lot of backing singing to do, which is also pushing me out of my comfort zone. Similarly to dancing, singing was

something that a couple of years ago was something I wasn’t interested in at all and I was not confident in my own abilities. But I feel over the

years I have gained more confidence on stage and I am now willing to throw myself into anything with full confidence. I have worked hard on

my singing voice over the past 6 months to a year and so I feel like the singing aspect of being an angel won’t be a problem.

I think a weakness of mine would be the learning the fine tuning aspect of a dance. Making sure I am putting the right foot forward when it

should be or turning the right way. As I feel I can learn a piece of choreography quite well it is just making sure every part of it is perfect. I will

overcome this by making sure after learning a new piece of choreography to film it and to make sure to work on it in my free time. Kinky Boots

is a show I really want to put everything I can into because it is such a unique show and I want to give the best performance I can. I also feel

like I am going to learn so much by doing this show and I hope this will be a huge step into me really becoming the versatile actor I want to

be.

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