Brighton Year-Round 2026

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Mark Goucher, Matthew Gale, Gavin Kalin, Laurence Myers in Association with Nullarbor Productions and MGM on stage.

Genre: Adaptation, Comedy, Contemporary, Costume, Feminist Theatre, Historical, LGBTQ+ Theatre, LGBTQIA+, Mainstream Theatre, Musical Theatre, Theatre

Venue: Theatre Royal, Brighton

Festival: Brighton Year-Round

Low Down

Review

It’s Priscilla. But not as we know it. If you saw its previous incarnation here in 2019, or elsewhere, you’ll be in for a pink shock. And that’s not just a gloriously unblushing Kevin Clifton. In other words Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: the Musical (book by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott) hits Theatre Royal, Brighton, directed by Ian Talbot till June 20: with the sound of 100 paint pots exploding on the stage. If you weren’t dreaming midsummer prosecco and cakes you might well be after they apparate.

That’s unfair to the pizzazzy orchestra punching Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy’s wonders from the pit, musically directed here by Richard Atkinson, with the show helmed by resident director Juliet Gough. But it gives an idea of the sheer colour-chart hitting your eyes and ears where the land of nuance in this outback is unknown.

There’s now even less nuance in the storyline too, which has to snatch the original film’s story in between the hits. Most prominent is ‘I Shall Survive’, a kind of ‘I Am What I Am’, as is made clear. Some fleeting moment of outback the musical previously had is gone. But in its place we now have a first-class West End musical, not a fine jukebox-synch drama. And the balance of lip-synching to drag is here overplussed by genuine singing: from cast, Divas and the three leads.

The story’s simple enough. Kevin Clifton’s Tick (stage name Mitzi M’Tosis) is phoned by his wife showbiz Marion (Billie Hardy) about their six-year-old son Benji whom he’s never seen. Marion’s cool with Tick’s being gay but he needs to step up and come to Alice Springs; and give her Casino a drag boost. That’s a whole desert away from Sydney.

So accompanied by colleagues and friends – transgender woman Bernadette Bassenger (Dakota Starr) and fellow drag queen Adam/Felicia’s Nick Hayes (returning from 2019) – we’re on a road movie turned anthem on a bus called Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It’s a wondrous construction too, like a caterpillar assembled whose component parts function as bar and bits of backdrop, though now there’s more of that. Dirty silver, it gets the pink treatment halfway, which doesn’t make it any more reliable. But then there’s Peter Duncan’s Bob. Still, we’re getting ahead and not even run out of spare parts yet.

Though still directed by Ian Talbot it’s now choreographed by Matt Cole who uses a larger cast to dazzling effect, even in the theatre’s slightly limited stage. Credit to associate set designer Natalia Alvarez and associate choreographer Thomas Charles  here. Priscilla has a fluid set now fully designed by Andrew Exeter, also responsible for lighting and working with video designer Leo Flint to give depth and evolving skies, night-clubs and a far more present world. The set had been previously props-only (now Props by Eve) with that articulated bus and bright palate.

There’s a gantry effect when either the three Divas or the three Queens climb that massive red King’s mountain – here another sky projection – that features in the film though here it’s sketched as a backdrop and rather missed as a plot-point (but who really cares?).

Costumes now by the acclaimed Vicky Gill are outstanding (as are Craig Forrest Thomas’s wigs), and keep arriving, whether drag variants (some like Mexican gods) or an ensemble pumping on with paint-prints or the hat-toting glamour of the finale in red-and-white stripes, pink and navy predominating.  That’s after a gallimaufry of dusky outback garbs and hats that bring a tinge of cowboy to Oz.

The sound design – still by Ben Harrison – ensures we’re not overwhelmed with an unnecessary sonic boom. The three Divas –– Leah Vassall, Bernadette Bangura and Jessie May – are stratospherically fine too and make this a musically sovereign production.

Clifton’s Tick has an ambivalent relationship to his friends: they don’t know he’s married with a son. Still less that technically he’s still married. That’s one reveal at the right time and Clifton conveys his character with appeal and delicacy; and naturally some fiendish dance-moves. Most of all though he’s sincere and his exchanges with everyone, including his eventual family, achingly done. His characterisation of Mitzi too is vibrant but never oversteers with a sense of being key. As Tick there’s touching moments at the end. Clifton rises to with absolute truth with Tick’s son Benji (played with superb confidence by Finley Christian on this occasion). His Elvis is both parodically riveting and touching.

