For those who haven’t seen David Hoyle perform before, throw out your preconceptions and definitely expect the unexpected; for David is not your typical drag queen, and I’m sure he’d disagree with this label to begin with. Hee is a political commentator, cabaret-comedienne, furious anarchist and all, of course, with a face full of badly applied make up and a pair of heels.
Baring his cigarette-stained teeth, burping and farting down the microphone, David Hoyle is not your glamourous kind of drag but he is so compelling and sharp witted that you daren’t look away for a moment.
Trouncing onto the stage with a dress labelled “fragile”, David Hoyle is anything but. Yet, don’t let his ferocious comments and venomous attacks on the current state of our political leadership convince you that he is anything but heart.
Parading around the audience with his cordless mic, I would usually sink into my chair and avoid eye contact at all cost. David Hoyle plucks out his unsuspecting victims and rather than publicly humiliating them, like a lot of similar style acts, he gently caresses them, telling them how nice it is to see them, before making the entire audience give them a round of applause.
David Hoyle knows the right people to pick on with his stand up and they are not the members of public sitting in his audience.
Interrupting his rants with bouts of song, he hilariously freestyles, as well as covering some of the old camp classics and even had the whole audience on their feet dancing to A Little Bit of This…
Ever the multi-talented performer, he decided at one point to show off his portrait painting skills, of which he was quite good. I didn’t quite understand what he was getting at with this little exercise though but maybe he just fancied a break from talking for a moment as it was an hour long show!
His assistant wasn’t particularly funny but perhaps purposefully so. David Hoyle affectionately bossed him around while he sorted all of the musical and technical necessities during the performance, so his presence wasn’t just for show but when he stood at the back in underpants, face paint and his own pair of heels, again, I didn’t quite see where they were going with it as he wasn’t enough a part of the act.
Baring his cigarette-stained teeth, burping and farting down the microphone, David Hoyle is not your glamourous kind of drag but he is so compelling and sharp witted that you daren’t look away for a moment. Rambunctious and highly entertaining, he pleased the crowd without being a “crowd pleaser” and fused high with low brow and everything in between, making this show a real stand out in this year’s offerings from the Spiegeltent.
