Deathdrop playing at the Criterion Theatre reviewed by Christopher Walker

Murder is such a drag.” Well, it is in Deathdrop, one of the strangest shows to hit the London stage at the Criterion Theatre, writes Christopher Walker.

Fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race may be interested to see drag superstars JuJuBee and Kitty Scott-Claus lead this full-drag company as they head to Shantay Manor to toast the 10th Anniversary of Charles and Diana.

It may not be quite the laugh-a-minute entertainment promised, but it certainly has some memorable moments.

Men have dressed as women for a long time in the theatre, right back to the ancient Greeks. But in Anglo-Saxon theatre in particular, female impersonation gradually morphed into female exaggeration. Shakespeare’s boy heroines gave way to pantomime dames and finally drag queens.

American superstar drag queen RuPaul said: “I do not impersonate females. How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skin-tight dresses? I don’t dress like a woman; I dress like a drag queen!”

For those who don’t know, RuPaul’s Drag Race is an American reality competition television series in which RuPaul, playing host and judge, searches for America’s next drag superstar.

Contestants are given different challenges each week, and at each stage told either “shantay, you stay,” or eliminated with the instruction to “sashay away.” It has been such a huge success it has run for 13 series and won RuPaul six Emmys.

In this age of gender fluidity, drag, is not without controversy.

RuPaul got into trouble when he said he would probably not allow transgender contestants, and there has been the rise of the drag king where women dress as exaggerated men. There are two in this show.

Which brings me to Deathdrop.

Imagine the classic Agatha Christie setting. An English manor house where guests gather at the request of their aristocratic hostess for a weekend of fun and frolics waited on by servants.

A weekend that descends into murder mystery as the bodies pile up and we are asked to play ‘Whodunnit.’

Now imagine all this in drag.

In Deathdrop, the aristocratic hostess is Vinegar Stokes, the mistress of Shantay Manor, and the servants are triplets named after cheeses – Brie, Blue and Spread all played by Holly Stars.

As well as acting, Holly also wrote the show, always dangerous, and it has to be said the humour is a little too thinly spread.

The audience participation that enlivens drag shows and often leads to the best wisecracks is sorely missed. The jokes are not for those with a weak stomach, but then I guess none of this is.

Among the other guests are three wonderful professionals. Anna Phylactic plays the editor of the World of News, Morgan Pierce, with style and dash, and by far the best costumes. Well done designer Isabel Pellow.

JuJuBee plays a glamourous TV weather girl, Summer Raines, and quite hilariously comes back later impersonating the detective, Hercule Poirot. A man playing a woman, playing a man, in true panto-style.

Kitty Scott-Claus is an Aussie pop star (guess who that might be) in a variety of camp popstar outfits. She somehow manages to flirt with the manspreading drag king Georgia Frost.

Fellow drag king Richard Energy plays the archetypical Tory backbencher of the 1980s, proposing family values while bedding a rent boy and taking a few backhanders – Rich Whiteman. He felt all too familiar.

The plot is obviously nonsense, but a lot of fun is had. I just wish there’d been a few more jokes, and less potty humour.

Poor Agatha Christie is no doubt turning in her grave. To see why, go to https://www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/death-drop

 

Pictured: Kitty Scott-Claus, Anna Phylatic, Holly Stars, Vinegar Strokes, Jujubee, Richard Energy, Holly Stars – Credit Matt Crockett