Death Drop – a ‘Dragatha Christie’ murder mystery is back in the West End after lockdown, bringing camp comedy to the stage by a whole bunch of well known drag queens.
The story is fun. It’s 1991 and to celebrate the 10th wedding anniversary of Charles and Diana, The Lady has invited some special guests to Tuck Island for a soiree like no other. But none of the guests have ever met and it doesn’t take long before one by one they start to be killed. As each of their past lives comes to light they find they have more in common than they first thought. But can they pinpoint who the killer is before they all sashay away?
Firstly let me say that the pre show playlist of music in the auditorium needs to be released as it is a dream for any gay who grew up in the 80s/90s. Me and my pint of wine had a fabulous time before the show started!
LoUis CYfer, Anna Phylactic and Holly Stars (who also wrote the play) all return to the show with new cast member Myra Dubois as The Lady. Making their West End debuts are RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Willam who takes on the role of 80s pop sensation Shazza, alongside Latrice Royale as Summer Raines, a glamorous American weather girl living in London. The cast are surprisingly brilliant. I don’t know how many of them have trained as actors but they managed to do a great job of really telling the story and not messing about like they might in a drag show.
The set design was colourful and well thought out and the whole show was a far cry from the ‘drag panto’ I anticipated watching. I could say it is too crude in places, that ‘poo jokes’ aren’t funny after the age of ten or that some of the script crosses the line in terms of political correctness but what else would you expect from a show like this? And the audience LOVED IT!
I’m embarrassingly not familiar with any of the Drag Race stars but the enormous applause from the audience when each entered the stage makes me want to go and find out what I’ve missed!
★★★★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma