Rachael’s Café (Marlborough Theatre, Brighton)

We enter Rachael’s cafe at its closing time and are warmly greeted by the café’s owner, Rachael Graham Elwell, who is busy clearing up after a hectic day at this inclusive cafe in Bloomington, Indiana.

Rachael was, at one time in her past, Eric Wininger, a toner salesman, who now desperately wants to be at least “passable” as a woman, but he can’t afford a sex change and doesn’t want to be “stuck half way between” because of the various hormone treatments.

As we begin to warm to Rachael, she gently begins to tell us of how this inclusive cafe came to be established. Having been married and also fathered three children, Rachael found herself asking for a divorce from Naomie, with whom she is now very good friends.

Obviously the situation meant a massive upheaval for the family but, after a period of understandable confusion, the children, except for their son Todd, begin the process of accepting the man who was their father, as Rachael.

An incident with a bigoted Texan at the start of this short biography leads Rachael to explain the purpose of this cafe. “This isn’t an LGBT café”, she says, “Everyone is welcome here. No exceptions.”  During the course of the one-hour play, Rachael receives frequent phone calls from her children and from her ex-wife, offering us the opportunity to get introduced to just some of the many problems that her cross dressing is causing to the family.

Rachael is very convincingly portrayed by Elwell, as a likeable and generous hostess and the production is both humourous and poignant with a strong moral code that says “Everyone is equal”

Many in the audience, myself included, feel slightly uncomfortable as Rachael changes into a suit, removes her wig and scrubs the make up off her face in order to attend a function at her daughter’s school but, although this scene is tinged with sadness, her warm effeminate personality shines through, clearly demonstrating that the inside is far more important than the outside.

As we leave the theatre I look back and know that I am very pleased to have met Rachael and to have had an insight into her life.