Brighton Theatre Royal – until 23 December 2022
Reviewed by Sue Bradley
2**
Produced by Tuckshop and Trafalgar Theatre Productions and written by Rob Evans. Drag has a long history of challenging the conventional and, in recent years, particularly with the runaway success of RuPaul’s Drag Race, we have become increasingly used to colourful and larger-than-life personalities filling our screens and stages.
Death Drop – Back In The Habit brings four of the Drag Race stars, Willam, Cheryl Hole, Victoria Scone and River Medway to the stage together with Drag King Louis Cyfer. Unfortunately, Willam was unable to be present last night and Alex Roberts filled her shoes admirably.
Largely set in and around the Convent of St Babs, a gaggle of nuns must contend with an ill-intentioned Cardinal, set on obtaining a piece of treasure at any cost. What ensues is a mock-horror story with plenty of high camp, risqué talk, colourful language and plain old vulgarity. Nobody could accuse this production of subtlety and the (nearly full house) audience lapped it up.
The show has an almost pantomime feel to it with plenty of slapstick and sight gags to keep it moving forward – and see how many pastiches of major films you can spot along the way.
There is very little music in this show – Alex Roberts got the one big number towards the end and did it very well.
It has become the norm for Drag performances to challenge the everyday and this production certainly encouraged the performers to push the envelope – which they did with gusto. This is certainly not a show for children or those of us who prefer a script that relies more on subtlety and less on profanity to make a point.
If this is your kind of thing, then you won’t be disappointed. If you like Camp, but with more subtlety, save your money and go and see The Rocky Horror Show, which is also on tour at the moment.