Priscilla Queen of the desert

Where do I start! Ok, we arrived at the theatre and collected our tickets in an already packed and excited foyer, shown to our seats, the lights dimmed, and music started, the curtains drew, and we were off.

Immediately we knew we were in for a great night. The stage, bedecked in silver strands with the three divas (Funke Akiboye, Olivia Conroy and Jade Nichols) stage centre, in gold dresses belted out the opening number, the stage was set. The story is about three drag queens on a journey across the deserts of Australia in their bus Priscilla and the various trials that they meet along the way. 

The first thing that struck is the choreography. Fast, furious, inventive, extremely well-rehearsed and fabulous to watch. Across the board. Not just the dancers but the cast involved as well, a brilliant job by Jess Eades here. Also bearing in mind that a lot of it was supplied in heels! (and not just the ladies). Next up, the costumes. How outlandish, bright, colourful, and so many of them, there were at least ten changes for the principals alone. They added an enormous amount to this show.

The three main leads, Dave Tatnall as Tick, Iain Steel as the utterly believable Bernadette and Daniel Williams as the completely over the top Adam worked so well together, bouncing off each other, entertaining us, the audience superbly. They were though, fantastically backed up by Peter Barber as Bob the Mechanic, Holly Reedman as Shirley, Carolina Scott as Cynthia and the brilliant Simon Meanwell-Ralph as Miss Understanding, whose impression of Tina Turner in an outrageous red wig (which seemed to have a will of its own) and heels in "What's Love Got to Do With It" will stay with me for quite some time! However, the rest of the cast dancers, ensemble et all were having an absolute blast! The feel-good factor that came from the stage to the auditorium was palpable. Bravo to you all, the standard was very high. Such was the pace you would be forgiven for thinking that words would be lost or dropped. Not a bit of it, the diction was clear, both sung and spoken and this was both principals and cast alike. The sound that they made as a chorus together was outstanding.

The Priscilla, in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, is the bus. This enormous prop was all built and put together from scratch and was an impressive sight. Silver on the outside and pink leopard skin (well, what else did we expect) on the inside. A real showstopper in a show full of showstoppers.

This was a joyous well put together, well directed evening of sheer camp fun in its purest form. The audience were treated to a fantastic evening of fun, laughs, cheers claps and singing. If this were marked out of ten, I'd give it eleven. 

Mark Allen

I can only endorse everything that Mark has said.  It truly reflects the outstanding evening that I shall long remember.

Kay Rowan

SE Councillor

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.