The bench seating in the Bosco theatre fills up very quickly around me; it’s obvious that word has got out about Alfie Ordinary and his award winning show. Alfie comes on stage (twice) to rapturous applause in an entirely sequinned school uniform, giant black eye lashes and a platinum bowl cut and his affable, sweet charm wins the audience over entirely.
This Drag Prince is a force to be reckoned with, and I’m sure will continue to dismantle the patriarchy one rhinestone at a time.
We are taken on a journey through Alfie’s school years at Madame La Coq’s Preparatory School for Fabulous Boys where everything is sequinned, you’re taught by Mr O’Grady and your fabulousness is widely encouraged. Alfie then tells us of a friend he makes called John who is a ‘muggle’; his parents do not know that he’s fabulous, and he has to change out of his sparkly school uniform when he gets home so they don’t find out. But, John has Alfie Ordinary on his side, and Alfie tries to help John in any way he can; he sings for John, he introduces John to his fabulousness and tries to help him overcome his fear of telling his parents about his true fabulous self.
Alfie manages to create a show that is both suitable for all ages, but still very subversive. He discusses the damage that a heteronormative society has on people from a very young age, forcing them into boxes and suppressing their true self, through the medium of puppetry (very special cameos from Whitney Houston and Bette Midler bring the house down), or trying to explain the offside rule in relation to buying shoes. It causes the audiences to hold a mirror up to themselves, and the world they live in, without being antagonistic, it’s a gentle and intelligent introduction to questioning the rigidity of hegemony and patriarchal society.
Yes, Alfie may be a figment of John’s imagination, but that doesn’t mean the points Alfie raises about the world aren’t valid; in fact, they couldn’t be more important in the current climate. It’s a reminder to us all to be happy with who you are, and to encourage each other to not be afraid to express yourself. We even each left with a gold star of our own, given to us by Alfie when he was graduating from his fabulous school, so the fabulousness became a collective consciousness and everyone left with smiles on their face, perspective shifted and mood uplifted.
And! I haven’t even mentioned the beautiful reworkings of pop songs by The Sugababes, The Village People and Christina Aguilera (to name a few), the outfit tearaway and reveal, herstory lessons and impressive headers with an actual real life football! This Drag Prince is a force to be reckoned with, and I’m sure will continue to dismantle the patriarchy one rhinestone at a time. Always remember: some people are fabulous. Get over it!
