In November 1971, the queer, avant-garde, hippy theatre troupe The Cockettes travelled from their San Francisco home to play New York. Despite success back west, the east-coast gig was a disaster played out in front of many major celebrities unimpressed by their ad-hoc style and no-rehearsal policy. A musical homage to a group that wasn’t just creatively experimental but fully embracing of fluidity in gender and sexuality feels especially important right now, certainly here but especially in the US given recent rulings.

Midnight At The Palace is a sparkling gem; the costumes and set are so dazzlingly busy you might need to see it again straight away. The show wonderfully captures this fascinating slice of counter-culture history using the run-up to that disastrous gig as its structure. The overall feeling is of joyous celebration but there’s an undercurrent of sadness as two of the major players, leader Hibiscus and singer Sylvester, died of AIDS-related illnesses, alongside many others. 

Midnight At The Palace, Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 24 August, 9.30pm; main picture: Damian Robertson.