Messy Friends - Adelaide Fringe Review
Photo: Ezra Alcantra / supplied
Content warning: Themes of mental health and suicide
Produced by GENDERMESS PRODUCTIONS, Messy Friends is the art of drag like you’ve never seen before. It’s colourfully camp, grotesque, and full of unconventional individuality.
The show is structured like a documentary in many ways, led by lead performer Ginava who interviews each of the performers and friends (who are indeed messy) about their style of drag and performance art. The audience also gets an up close and personal perspective about Ginava’s mental health and ethos behind GENDERMESS.
Clips from the documentary play throughout the show, acting as lead-in introductions before each of the messy friends appears on stage. The contrast between their day-to-day and performative identities is a fascinating insight into how their personalities and confidence shift between different contexts and environments.
Right down to the seams, the surrealist details behind the costume designs do in fact, deviate greatly from what is commonly associated with drag performances, such as a dress made out of x-rays, a space suit, a serpent snake, and divine monster-esque costumes. Both the costumes and the cast bring their own unique character to the table in their solo performances.
An intergalactic burlesque performed by Bobby Knox intrigues audience members as they robotically and fluidly move across the stage, tantilising the crowd as they remove parts of their skin-tight outfit piece by piece.
Danisa Snake’s gold and sparkly snake dance mesmerises the crowd into a hypnosis, alluring us to fall under the spell of their charm.
Lighting up the stage figuratively and literally, Flynn V delivers a fiery and raunchy style of drag and is not afraid to get up close and personal with audience members seated in the front.
The unmatched sass of Skye Scraper and seductiveness of Mary Lamb O God perform what is more stereotypically associated with drag in a camp context, all dolled up and dressed in hyper-feminine costumes, with the notion added that they’re drag artists as opposed to exclusively being categorised as drag queens.
All the moments leading up to costume extraordinaire Ginava’s solo performance meet our expectations of their own brand of drag, revealing a trio of dinasour-esque costumes and a bin monster to convey their battles with having an eating disorder in the past. The costumes in these performances appear sort of adolescent at first glance, but as they’re intertwined with the complex themes of mental health, they convey the intersections of personal battles, triumphs, and being unique to yourself.
We’re left with a plethora of rainbows and eccentric costumes, song, and dance to close the show, celebrating all the messiness and uniqueness of the entire cast.
Overall, the line-up of performances delivers a highly diverse, intense, and pretty darn hot portrayal of drag art. If you’re looking for a vulnerable and camp experience, then you’ve found the right show.
Rating: ★★★★
Show details: Messy Friends - Adelaide Fringe
