As we wait to enter the Speigel Zelt at Gluttony, Gingzilla is out front, working the crowd. I don’t get close enough to hear what’s being said but she’s clearly the centre of attention and this is obviously her favourite place to be. If you’ve read an article about the Fringe this year or watched a daytime news spot, you’ve almost certainly seen this 7ft tall, ginger-bearded, self-proclaimed ‘Glamonster’ drag queen. Once inside, she almost dares us to look away.
Gingzilla could easily perform another hour of encore.
She’s a hell of a singer and has an ability to be both masculine yet vulnerable without it seeming too cliché. Her ability to work the crowd is admirable and it’s a delight to watch the audience enraptured by her performance. There’s solid concepts in the show and some genuine theatrics to the piece with a great choice of songs that have the audience belting along.
Framing the show as a 1950’s drive in cinema, Gingzilla uses the classic ‘B’ movies of the time to attempt to address some of the stereotypes and now very dated attitudes towards women portrayed in these films. It’s a device that both works and doesn’t; the portrayal of the treatment of women from the era is pretty spot on but, although the physicality of it is played for laughs, some of it makes for uncomfortable viewing. However, the audience laps it all up and by the end of the show, Gingzilla could easily perform another hour of encore.
