Boy George, former Blitz Kid and front person for Culture Club, makes his West End debut in his self-penned musical Taboo next week. Set in the era of the New Romantics and the 1980s London club scene, Taboo is as much a deconstruction as a celebration of a colourful era.
Contrary to all expectations, George will not be playing himself but one of his best friends, the late performance artist/fashion designer Leigh Bowery, whose outrageous costumes and make-up would customarily take him seven hours to apply.
Bowery, who also modelled for the artist Lucian Freud, was renowned for his extravagant appearances and was one of the guiding figures behind the London club scene in the Eighties. Stranger still, George will be cast opposite another actor (Euan Morton), playing a younger version of himself.
"The first day of rehearsals was hideous," confesses George, during a brief break from rehearsals. "But the funniest bit of the show is when someone says to me: 'Forget about Boy George!' Of course, one has to be detached about it. Leigh is a great character to play. He was very Toad of Toad Hall. He was a madman, God bless her!"
Taboo opened to good notices and has maintained steady audiences in spite of the changes en route. For one thing, George rewrote a lyric that referred to Madonna in somewhat uncomplimentary terms: "Madonna's got no sense of humour," says George. "She is also going on stage soon. I'm just doing this to annoy her."
Having cleaned up his act since the heady, drug-fuelled days of the Eighties, George attributes his work ethic to his mother who did not countenance any slacking in her Irish household: "I was raised in a house where I was forced to work," recalls George.
"If I walked out of a job - which I did every five minutes - my mum packed me off to the Job Centre. No one in my house was allowed to sign on."
As for the current club scene, George expresses little but contempt and disappointment: "You go to clubs now and everything is so f***ing boring. They wear vests. There's no sense of fun or occasion. There is no sense of rebellion. The great thing about Leigh was that he dressed up and got his big arse out. My arse isn't quite as big."
As for the present, George is "sh***ing himself" about appearing on stage, but will undoubtedly make, as they say, a good fist of it.
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"Kids love it. We've had seven-year-olds in to see the show. I tell their mothers that there is a lot of swearing. But they love it. They love the spectacle. What is there to look at now?"
Meanwhile, there remains one major detail to sort out: "I'm still not decided about the eyebrows," he frets.
Break a leg, George Boy.
Boy George arrives on stage in Taboo, currently at The Venue, on Monday, 6 May.
Taboo
