Christopher Walker reviews Salty Brine at the Soho Theatre

Since the Pandemic it has become a major challenge for London theatregoers to enjoy a performance and be able to eat dinner. 

Increasingly last orders are at 9pm while most shows begin at 7.30pm. 

This is fine for people who don’t work and don’t mind tucking into a meal at five, but for the rest of us this makes a trip to the theatre like having an injection of Ozempic.

If nothing else, this is a good argument to enjoy the after-nine cabaret performances at the Soho. It also sometimes helps to have had a few drinks so that you are tolerant of the performer’s humour. 

This is true of Salty Brine, who is hugely talented, but quite challenging.

He’s not exactly a drag performer. Yes, he has a dizzying array of frocks, but with a sailor’s cap, beard and hair piece he could not be called a female impersonator.

The Contents of my Head, is a series of tribute songs to a variety of the great divas from Annie Lennox to Judy Garland, and he has the voice to support this.

The challenging part comes in the way he weaves together two very different stories, with those Torch Songs soldered on.

One is the tale of his own life growing up in Boston and South Carolina as a gay boy watching his parents’ marital breakdown. 

The other narrative is that of the American novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Edna Pontelier’s, gradual discovery of her true self on the Louisiana holiday destination of Grand Isle.

This is well brought to life by Salty’s southern drawl. “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: “Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi!” Which broadly translates as “get out of here, for God’s sake” and clearly is a reference to how Edna, and no doubt the young Salty, felt about their domestic arrangements.

The weaving in and out between the two stories becomes dizzying at times, but there is plenty of time for digestion. The front row get Salty in their lap. 

For tickets go to https://sohotheatre.com/events/salty-brine-these-are-the-contents-of-my-head/#performances

Pictured top: Salty Brine (Picture: Da Ping Luo)