Hear Steve Pateman tell the real-life story behind ‘Kinky Boots’ at Isham Village Hall, Friday 18th March at 7.30pm. Steve Pateman, a fifth generation shoemaker from Northamptonshire, found fame after a Hollywood film was made about how he saved his business. WJ Brookes was founded in 1898 in King Street, Earls Barton, and Steve joined his father Richard there in 1979. Late 1990s, a BBC documentary ‘Trouble at the Top’ featured the story of the company moving away from traditional shoe production to erotic footwear.
The owner of a store selling footwear favoured by cross-dressers and drag queens had rung to ask if Steve could make thighhigh boots, in red or black leather or PVC, in male sizes. Realising there could be a lucrative new market he researched his potential customer base and began creating ‘Divine Footwear’, reinforcing his boots with metal struts specially designed to hold a man’s weight. From then on, WJ Brookes became known as the ‘Kinky Boot Factory’.
The story was picked up by Tim Firth and Geoff Deane who wrote the 2005 film ‘Kinky Boots’, which starred Joel Edgerton as Charlie Price - the character based on Steve. While the niche market of producing erotic footwear lasted, WJ Brookes employed 80 in the factory, but other competitors started bringing in cheap imports from China, and the factory closed in 2006. After closing WJ Brookes, Steve became a firefighter and now works at Mereway Fire Station in Northampton and also covers his home town of Earls Barton. However, boots made by Steve can still be seen at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery and the Kinky Boots effect has helped highlight the long history of the shoemaking industry in Northamptonshire.
The stage version of ‘Kinky Boots’ had its debut in Chicago in 2012 and wowed audiences in the US. The following year it moved to Broadway and won six Tony awards, including best musical and best score for Cyndi Lauper. The West End production opened in 2015.
Please bring your own drinks and glasses to Isham Village Hall on the night. Nibbles will be provided. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets £5 are available from Margaret Priest on 01536 723392.
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