Review: Littlest Britain

Littlest Britain Drag Show
Imperial Hotel
Friday 16 February 2007


It had been a night on the booze. Thai food, plenty of white wine and delicious conversation. The Friday night crowd petered out on King Street in Newtown and then the suggestion arrived - lets go to the Imperial.

It's this moment when the imperial loses its pronoun status and becomes a verb. A verb that means - you will be seeing a drag show and you won't escape the confines of this institution until 4am when you will emerge as a puff of smoke and booze. It's the mirrored windows, flashing lights and incessant flirtation that make it a time warp like no other.

We arrived accompanying a relatively sober, jet-lagged and newly arrived visitor - shoved a vodka-and-something in her hand and dragged her to the back room that hosts the 11pm, 12am, 1am and 2am shows.

Five dollars on the table and through the plastic butcher shop curtains entering a world transformed by gorgeous people, glitter balls and a simple stage no wider than an Oxford Street footpath.

The lights go down, squeals of delight go up and the overly dramatic sound announces the arrival of the performers like a flourish welcoming the Queen of Sheba. And they enter, the three drag performers with their gym junkie compadres.

It's not often I go to the imperial, but each time I am always amazed by the clever choreography, dour humour and energy of the performances. How they change from one scene to the next is still a mystery to me. It must be velcro, but it's so damn quick and the costumes so elaborate that it still has me stumped.

Not to mention their satire which is so politically and culturally aware, it reflects straight off their diamonte jeweled high heels in the most amazing colours. Tonight Little Britain is their target - a satire of a satire. But instead of paying over $100 like thousands of others to the real Little Britain show currently touring Sydney up the road, all the clever people have snuck into the imperial at only five bucks.

You have Vicky Pollard, Daffyd Thomas, Emily Howard and host of other characters from the popular BBC show. Sound grabs from the show are cut into glitzy techno songs, as the performers dance and mime to make the predictable humour of the TV show hilarious.

Hetero's just can't seem to pull off this relatively simple idea. Bar in the front, lots of booze, a theatre in the back and huge crowds piling in to see a show that is professional, entertaining and sharp.

I managed three installments of the show, shuffling in and out from the bar until it reached 4.36am, when it was far too late and everyone far too drunk to make head nor tail of the mirror, the chaos and the music. Time to go home, lie back and think of my own Little Britain.

Review: The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac

The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac
Sydney Festival
The Studio, Sydney Opera House - 19 January 2007


To get to the Sydney Opera House for a 'performance art' drag piece by American Taylor Mac, I happened to walk past the Hon. Brendon Nelson, Australian Minister for Defence, having a late night Chinese supper around a lazy susan.

It was slightly surreal. The sun was setting over Sydney Harbour on a warm summer evening, and my mind flickered as I looked at the honourable member thinking of his department's woes in that little theatre of war in the Middle East.

"Enjoying your dinner Minister?"

The surreal then became a little more strange as I took my seat to watch Taylor Mac dress and 'deconstruct' his take on the War on Terror.

I wish that the Minister had been there, sharing this experience among the hearty crowd that guffawed and applauded the beautiful cynicism of the show.

Everything that Taylor Mac does in his show has the aim to break conventions of theatre performance and political satire. He isn't your typical Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Perfect eyeshadow and makeup is replaced by clown like lines and layers of glitter. Immaculate frocks are replaced by misfitting outfits, put on backwards, upside down and inside out. Oh, and he sings his own songs. He's more Jack Smith than Liza Minnelli.

If the minister had had the proper advice, he could have been there to see what is obviously the direct result of what happens to a person when their country is up to their neck in violence and extremism. A country where influential groups actively protest against abortion and homosexuality and yet gleefully support war and the death penalty. It really is mind-boggling.

As much as Taylor Mac made jokes about unattended baggage, terror alerts and the Iraq War, it is obvious that the position that the US finds itself is taking its toll on its more moderate citizens. Even an intelligent and charming performer like Taylor Mac.

His last song 'There is nothing to fear, but fear itself' wrapped up a show which could be seen as a call of desperation. A protest which demands some sense in a world that feels as though it is spinning out of control. The Beast of Taylor Mac may very well be called the Beast of Burden of Taylor Mac.




Photo Credit: Prudence Upton, courtesy of the Sydney Festival