Diane Chorley’s show made a splash two years ago on the Edinburgh fringe. But there’s a sense in this delayed Soho revival that Modern Love has found its moment. It’s a hymn to togetherness, to getting out from behind our screens and sharing space. “I’m here, you’re here / And we’re going nowhere”, sings the self-styled “Duchess of Canvey”, raising the roof – and all of us from our seats – with the show’s final number. The song started life as a protest against the ubiquitous mobile phone use Diane encountered on her release from a 20-year prison stretch. But it works a treat as a celebration that (maybe, just maybe) the social atomisation of the last 18 months is coming to an end.
Back in her day, the “Duchess” promoted togetherness with her proprietorship of legendary Canvey Island nightspot the Flick. In its 80s heyday, Shane Richie and Des Lynam were regulars – but all comers were welcome, the more misfit the better. Modern Love recounts how Diane acquired the club, made it great – then let her ego (and love of Grace Jones) get the better of her. One fateful night, a blind eye is turned to fire regulations, and Michelle Pfeiffer goes up in smoke. “Closely followed” – five quick puffs from our hostess – “by Duran Duran”.
That’s a lovely moment from Diane – or from her creator David Selley, who’s upped the comic ante in Modern Love. The songs – with sidekick Milky (Simon Ribchester) on guitar – were always convincing and are again here, even if we tend to get excerpts rather than full numbers. But the anecdotage is bigger-hitting now: see the story of Diane’s hairspray-loving mum grafting herself to the felt ceiling of her Vauxhall Corsa.
And the performance is delivered with such brio. Selley sings Diane’s signature track The Duchess as if wincing at how hot that identity is to handle, and punctuates every other number with absurd pouts at the crowd. He strikes a consummate balance between admitting, with every moue and twinkle, the ridiculousness of his enterprise and delivering Diane’s homilies on solidarity and acceptance – more necessary now than ever – with no side whatsoever.
• At Soho theatre, London, until 28 August.
