☆★★★★ Happily Ever Poofter
Once upon a time
In a kingdom far away
There lived a dashing Prince
Who just happened to be gay
He tried dating Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White
But deep down in his heart
Something didn’t feel quite right!
In a kingdom far away
There lived a dashing Prince
Who just happened to be gay
He tried dating Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White
But deep down in his heart
Something didn’t feel quite right!
And so as Rich Watkins, writer, producer, star and irrepressible
force of nature bursts onto the stage with this traditional panto-style
prologue, the fourth wall of the theatre is positively smashed and performer
and audience are as one.
We are quickly welcomed into the hedonistic, manic, world of
Prince Henry, who promptly establishes himself as the only gay in the kingdom
and a self-confessed Disney obsessive. From this point on, the Prince has his audience
of like-minded citizens on their feet and swearing their allegiance to his
world. We are also informed that it takes a community to make a story magical,
and without further ado, we are up and running for sixty minutes of miraculous
mayhem.
With work still to be done on my knowledge of Disney’s back catalogue,
I was grateful for some help from the more well-versed young man sitting next
to me, especially with Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast - but managed fine
with The Lion King, Aladdin, Cinderella and inevitably Frozen!
Cleverly rewriting the lyrics, Watkins uses the key songs to
orchestrate his journey to find happiness and true love in this gay firmament, quickly
establishing there has never been a gay character in any of Disney’s work. But beware;
these reworked lyrics are not for the timorous as the Cinderella classic Some
Day My Prince Will Come features the joys of a slow ejaculator and the inherent
problem of repetitive strain injury! Aladdin’s Whole New World is also reworked
as duet featuring two puppets extolling the benefits of PReP.
Watkins establishes a tremendous bond between himself and
the audience and gives a performance that defines bravura and tour de force all
rolled into one. Audience participation is rife throughout but not in a
gratuitously cruel way - although I am not too sure how happy Piers was when he
was set on a stool and quizzed!
Director Denholm Spurr has clearly maintained a firm hand on
the production which enjoys tremendous pace, vitality and intelligence even
when in the depth of some of the most brilliant absurd and, at times, awkward comedy.
Happily Ever Poofter is, without doubt, clever, camp, racy, insightful
and intelligent. It also enjoys endless heart and is definitely a cult classic
that will be around for many years to come!
Happily Ever Poofter runs at the King’s Head Theatre from 21
January to 8 February 2020
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