The good old British sense of hypocrisy is a strange thing.

Take the current gender wars, for example. On the one hand, drag queens bringing a bit of tacky fun and glamour by reading to kids in schools are vilified by the mob for their so-called ‘perversity’; on the other, the nation goes into mourning at the death of Paul O’Grady, AKA Lily Savage – royalty among drag queens and fully-qualified National Treasure.

So the timing of the arrival of ‘Kinky Boots’ at Weston Playhouse this week – admirably performed by Weston Operatic Society – is somehow prescient. And although it was premiered more than a decade ago, this BBC documentary-turned-film-turned-musical has more than enough contemporary themes to stay the course in 2023.

Like the British attitude towards sex, gender and anything in between, nothing in Kinky Boots is quite what it seems. Superficially, it’s a bit of a fairytale about a dull, straight provincial boy (Charlie) and his lively, not-straight equivalent (drag queen Lola, AKA ‘Simon from Clacton’), both of whom need each other to learn something about themselves.

Yet, like the theme of cross-dressing itself, there is much more to it than meets the eye; both men are hamstrung by overbearing fathers, both have conflicting relationships with women, both must learn not to judge, lest they themselves are judged. And so on…

Charlie (Cameron Isherwood) is called back home from London to manage the family shoe-making firm on his father’s death. The factory is in trouble and Charlie has no plan for its salvation until a chance encounter with Lola (Carl Holdway-Bradley) provides the inspiration he needs – what the world has been waiting for, it seems, are gloss-red high-heeled fetish shoes that can be worn safely by men.

Lola is taken on as chief designer, the factory switches production from sensible brogues to screaming-queen high-kickers and all is set fair for the Milan Fashion Show until the inevitable fall-outs and mutinies take place, and suddenly the whole thing – factory, fashion show and friendships – faces jeopardy.

The cast tackle this fast-paced, sharp-tongued musical with verve, wit and no small amount of showbiz cheek. Inevitably, perhaps, everything shifts up a gear with the arrival of Lola and her Angels (an excellently camp ensemble of otherwise hirsute males, judging by the programme photos) and it’s Lola who gets all the best lines, worthy of the late Lily herself (“You’re never more than 10 steps from a cross-dresser” “You wouldn’t trust me to babysit a cactus”).

That said, there are those amidst an altogether terrific supporting cast who threaten to steal the show. Chief among these is Jodie Gibson, who as factory girl Lauren cannot hide her crush on the hapless Charlie, and brings to mind the fact that 80s pop sensation Cyndi Lauper wrote the show’s music and lyrics. Lauper’s playfulness is imbued in this character, and Jodie Gibson brings out this to its fullest. Girls just wanna have fun, indeed….

Notable mentions should also go to Luke Burgess, as the dragophobic