Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Kinder
Ryan Stewart
Genre: LGBTQ+ Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Big Belly, Underbelly, Cowgate
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Ryan Stewart’s drag character faces a dilemma when asked to deliver a story in a library.
Review
Kinder is a drag-based drama that is a real audience pleaser and has garnered praise and awards. The premise is highly topical and a symbol of modern US homophobia. Drag performer Goody Prostate has been invited to do a spot of storytelling at a local library, only to discover, early in the drama, that the audience is not the adults he was expecting, but children. To make matters worse, there is a large group protesting outside the library. So far so promising of a Zeitgeisty battle to come. Drag queen story hours have created hysteria in many US States, with hostility and denouncements of drag performers galore, so this confrontation is a delicious prospect.
The fabulous premise and storyline however, are not really developed. Instead we get a very entertaining large array of costume changes, trying to find an appropriate outfit for kiddy story time, three lip-sync’d songs, and many equally gripping flashback stories from formative moments in Goody’s life as they chat directly to the audience. There’s a good range of funny, touching vignettes (no spoilers), all are very well told, and occasionally we get a reminder of the library dilemma that remains unsolved.
The umpteen costume changes, each one extravagantly unsuitable for the library storytelling different reasons, is a hugely entertaining running joke and visually rich, although the repetition gradually teaches us to expect the same gag. I could have done without the five minute lecture on the derivation of the word kin in different languages, written in lipstick on a mirror.
Australian performer Ryan Stewart is charming and confident and engages, entertains and holds the audience throughout. For audience members less familiar with queer history, drag and coming-out challenges than this seasoned older gay activist reviewer, the mix of character backstory, drag, lip-syncing and a topical LGBTQ+ context clearly felt both enlightening and titillating. The excellent opening proposition promises a sharper, more focused show than the one ultimately delivered. Kinder is likeable, accomplished and authentically, passionately performed, but I wish it had developed the central dramatic situation more, trimmed the (for me) familiar autobiographical detours, and taken us to see the showdown with the library protest, to help us all look ahead to how we tackle what’s happening today, rather than back to the more familiar focus on how we got here. Nonetheless, a quality hour of theatre.
