Colchester Fringe Festival 2024
CULT of the Information Superhighway
CULT
Genre: Cabaret, Clown, Comedic, Performance Art, Surrealism
Venue: Headgate Theatre
Festival: Colchester Fringe Festival
Low Down
CULT of the Information Superhighway is an experimental, political, and alternative drag at its best. It is unhinged and has been one of my favorite drag performances of Colchester Fringe. That said, the show is not for everyone. It’s an experimental drag show, and some older patrons walked out during the show, but for those engrained in online culture, it is certain to unlock all the cringiest memories of the interwebs.
Review
CULT of the Information Superhighway is alternative drag at its best. It’s weird. It’s experimental. It’s thoroughly engrossed in the online world. Anyone who grew up in the age of Caramelldansen, rawr XD, and ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯ will take away much from the show. If you did not, you’ll be left bewildered and feeling out of touch.
The challenge in reviewing CULT is that it is experimental. All of the acts are likely to change fringe to fringe, if not, performance to performance. That is the excitement of it though. I had no idea what to expect going in, and even after, I’ve still not processed it all. The show is political in nature. Each act has a point. When the group entered in Anonymous masks, we were all hooked. If you give yourself up to it, you will find yourself an obsessed member of the CULT.
Kassandra Dramatik was the first of the evening and was the MC for most of the show. They had the most safe and familiar of the performances. She didn’t play an outlandish character, at least, I have certainly seen her LinkedIn corporatism and twitter stan self in the real world. It was an excellent opener and they have a knack for working with audiences while also making a political statement. Somebody once told them they should go “touch grass.” So later, she did just that performing a phenomenal number with every meme-worthy grass image out there.
Next, Bev, the blue alien from outer space had the best audience interaction of the night. They’re a confident queen from the planet Blue. They came out in a stunning vape pen-lined dress and performed several obsessions with vapes, phones, and social medias. Supposedly, they’re TikTok viral for vaping. They should be viral for their out-of-this-world performance (and the STIs she said she may have).
Sinfluencer then came out as a mouse: a literal computer mouse. Their number was a spoken word dance number. Unfortunately, because Sinfluencer was not miced, hearing the lyrics was impossible. Which is a shame, because what I did hear of the number from the front row was great. They gave a stellar performance and it’s a shame audio problems held it back. That said, the outfit was one of my favorites of the evening, especially when she assumed the mouse position and the whole thing clicked.
Dr.Styx Hexy had my favorite performance of the evening. Hexy came out beforehand, out of character, and explained the political intentions of the piece. Many trans people in need of transitional surgery have few options to go to. Many doctors abuse this power. Furthermore, with “she who shall not be named” dropping transphobia online due to her black mold infestation, Hexy wanted to explore the intersection of trans surgery abuse and a black mold which drives someone to transphobia. They then performed a bloody and disgusting number which left everyone jaw-dropped. It would not be out-of-place on the Boulet Brother’s Dragula. It was scary, sexy, and artistically masterful. We don’t see drag like this often.
Lastly, to wrap it up, xXemo.F3mboyXx (known offline as Leon QueerAF) taught us all how to be an uwu emo femboy. If you don’t know what an uwu emo femboy, we recommended you do not attend this show. That said, their performance was so unhinged and silly parodying a moment in many the internoobs childhood. I felt seen and felt very very cringe for that fact. It was a great number to wrap things up.
CULT of the Information Superhighway is a politically focused artistic drag group. They have something to say and have found the most unhinged and insane way to share it. I certainly was entertained and were many of my similarly aged friends. That said, a few of the older patrons did walk out mid-show which made me realize it truly is not for everyone. If you’re expecting safe, sanitized, and all-ages drag, this is not the show for you. If you ever had iFunny installed or scrolled the depths of 4Chan, you are welcome to join this unforgettable cult.
