Foam
Writer: Harry McDonald
Director: Gavin Roach
Venue: Qtopia
August 6-23, 2025
It is 1974, a public lavatory, and Nicky is shaving his head. Enter Mosley, a slick older gentleman who recognises in Nicky the kind of young man he is looking for and proceeds to groom Nicky for his ‘club for young men’. Thus begins Nicky’s transition into a proud neo-Nazi, complete with skinhead, tattoos and red-laced boots. But there is another identity that Nicky is less keen to wear on his sleeve. Nicky is secretly queer.
Mosley is not the only man that Nicky will meet in a public lavatory. Spanning twenty years, the play takes us through Nicky’s life via various encounters with men in public toilets. Through these encounters, we see the tensions between Nicky’s right-wing ideology and his hidden queer identity.
Foam is inspired by the notorious Nicky Crane, a violent right-wing figure in the London skinhead scene of the 1970s and 80s, and the dialogue feels appropriately blunt and realistic. Crane was made Kent organiser of the neo-Nazi British Movement, and organised attacks on political opponents and minority groups. Crane also identified as gay vand worked security on the doors of gay clubs. It seems that Crane managed to find acceptance in the gay scene, where his skinhead and tattoos were seen as a fashion statement rather than a political statement.
The absorption of fascist symbolism into the fashion world is captured brilliantly in a scene between Patrick Phillips as Nicky and Joshua Merten as a young nightclub photographer and adoring fan. There is palpable chemistry between Phillips and Merten as the photographer is enchanted by Nicky’s aesthetic, assuming that Nicky is only a skinhead for the look. The scene shows how idolising the fascist look can create a platform for genuine extremist views.
By trying to convey moments across twenty years, the play leaves the audience with little time to grasp the full extent of Nicky’s hate crimes. It is only in the scene when Nicky is a club bouncer that we are confronted with stories of his violent past. However, the play then quickly moves on to another chapter of Nicky’s life. The ambitious scale of the plot means the extremist ideology can at times feel more like an aesthetic choice than the dangerous core belief system of a violent criminal.
Throughout the play Phillips has a compelling presence on stage as the central character. Chad Traupman, Joshua Merten and Timothy Springs play a range of characters, vividly recreating the complex kind of world Nicky moved through.
Director Gavin Roach has cleverly chosen to stage Foam in The Substation in Taylor Square. Left disused for 30 years, the abandoned substation has been reclaimed by Qtopia, which now uses the space for exhibitions and performances. The audience can hear the bustle of Oxford Street from inside the space, bringing the underground queer scenes of the 1970s and 80s to life.
A hard-hitting play, Foam tackles themes of both personal and political significance on an ambitious scale.
