It’s 1964 and Dusty Springfield is at the height of her fame, scoring hits in the UK, US and around the world. On a tour of South Africa she refuses to play to segregated audiences and finds herself demonised and threatened by South Africa’s security police and jeered at back home in England for her naivety. Read more …
Shot through with Dusty’s timeless music, leavened with her earthy humour and straight talking, Dusty Won’t Play is a reminder of the tangled paranoia of apartheid and the true story of Dusty Springfield’s refusal to play segregated audiences in South Africa. She didn’t change the world but she did something.
Caulfield doesn’t in any way suggest that Dusty Springfield brought down Apartheid, but she at least recognises that Dusty made her own stand against it—and who knows how that might have changed things in the long run?
Flaws aside, a crowd-pleasing start to the new season.
A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Glasgow from Monday February 6, 2017, until Saturday February 11, 2017. More info: http://playpiepint.com