King’s Theatre, Edinburgh – until Saturday 20th November
Reviewed by Ellen Searle
3***
Death Drop is a “Dragatha Christie murder-mystery”, set in 1991 on Tuck Island during a soirée for Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ tenth wedding anniversary. Could the scenario be any more camp? Probably not, and as such is a perfect scenario for an evening of outrageously over the top bawdy entertainment.
Top drag stars there are a plenty, drawn from around the globe. US performers Willam and Ra’ Jah O’Hara from Ru Paul’s Drag Race plays one-hit-wonder pop starlet Shazza and sultry TV girl Summer Rains respectively, Vinegar Strokes from Drag Race UK is superb as Lady von Fistenburg, and the inimitable and much loved Karen from Finance from Drag Race Down Under plays tabloid editor Morgan Pierce. You can see the way this is going. The play is written by Holly Stars, who herself plays triplets the Bottomley Sisters – Blue, Brie and Spread, her mother’s favourite types of cheese.
And as you would expect, they are serving it up rude, crude and over the top. There are rollicking songs, very dirty jokes, and the lavishly rhinestoned dresses and skyscraper heels definitely, to imitate one of the best known spoofs of them all, go all the way up to 11.
We also see drag kings, that is mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male stereotypes. Here, Richard Energy as Tory MP Rich Whiteman (took me a moment to get that one!) and Georgia Frost as TV producer Phil Maker take infectious delight in rocking their male stereotypes to the full. While there is possibly no such thing as too much in drag, for me, these characters both matched and helpfully balanced out the exorbitant energy of the drag queens.
Is this for everyone? Probably not, as the humour certainly requires a broad mind. Risque doesn’t even begin go cover it! But there is somehow something refreshing and joyful about seeing a full on drag production (is there any other kind?) with a properly diverse cast in the oldest theatre of a city with a reputation for being a bit on the stuffy side. Each actor gives their all, delivering every one liner, vulgar gesticulation, and pantomime scream with what feels like the very essence of their being. If you’re tough enough, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!