Amelia Brown Archives - Page 8 of 23

Drag What?!

The Phoenix Arts Club

Reviewed – 7th August 2019

★★★

“it is nevertheless fantastic to see so many exciting new artists starting out and defying convention in drag”

Fresh from Michael Twaits’ ‘Art of Drag’ course, the stars of ‘Drag What?!’ are new to the stage and ready to change the drag world for good. Our host Prospero opens the show with a promise: this will be a night of the “most unusual drag” we have ever experienced. And it’s a fantastically varied line up, that brings together people of multiple genders and unexpected skillsets.

Lola del Fuego or ‘Miss Visa Denied’ is the cleaner, drafted in for the night and full of enthusiasm, ready to showcase her burlesque potential. Next up, Lx Motley delivers a powerful spoken word piece called ‘I’m not yelling, I’m just tired’ about coping with the constant backlash against non-binary people in real life and online. Lx Motley returns to close the show later in the night, with a fierce lipsync. Professor Q. Cumber, as the name suggests, is a cucumber enthusiast, a topic area rife with the possibility for innuendo and phallic imagery. The performer is clearly having a brilliant time onstage, and it’s infectious. Perrie Alore circles the piece back to its titular question, challenges societally held assumptions about who qualifies as a drag artist. Prospero, a bisexual drag wizard as well as hosting, combines a conversation about bisexuality with magic ropes, and some very large cards.

Will Actually, “gentleman poet” and comedian is a particular highlight. The poetry is witty, well-observed and eloquent, each piece fronted with an introduction as funny and engaging as the poems themselves. Will is an accomplished and sophisticated performer with a twinkle in their eye.

Veneer’s act is a lipsync performance about living with Borderline Personality Disorder. It is a performance that feels genuine and personal, and as a result carries massive emotional impact. In the intimate cabaret set up of the Phoenix Art Club, I leave the night feeling like I know all of the performers far better than an audience member ever really can.

Some of the acts are smoother and more polished than others. Many of these performers are at the beginning of their careers and it shows, but it is nevertheless fantastic to see so many exciting new artists starting out and defying convention in drag. Full of heart and promise, this is a collective to watch out for, and an undeniably enjoyable evening.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Drag What?!

The Phoenix Arts Club as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows covered by this reviewer:

Mouthpiece | ★★★ | Soho Theatre | April 2019

Queereteria TV | ★★ | Above the Stag | April 2019

Rotterdam | ★★★★ | Theatre Royal Brighton | April 2019

Status | ★★★½ | Battersea Arts Centre | April 2019

Tumulus | ★★★★ | Soho Theatre | April 2019

Everything Today Is The Same | ★★★ | Katzpace Studio Theatre | May 2019

Othello: Remixed | ★★★★ | Omnibus Theatre | June 2019

Pictures Of Dorian Gray (C) | ★★★★ | Jermyn Street Theatre | June 2019

Randy Roberts Live! | ★★★★ | Live At Zédel | June 2019

Summer Rolls | ★★★½ | Park Theatre | June 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

★★★★

“a creative, fresh and inspiring approach to Shakespeare’s text”

‘Othello Remixed’ takes the epic tragedy – a story of jealousy and manipulation – and puts it in the centre of young urban culture. Othello is not a warrior, but a boxer, and in the words of its director, the script has “as many ‘fams’ as we do ‘thees’ and ‘thous’”. Darren Raymond, Artistic Director of Intermission Theatre Company and writer (after Shakespeare) and director of the piece, goes on to draw parallels between the rhythms of new language being created by young people and Elizabethan slang. And this parallel is clear in performance. Words from two different eras run together seamlessly. The themes are made shockingly contemporary, and I have never seen an audience laugh so much in a production of Othello.

The cast is made up of graduates from Intermission Theatre’s Youth Theatre who have gone on to professional careers in the industry. Highlights include Kwame Reed as Othello, Iain Gordon as Rico and Micah Loubon as Cassio. Hoda Bentaher delivers a standout performance as Desdemona, supported by Nakeba Buchanan as Emilia in another brilliant performance. Baba Oyejide plays the demanding role of Iago. He takes some time to settle into it but gets stronger over the course of the play excelling as he becomes increasingly more manipulative whilst repeatedly talking about honesty.

There is a little too much movement and comedy in the second act. Having created comedy so successfully in the earlier half of the play, stillness is needed to impress the gravity of the more serious moments. The piece isn’t as hard hitting as it’s Shakespearean counterpart and the edits to the ending take away from the usual impact the final scenes have.

Designed by Catherine Morgan, the set is a detailed study of a boxing studio, the ring in the centre, red and blue, the walls hung with punch bags, gloves and towels. It looks immediately dynamic and bold.

This is a creative, fresh and inspiring approach to Shakespeare’s text that places it slap bang in the modern world, but loses some of the original’s tragic weight.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Richard Jinman

The Phoenix Arts Club

Reviewed – 7th August 2019

★★★

“it is nevertheless fantastic to see so many exciting new artists starting out and defying convention in drag”

Will Actually, “gentleman poet” and comedian is a particular highlight. The poetry is witty, well-observed and eloquent, each piece fronted with an introduction as funny and engaging as the poems themselves. Will is an accomplished and sophisticated performer with a twinkle in their eye.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Drag What?!

The Phoenix Arts Club as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows covered by this reviewer:

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed – 28th June 2019

★★★★

“a creative, fresh and inspiring approach to Shakespeare’s text”

Designed by Catherine Morgan, the set is a detailed study of a boxing studio, the ring in the centre, red and blue, the walls hung with punch bags, gloves and towels. It looks immediately dynamic and bold.

This is a creative, fresh and inspiring approach to Shakespeare’s text that places it slap bang in the modern world, but loses some of the original’s tragic weight.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

Photography by Richard Jinman

Othello: Remixed

Omnibus Theatre until 14th July

Last tens shows reviewed at this venue: