Cowbois, a joyful and moving new play written by Charlie Josephine, arrives at the Swan Theatre (RSC) this autumn, complete with shoot-outs, swagger and sexual expression.

The play begins in a sleepy frontier town, in a saloon bar under the caring eye of landlady and social leader, Miss Lillian (Sophie Melville). The Husbands of the town have left in pursuit of gold and are presumed dead; rations are dwindling. The well-meaning, drunken Sheriff Roger (Paul Hunter) stumbles around ineffectually while the forgotten people of the town are trapped in their dull reality and swathed in heavy petticoats.

Into this stifled environment swaggers Jack Cannon, the infamous outlaw played by Vinnie Heaven who owns the stage.  Jack is an all-singing, all-dancing gunslinger, decked out in gaudy cowboy attire.  The stilted normality of the town begins to unravel, and its population are jolted into a new life.

The cast is a nicely varied ensemble of characters who each has something different to learn from the mysterious stranger. Sally Ann (Emma Pallant) and Jayne (Lucy McCormick) begin the play vying for who can be the most extravagantly repressed. Then there's the straight-talking Mary (Bridgette Amofah) and shy, stubborn Lou, played in a touching debut from Lee Braithwaite. The audience lit up the moment that LJ Parkinson crashed onto the stage as wild bounty hunter Charley Parkhurst.

Everything in the production contrasts the stuffy prior reality of the town with the freedom and lust for life (and each other) that Jack brings.  The costumes transform from the restrictive clothing associated with pioneer women to bright colours, rhinestones, and skirts made for dancing.  The physical movement is an expression of freedom, and the music loosens up from a church choir to the epic climax of the play  led by Bridgette Amofah.

The script, written by Charlie Josephine, is clearly a labour of love, telling a story inspired by the ‘female husbands’ of frontier communities and celebrating trans-masculinity.  There are times when the pace needs tightening up a little but what we have here is a worthy tribute to what is clearly a deeply personal story.

Cowbois is a joyous romp, galloping through everything that’s expected from a wild west adventure - including a shoot-out that leaves you with the smell of gunpowder and ringing in your ears.  It’s also a touching production, built with lots of heart and care from everyone involved, and an important story to be told on the stage of the RSC.  

4 stars

Reviewed by Jessica Clixby on Tuesday 24 October. Cowbois shows at the Swan Theatre at the RSC until Saturday 18 November at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon.