Brighton Fringe 2007
Review
The show starts with a wonderfully blue faced, glittery Taylor Mac dressed in his ‘finery’ bouncing a large suitcase down the steps of the Komedia Upstairs. He is tall and graceful, with impossibly high heels and a pile of blonde hair and sequins tumbling down his shoulders.
The off the wall nature of the show is clear from the beginning, as he threatens any ‘chatty catties’ in the audience with a public dressing up in drag. He also states that his show is a ‘gay show, written for gay people’ and warns any heterosexuals in the audience that they won’t understand a word. This however proves to be categorically untrue, and part of the thrall of the show is that, while deliciously gay and draggy, it does not subscribe to the in-jokes and gay-only humour found in so many homosexually orientated shows.
The show is a finely balanced mix of stand-up, theatre, cabaret and intelligent comment. Taylor is clearly a deep-thinking individual, and part of the charm of his performance is how effortlessly he moves between hilarious accounts of his sexual encounters, and real poignancy and self-exposure. It is both symbolic and shocking when half-way through he takes his wig off, and reveals a bald head with peeling blue make-up.
This is a show that crosses the boundaries of genre and sexuality and does it in the most marvellous way. At the start of the show Taylor mocks his marketing people for calling the show ‘universally appealing, when it’s really just for gays.’ However, he is entirely wrong; the show would appeal to most open-minded people who want to have a great night at the theatre. Taylor Mac, to coin his own much-used expression, really is ‘fierce’.
