Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Low Down
A gloriously grotesque hour of royal ridiculousness, Lil Wenker: BOYKING combines fearless clowning, gleeful audience interaction and all-singing, all-dancing mayhem.
Review
Lil Wenker: BOYKING is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 3 throughout this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, offering up a frenetic hour of dastardly degradation that builds on the highly successful previous EdFringe show, Lil Wenker: Bangtail.
Wenker charges down the queue, manically prancing about in her Regency-era royal garb, cajoling us and ramping up the audience energy, ensuring the show has started before we even enter the space. It sets the tone right from the off: fun will be had and we had better keep up. A pumping rave version of Greensleeves on entry and a set design that comprises only of a luxurious red velvet box, giving vibes of the kind of posh curtains royalty might have at the end of their four-poster beds, all point to decadence, majesty and incoming wackiness.
We meet the two main characters, the seemingly earnest and terrified Royal Jester and the putrid and petulant Prince Wilfred. At this early point, we are treated to what Lil Wenker does best: playful and endearing crowd work. She demands our attention (and other royal gifts, so hide your watches!) and the audience howls with laughter at the unfortunate souls who come under the gaze of her royal scrutiny. She is a wonderful clown, always knowing how to wring every ounce of comedy out of any moment. She is also unafraid to lean into the comically grotesque to get a laugh. In fact, this show seems to revel in it, from some inventive uses of spittle through to the evocative imagery of Prince Wilfred’s interactions with his mother.
The story itself isn’t necessarily much to write home about, but in a show like this, that’s not really the point. What counts is the consistency of the hilarity and Lil Wenker: BOYKING delivers this in abundance. You know it’s staying fresh and funny when the sound operator next to you is still cracking up as they follow the show.
The real draw here is Wenker herself. She is an outstanding performer and captures us from the very first moment, then squeezes the life (and the laughs) out of us as Wilfred with malevolent glee. She also showcases her singing and dancing ability and is absolutely no slouch in either area too.
Lil Wenker: BOYKING is an hour of all-singing, all-dancing, solo madcap mayhem that will keep you, the royal court of Wilfred, hooked in and chuckling away for a very merry hour indeed.
