Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There was a time when to see a woman in trousers was to court scandal and above all intrigue, the ridiculous thought that the masculine clothes they chose made them any different to anyone else would be laughed at today and quite rightly so. Jessica Walker takes her audience down on a well creased and ironed road to when the music halls were abuzz with the fascination of the women who dressed as men in the well researched and brilliantly put together, The Girl I left Behind Me.  

The names may not mean a lot to modern audiences but these were women who broke a huge mould and tore the convention of feminine thought at the time into very tiny scraps. As part of the Homotopia events going on in the city, the likes of Miss Vesta Tilley, Florenze Tempest, Hetty King, Annie Hindle, Ella Shields, Gladys Bentley and Ella Wesner are rightly lauded as women who were far ahead of their time and the adulation they received for being male impersonators was only second to the tremendous guts it took to defy Victorian and pre First World War thinking and who revelled in the music of the Harlem Renaissance.

The impressive Jessica Walker was joined on stage by Jim Holmes on the piano and as the evening progressed, the woman who stood on stage before a riveted audience sang her heart out in the many different styles of the women who went before he, each moment was filled with signature tunes of the artistes and their time on stage. Between songs Ms. Walker explained some parts of the life the women, the sad parts, the controversial bits and even the more happy moments that made these entertainers stand out as heroines and icons for a lot of women.

With the hint of lovely suggestion in her voice every time Ms. Walker talked fondly of these women and the wink, nod and beautifully hanging cigarette which accentuated her act was the tip of a very perfect night of music and information.

One of the stand-out parts of the night was the homage to Ella Shields and the song written by her husband, William Hargreaves, the sublime Burlington Bertie brought the house down inside the Unity Theatre.

An exceptional performance from a very talented singer and raconteur.

Ian D. Hall