Michael Twaits brings his 'gay play, queer cabaret, multimedia masturbation' to the West End.
As part of Pride London 2010, Michael Twaits has added a little extra to his one-man, vaudevillian, spoken word show, the visually striking Confessions of a Dancewhore. It begins with the brash appearance of mouthy Lady M, the sequinned reality TV reject. Her exuberance and self-delusions are akin to a couple of camp characters from the Australian comedy Summer Heights High but it's her fearlessness that works up the crowd, as well as her grinding with members of the audience and her rendition of 'Holding Out For A Hero'. After free vodka tonics are dolled out to everyone to add further pep, there's little more of this to come as Twaits skilfully slides into a personal exploration and social commentary through a gripping visual montage.
From tales of his pub quiz team, controversially named 'Madeline's in my closet', to his attempts at understanding his own broken heart, Twaits' straightforward opinions on the amount of money spent looking for one girl when so many are suffering and his thoughts on love are theatrical gems. It's a shame much of the West End is afraid of embracing content like this.
Some aspects, however, seem to belong in another show. The philosophy of identity according to Freud complete with diagrams is a long-winded way of telling us that having identified our basic desire, we're all just trying to cum. It's at first too complex, then too simple and not that entertaining. There's a lot of gyrating in the dark as one of his compelling slide-shows plays in the background and whilst the on-screen visuals are moving, the simultaneous live show becomes distracting.
But there are also some unforgettable aspects to this unique show. After comically but poignantly addressing his own difficulty understanding homophobes he asks darkly and passionately, surrounded by a deep red light, “What are you so afraid of?” The surprise encore, a spoken word celebration of 40 years of gay liberation developed for Pride 2010 is a mesmerising description of the 1969 celebration of the life of Judy Garland in a gay bar in New York.
Not a seamless production but a highly entertaining, thought-provoking bit of camp fun in the West End.
Confessions of a Dancewhore runs at Trafalgar Studiios until July 3rd.
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