If you thought 10.30am a strange time for a drag show, then take my advice: it’s never too early for sequins and thoughtfulness. At least not in the company of drag queen Panti Bliss, who tells how she became “a national fucking treasure” in Ireland when she called out homophobes, first on national TV and subsequently in a speech at the Abbey theatre in Dublin.
“Life,” she admits, “can be weird. Like Tom Cruise.” Actually, being a national treasure comes with its burdens. Getting laid is harder, as potential partners are prone to think of it as “like masturbating on Stonehenge”. There’s plenty about sex, but more still around gender (one of the Edinburgh festival’s hot topics this year) and masculinity. One great riff imagines what would happen if crochet replaced football and Saturday night TV was full of men discussing “best stitch of the day”. She takes things into the audience and makes us think about self-identity, the lies we tell ourselves and the way we present ourselves to the world. It’s neatly done, underscored by her account of a deception she and a friend perpetrated on a US TV programme. There’s a deluge of acid drops.
But there is a quiet, layered seriousness, too, around living with Aids, gay suicide in Ireland and how attitudes are slowly beginning to change. It’s a show that leaves lipstick traces on both heart and mind.
- At the Traverse, Edinburgh, until 14 August. Box office: 0131-226 0002.
