The blurb for Tom Ratcliffe’s Fame Whore, currently running at the King’s Head Theatre, describes the show as a dark comedy. In fact, it feels more like a short Ted talk on trends in the trans community, crossed with a PowerPoint presentation on how to get social media likes, delivered by a singing, dancing, off-colour pub drag queen. Each element is worthy enough in its own way, of course. But you can find more bleak humour on the back of a ciggy packet than in this disappointingly dry mash-up.
Politically awake performer, Becky Biro (Gigi Zahir), is desperate to get a place on the new season of TV’s reality competition Drag Factor. But she just does not have enough of a social media following to convince the producers to take a punt on her. So, she sets about getting the requisite 100,000 followers through a Faustian pact with the devil that is the darker side of the internet. But, in selling her honesty and integrity for the fleeting attractions of TV fame, is Becky surrendering something far more valuable than she stands to gain? Called to account for her sins on a Zoom meeting of the UK Drag Council, what is at stake for Becky is not just self-respect but an entire future as a cherished member of her beloved LGBTQ+ community.
It is not that Ratcliffe cannot write drama. His recent thriller, Evelyn, at the Southwark Playhouse, had (despite the baffling presence of a snarling life-size Punch and Judy) a great plot and some eminently watchable moments. His earlier more serious LGBT+ plays, Velvet and Circa, were well received. But on the basis of the confused morality tale that is Fame Whore, this is a writer struggling to find a comic voice. It feels a little like he disapproves of Becky and is consequently disinclined to let her have too much fun. As the compère of the BBC 3 drag competition this show parodies might put it, “if you don’t love your characters, then how the hell are they gonna move anybody else.”
Performer Gigi Zahir, who was fabulous in the recent Tempest at the Pleasance Theatre, does their very best with the meagre fare they are given. It is tough ask for an actor to play live against video and audio recordings of themselves in four or five variously unfunny guises, but they give it their best shot.
Writer and Director: Tom Ratcliffe
Duration: 80 minutes
More Recent Reviews
The King of Hollywood. White Bear Theatre.
Douglas Fairbanks was a groundbreaking figure in early American cinema. Celebrated for his larger-than-life screen presence and athletic prowess, [...]
Gay Pride and No Prejudice. Union Theatre
Queer-inspired reimaginations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice are a more common species than one might initially imagine. Hollywood [...]
Knife on the Table. Cockpit Theatre.
Knife on the Table, Jonathan Brown’s sober ensemble piece about power struggles, knife violence, and relationships in and around [...]
