TuckShop and Trafalgar Theatre Productions
Carter Dixon McGill Productions
present
Carter Dixon McGill Productions
present
Deathdrop
5/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
6-10th October 2021
5/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
6-10th October 2021
I've seen a few murder mysteries at the Palace Theatre in my time but nothing will quite ever beat the utter delight of getting to see the opening night of Deathdrop in Southend last night. Agatha Christie will be turning in her grave at the sheer audacity of this brilliantly quirky play.
Running with the popularity of RuPaul's Drag Race writer, Holly Stars, has come up with the perfect parody of the classic murder mystery whodunnit. Add to the dish a cleverly comic plot, two delectable Drag Race Superstars, Willam and Ra'jah O'Hara plus UK Drag Race star Vinegar Strokes; set it in the 1990s; give it a big old stir and you've got the perfect recipe for one of the funniest murder mystery plays to hit UK theatres.
This camp, witty, ridiculously madcap play comes directly from the West End and is sashaying its way around the UK kicking off in Southend. A combination cast of ‘queens’ and ‘kings’ take to the stage in this hilarious comedy set in 1991. Lady von Fistenburg (on the night we watched, she was played brilliantly by understudy, Apple Derrieres) invites a host of colourful characters to her mansion in Tuck Island to celebrate the 10 year wedding anniversary of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. The three Bottomley Sisters are hired to do the catering with Holly Stars playing all three. She frequently steals the show throughout and why not, she wrote it. I didn’t realise this until I read the programme and it makes it easy to understand why she’s one of the UK’s hottest comedy drag acts.
Willam as Shazza, Ra’Jah O’Hara as Summer Raines and Karen from Finance as Morgan Pierce put in some fiercely over the top performances but I also loved Georgia Frost’s Phil Maker and Richard Energy’s Rich Whiteman respective characterisations of a sex obsessed 90s tv star and creepy Conservative MP.
The humour is definitely British with some great gags that are clearly aimed at a UK audience and not least those of us who remember eating Findus Crispy Pancakes and Swiss Roll and recording music on cassette tapes.
In true murder mystery style, characters are bumped off one by one and with very memorable and hilarious death scenes not least one involving the aforementioned Crispy Pancakes and a hostess trolley, which I’m sure will stay with the audience for quite some time.
As each of their past lives come to light they find they have more in common than they first thought. But can they find out who the killer is before they all sashay away?
It's lewd, it's crude, it's wrong but oh so right. This play is funny and such a brilliant concept it's not surprising that audiences are loving it. Also, did I mention there are songs too? The Dramatic Act 2 Song is a hoot and who else left the theatre humming the Oopsie Whoopsie song? Whether you’re a fan of Drag Race or not, no matter, Deathdrop is an absolute joy; it really is a delight. I’ll never be able to watch another murder mystery, without thinking of this one, again.
Don’t miss the chance to see these fabulous queens in action.
Running with the popularity of RuPaul's Drag Race writer, Holly Stars, has come up with the perfect parody of the classic murder mystery whodunnit. Add to the dish a cleverly comic plot, two delectable Drag Race Superstars, Willam and Ra'jah O'Hara plus UK Drag Race star Vinegar Strokes; set it in the 1990s; give it a big old stir and you've got the perfect recipe for one of the funniest murder mystery plays to hit UK theatres.
This camp, witty, ridiculously madcap play comes directly from the West End and is sashaying its way around the UK kicking off in Southend. A combination cast of ‘queens’ and ‘kings’ take to the stage in this hilarious comedy set in 1991. Lady von Fistenburg (on the night we watched, she was played brilliantly by understudy, Apple Derrieres) invites a host of colourful characters to her mansion in Tuck Island to celebrate the 10 year wedding anniversary of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. The three Bottomley Sisters are hired to do the catering with Holly Stars playing all three. She frequently steals the show throughout and why not, she wrote it. I didn’t realise this until I read the programme and it makes it easy to understand why she’s one of the UK’s hottest comedy drag acts.
Willam as Shazza, Ra’Jah O’Hara as Summer Raines and Karen from Finance as Morgan Pierce put in some fiercely over the top performances but I also loved Georgia Frost’s Phil Maker and Richard Energy’s Rich Whiteman respective characterisations of a sex obsessed 90s tv star and creepy Conservative MP.
The humour is definitely British with some great gags that are clearly aimed at a UK audience and not least those of us who remember eating Findus Crispy Pancakes and Swiss Roll and recording music on cassette tapes.
In true murder mystery style, characters are bumped off one by one and with very memorable and hilarious death scenes not least one involving the aforementioned Crispy Pancakes and a hostess trolley, which I’m sure will stay with the audience for quite some time.
As each of their past lives come to light they find they have more in common than they first thought. But can they find out who the killer is before they all sashay away?
It's lewd, it's crude, it's wrong but oh so right. This play is funny and such a brilliant concept it's not surprising that audiences are loving it. Also, did I mention there are songs too? The Dramatic Act 2 Song is a hoot and who else left the theatre humming the Oopsie Whoopsie song? Whether you’re a fan of Drag Race or not, no matter, Deathdrop is an absolute joy; it really is a delight. I’ll never be able to watch another murder mystery, without thinking of this one, again.
Don’t miss the chance to see these fabulous queens in action.
