“Normally I come out of a cannon,” quips Taylor Mac, sashaying on stage like a chipped Statue of Liberty who has been caught in a glitter downpour. A cannon would have been nice, but making an all too rare UK performance, the New York drag queen and live artist certainly ensured that this year’s London international festival of theatre (Lift) didn’t just have lift-off but blast-off.
One of the fabulous things about the evening was the way performer and architecture talked back and forth to each other, as the “crapped-out aesthetic” of one met the gilt-faded grandeur of the other.
Mac makes the eyes and ears dazzle. But it’s the extravagant generosity of spirit that makes the sequins shine more brightly, the notes sound truer and the wit seem sharper in this evening of sly subversion and joyous misgendering. Wednesday night’s soiree was a snippet from a much more ambitious project, a 24-hour performance of popular American songs from 24 decades, spanning 1776 to 2011.
Like a musical commonplace book, this was a mere taster, sometimes raw, often raucous, demonstrating how music brings people together and how it can be twisted and used to manipulate. An anti-war song from the first world war becomes a pro-war anthem in a battle between segments of the audience – which is as roof-raising as anything seen in the annual panto at this address. Like any great dame, Mac makes us both forget ourselves and brings us together as a temporary community. Like the glittering vision on stage, we all briefly shine a little brighter.
