THIS home-grown drama started out at the Royal Court Studio back in 2019.
It is now on a short run at the Epstein and should be ready - after some fine tweaking - to eventually end up on the main stages of our bigger theatres or even on a UK tour.
Written by Laura Lees (and passionately produced by Bill Elms) it focuses on her uncle Mike - a DJ at the much-loved and much-missed Masquerade gay club.
It is a warm yet gritty homage to the 1980s aided by an uplifting and very atmospheric soundtrack featuring Donna Summer, Yazoo, and Spandau Ballet.
Some impressive lip-synching goes on throughout. Fun, it is, too.
A strong all-round cast of six flesh out the characters in this fictional story featuring real people highlighting love, loss, freedom, and friendship among Liverpool's LGBT + community.
The Masquerade - known as The Mazzie - was a star itself. A less-than-glam venue with sticky floors welcoming the likes of budding icons Holly Johnson, Paul O'Grady, and Margi Clarke.
This is an ambitious trip down a fractious memory lane of social and political upheaval which saw the arrival of Aids.
The famous advert voiced by John Hurt is still chilling when heard over the theatre's speakers.
The basic set - lit extremely well - comprises a bar and grey entrance area with two pillars that acts as a backdrop for a cinema and a misty Lime Street station.
The original play was intimate - this re-imagining opens the emotional doors even wider.
Beds are also wheeled on with varying degrees of significance.
Director James Baker balances the pace very well as he did with Cherry Jezebel at the Everyman.
And Tom Lloyd adds additional dialogue to Laura's moving and punchy script about the heady days of 1986 and beyond.
There are fine individual and collective ensemble performances.
Joe Owen (Tony) and Jamie Peacock (Mike) play the best of mates on a journey that is never signposted until it is too late.
Neil Macdonald plays Frank the camp owner of the Cases Street club. He is like a walking Statue of Liberty proudly holding up his tray of complementary sandwiches.
There are plenty of laughs in his repartee with jaded bar fly Norma(Catherine Rice). Her dreams have gone up in ciggie smoke washed down with a drink.
The first 45 minutes nicely sets the scene for a powerful intro to the whole second act which - at one hour fifteen minutes - needs pruning without losing any of the dramatic narratives.
One major achievement is that you actually care what happens to the central characters.
Masquerade the play has a promising future.
On the way out members of the audience who had once frequented the club talked fondly about their lost haven - a building that may have been long demolished but whose legacy lives on.
Globe verdict
4 stars
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