This production emphasizes the trio’s equality with Hayes’ outré Adam – a vigorous, obnoxious, delicious portrayal. Hayes returns with the explosive Felicia he brought in 2019, though with even more danger. Even more, Starr’s melancholy Bernadette journeys through loss to a dawning possibility. Starr anchors the solitude in soliciting comfort that Bernadette’s character throbs with. And rises to a splendid knee-jerk. Height matters when facing down the ‘phobes.

There’s spills along the way, they perform for the Aboriginal community, then less successfully to the town of Coober Pedy – that’s where the homophobia’s pronounced enough for dark characters, particularly the barmaid Shirley (guyed hilariously by May).  There’s a set-piece where a vicious message gets flagged in individual letters and appears too on the bus. These are grunge moments, grungily done.

Later there’s the arrival – amazingly – of mechanic Bob, realised glowingly by Duncan. Somehow Bob found them and can just about fix Priscilla. He fixes a lot more – arriving with Bernadette to rescue the unbelievably reckless Adam who as Felicia is trying to get laid by outbackers whilst posing as a woman. Hayes here is a convincingly wild, even unpleasant Adam, but shows how emotionally dependent they are, as well as grateful.

Duncan too with an avuncular part gives flesh to the good guy role, the man who admires the trio for who they are. It costs him his jealous wife, Isabella Glanzig Santos’ Cynthia, who hi-jacks the trio’s performance with an uproarious turn with ping-pong balls. Bob’s growing friendship with Bernadette gives rise to that champagne and cake joke. Sario Solomon’s outré Miss Understanding provides warm but supportive competition early on back in Sydney.

The finale is as you’d hope gloriously over the top. Alexander Emery’s homophobe Frank, and the rest of the ensemble are first-rate: Michael Afemare (absolutely wicked, wait for his er costume and whoops), Jak Allen-Anderson (returning from the 2019 production), Tia Antoine Charles, Olivia Bella (both Diva understudies), Fiona O’Carroll, Nathan Ryles, Mary Suarez (with Hardy, also a Diva understudy); with Swings Alexander Gage and Samuel Stokes.

Adele Anderson as Bernadette was indisposed tonight, probably for this week; but may well return soon. The same applies to James Wolstenholme as Miss Understanding.

This production has a different feel to some. There’s an emphasis on colour – it’s visually throbbing and you might prefer shades – and primary colours explode elsewhere too. Cole’s blazing new choreography mixes West-End-style with Strine and strut in an individual way, full of snakings and swoops. There’s wicked orchestral quotes too. If you’re old enough, spot Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, or a few chords of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – all deliciously mimicked with hips and a toy crocodile.

The actors though shadow in their characters and move feeling around the glorious pizzazz. Clifton’s performance is detailed and acute with an immensely satisfying finish. Hayes is a consummate tease with a touch of terror. Starr brings the grain of past agony and a fragile hope as well as an avuncular camp that towers over their aggressors. It’s these three, the divas and a superb cast who give this production its beating pink heart. With a re-think more thorough than a new fuel-tank for Priscilla, it’s now an outstanding show.

Band Musical Director/Keyboard 1 Richard Atkinson,Assistant Musical Director/Keyboard 2 Rickey Long, Drusm alan Dale, Bass Ashley young, Guitar Christian Sutherland, Trumpet Rob Greenwood, Woodwind Sally McTaggart, Orchestral management Richard Weeden.

Casting Director David Grindrod associates, Dialect Coach Michaela Moxham, Associate Director Sam Holmes, Associate Choreographer Thomas Charles, Associate Set Designer Natalia Alvarez, Associate Lighting Designer Matt Hockley.

General Manager Callum Finn, Tour booker Jonathan Russell, Production Management Chris Clay, Marketing Maidwell Marketing, Press About Grace PR. Photo Credit: Pamela Raith.

Published June 17, 2026 by Simon Jenner