I spent my New Years Eve doing what I love, performing and what an honour!
Happy New Quee-Year 2024-D! was the third instalment of Mama Rhi (Rhianne Bowes) and Mack Sproates’ all singing, all dancing, all poetry, burlesque, comedy and more cabaret at Alphabetti Theatre, and it was another sold-out success.
Mama Rhi and Mack Sproates are the best hosts for a gay old time, and we got just that. Over the three events, there have been performances from a plethora of amazing acts.
Some highlights for me would be:
SoreSlap Theatre Company (Rhian Allen and Papi Jeovani)’s powerful ‘More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish’ snippet, where they gave us a preview of their Alphabetti show all about strength and finding ourself against all-odds.
Patti Boo Rae’s drag-singing gorgeousness, where she, over two short performances, genuinely shocked me with her amazing voice, and shook me with a blood-pill reveal as vampire Sandy from Grease.
And, of course MXYM’s mind blowing musical performance, where they sang some beautiful originals as well as a beautiful version of Tainted Love by Soft Cell and a haunting rendition of Beat Again by JLS.
It was an absolute honour to have been asked to join for the third cabaret put together by the two amazing performers/artists and producers.
Mack Sproates is one of the best zinesters I’ve ever come across, and also a lip-sync genius, editing clips from popular culture together to make hilarious, heartwarming and mind-boggling performances which they deliver with such impressive accuracy. I never get bored of watching them on stage. They’re also not scared to pick up a guitar and sing (anything from heartfelt performances to parody) – last new years eve, they played a tribute to their dad which made me sob, and this year they sang two hilarious numbers of Spongebob’s Ripped Pants Song and the F.U.N Song.
Mama Rhi is a one-of-a-kind burlesque act – the ultimate source for gay-panic. She comes up with clever stories and weaves the narrative through each enticing burlesque performance. She has performed in many forms, such as a Pokemon trainer who morphs into Pokemon as the layers come off, and a recent widow, who turns out to be more of a black-widow as the story unfolds. For New Years eve this year, Mama Rhi made Pride and Prejudice gay, as it should always be; coming onto stage in a flowing white dress, very of the Regency era, with a floral patterned corset. The outfit was so beautiful, if the rest of the performance hadn’t been so dazzling, it might have been a shame to see it come off!
I had a wonderful night surrounded by wonderful people – the audience was so warm and the other performers (Shevek Fodor, Holly Readshaw and Vick the Prick were all so supportive and, generally, really canny!)
Shevek Fodor performed a clowning set, acting as their very manly man Business man character. The silliness and parody of the act made me laugh from start to finish, and a highlight of the night for me was having Shevek shake my hand and say “pleased to man you”.
Holly Readshaw did the bravest thing of the night- stand-up comedy! I find anyone who can hold a room with comedy absolutely awe-inspiring. Holly’s jokes were so very relatable (she covered everything from her home-town to her sassy teenage printer) and my cheeks hurt by the end of her set!
Vick the Prick performed a very cleverly put together drag-king set with a beautiful story. Vick had edited together clips from shows such as The Simpsons and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and told the story of someone experiencing heartbreak, someone coming out and someone feeling the need to ‘go back in the closet’. It spoke of so many powerful things without Vick actually using any words of his own. It was so very impressive and made many people in the room, including me, cry.
I performed a poetry set of three poems. The first was a short, funny (I thought it was funny, at least) poem about hating the phrase ‘turning over a new leaf’ and all of the ‘new year, new me’ stuff that comes along with it, linking together video games and levelling up, rather than turning over. The second was a poem talking about alcohol and my choice not to drink it, which received a wonderful reaction from the audience and made me a bit teary. The third was my ‘bucket-list poem’, in which I discussed a multitude of things I want to write about, such as the relief you feel when you take your bra off, and I pit those mundane wonderful things against war and genocide, and how I wish I could write about them not existing.
I was very aware, this year more than ever, that it’s a privilege to be celebrating new years, and I wanted my set to reflect joy and hope for the future, but also the fact that we need to act for better, not just hope for better, as we enter 2024.