Review: RuPaul's drag queens visit Brighton

The Theatre Royal played host to some of the most successful queens of the most recent series of the programme, which is well underway to global domination. The show featured reigning queen and winner of the season Aquaria, alongside fellow contestants Kameron Michaels and Asia O’hara, Miz Cracker and Yuhua Hamasaki. Travelling directly from an Australian tour to Brighton, the queens suffered severe delays and cancellations during their journey. Three of the five queens were preparing for the show while on the tour bus, coming straight from the airport to the venue after travelling for a day and a half straight. Ever the professionals, however, the queens got their wigs and outfits on, painted their faces and came out to deliver a show-stopping performance that created an electrifying energy that many performers would struggle to match in their entire careers. Following a warm-up act of local queens and hosts, the top three ‘Ru Girls’ as they are titled, opened the main event by performing a fierce medley of iconic pop songs accompanied by choreography carried out with immaculate precision, which was greeted with a roaring applause, and truly was the first ‘wow’ moment of the evening. This was then followed by solo performances from Yuhua, Cracker, and two further rounds of short numbers from the rest of the queens, which were equally impressive. The second half of the show continued to give the fans exactly what they came to see – glamorous gowns, comedy, choreography, rhinestones, latex suits, wigs, gag-worthy moments, and most importantly – energy. Miz Cracker appeared with an unexplained loaf of bread, throwing slices out to the crowd, which received an explosive burst of cackling from the audience. Kameron ran a full circle the entire ground floor of the theatre pointing fun at the accusation that she doesn’t interact with fans. Yuhua quite literally rode an audience member to the song ‘Wrecking Ball’, Aquaria served some of the fiercest choreography of the night whilst suspended in mid-air by her back-up dancers. And Asia performed an incredibly realistic tribute to Whitney Houston. The laughter, screaming and applause roared through the theatre for the entirety of the performances. Coming together for a final number, Aquaria, Asia and Kameron performed their verses of the season 10 remix of RuPaul hit ‘American’, concluding with all the queens of the night coming together to take their final bow. The song quickly became a fan favourite when performed in the season, and so it felt incredibly fitting to finish with this number. By this point, the crowd had been on its feet for the last few songs, and the atmosphere was electric. As my first drag show, I am more than aware that I will be hard stretched to ever see such an impressive show again. The stand-out point of the whole night personally however, was the dedication and professionalism of all the girls involved. Imagine travelling for 31 hours straight, and having to walk off a plane, to a bus, get into a full-drag and perform for two hours – doing the splits, carrying out physically exhausting choreography and multiple costume/wig changes, and then meeting with fans afterwards? That simply cannot be done without love and passion for your work, which shone through from the moment the girls stepped on stage. The energy that the girls delivered was truly jaw-dropping, and I can only hope that they know how grateful we as an audience, were that they continued to perform the show despite the struggle they endured getting to us. The nature of their work is undoubtedly draining, demanding and exhausting, and I praise and thank them for their continued delivery of a true art form.