The Last Song of Oliver Sipple ~ [The King's Head Theatre] ~ Review

[page_on_stage]

In the same week that it was announced Alan Turing will be the new face of the fifty pound note another gay hero was remembered on a much smaller stage at The Kings Head in Islington. The Last Song of Oliver Sipple is a one man show about real life Vietnam veteran who, in 1975, stopped the assassination of American President Gerald Ford when a crazed gunwoman made an attempt on his life. In the days and weeks that followed the world wanted to know more about this national hero – who was he? Where had he come from? What was in store for him next? What would the President say when he invited him to the White House?

But journalists prying into the life of Oliver Sipple soon came across some startling information about his personal life – Sipple was a homosexual. Against his wishes the media released articles laying Sipple’s personal life bare for all to see, a devastating breech of privacy for Sipple, who had not yet even come out to his family. What should have been a celebration of a man who saved the life of a world leader became a vicious expose by a group of headline grabbing mud rakers who, over the next ten years or more, systematically destroyed Sipple’s life.

This was a story which I was previously unfamiliar with, and I can’t thank those involved in this show enough for bringing this incredible, important, and tragic tale to my attention. I love a good untold story, particularly those which fall under the category of queer history, and The Last Song of Oliver Sipple has everything one could hope to get out of an hour of theatre in this genre. David Hendon’s moving script is an insightful glimpse into the impact that a homophobic society has on an individual placed on a public platform. And it’s not just the cruelty of these homophobes which Hendon shines a light upon, but the scorn of Sipple’s own community when he asks that his private life remain just that – private.

There’s such a sense of helpless desperation to this show, Sipple’s life removed completely from his own control and carried away like a plastic bag in a high force gale. Jackson Pentland does a fantastic job of carrying the play, bringing an intuitive understanding to Sipple’s moments of pain and an easy brevity to his moments of mirth and resilience (and his drunk singing may be the best I’ve seen on stage!). His performance isn’t quite flawless, he favours the upwards inflection at the end of sentences a little too often and his American accent could use a little more honing, but they’re small gripes for an otherwise captivating performance.

The direction of The Last Song of Oliver Sipple is... a little odd. Each scene change is marked by the lights dimming, the chorus of a different classic pop song blasts out, and Sipple stands and dances to it, moving from one position to another. For the first scene or five this is fine, it’s formulaic but it works, but as the play gets more serious, more intense, and more upsetting these scene changes become jarring and even a little insensitive. Somewhere along the way it just stops working and becomes a distraction from the story rather than a tool to keep it going.

There’s more than just potential here, there’s a good show, which could become a great one with some minor tweaks, and I sincerely hope that it does. Thirty years after his death The Last Song of Oliver Sipple is a credit to his memory and a heart breaking tribute to every courageous person whose great deeds and achievements have been overshadowed by people’s obsession with who one takes to bed.

★★★☆☆