‘It stole years’: the musical about those silenced by anti-gay law Section 28

Backstage at the Piccadilly theatre was the place to be on 5 June 1988. In the midst of rampant homophobia in the papers, on the streets and in parliament, that night saw artful protest packed into a raucous, highly political and extraordinarily gay evening of entertainment.

Organised by lesbian theatre group 20th Century Vixen, Before the Act was a benefit gala made in protest against , the legislation that had passed the previous month prohibiting local councils from distributing any material seen to “promote