The marketing for Auntie Myra's Fun Show misleadingly promises something pretty outrageous. In fact, this wonderful kid's magic show gone wrong has very little to do with the more infamous Myra the title and show picture suggest, or indeed Margaret Thatcher. This is an amusing, anti-charming late-night drag show, and Myra Dubois is a class act.
Dubois is a cabaret performer who, like most arty people, has hit upon hard times. Her innovative solution is to become a children's magician and take her show to the Fringe. Sadly, this isn't proving as lucrative as expected, possibly because Myra isn't very good with children, or possibly because she is a terrible magician.
Dubois' roots are parodied with the inclusion of classic drag show elements like costume changes, torch songs, audience interaction, etc. but the main meat of the show is a series of store-bought magic tricks executed with shambolic aplomb.
The show culminates in the cabaret-stage premiere of a new magic trick - fresh from the box. A mixture of giant pun, bad magic trick, good magic trick, and parody of the magic industry, this sequence is particularly impressive.
Myra's indifferent attitude and increasing intoxication as the show rattles onwards are hilarious. From the rather violent distribution of ‘fun bags’ made of black bin liners to her inability to remember the names of audience members she was coming on to, Myra Dubois is incredibly skilled at being unskilled.
It is true that the show lacks overall shape (Myra quotes her Time Out review in the show), but it's also easy to argue that an overall shape wouldn't be in the spirit of the thing. The show is so bad it's good, but of course it's supposed to be so bad it's good, so really it's just good.
Do not attend while sober.
