Richard Watkins has been touring his show Happily Ever Poofter for over six years now and the fact it still delivers is a testament of how good the writing is. Even if the Barbie movie may have come along and used some similar story elements, this show still stands up as a heartwarming and hilarious tale of a prince stuck as the only gay in his kingdom. The show is written and performed by one man tour-de-force Watkins.
A heartwarming and hilarious tale
This was my first time seeing Watkins’ tribute to all things ‘Disney’ alongside the gay scene we know and love in our own modern world - and it was a delight to be one of Prince Henry’s’ citizens at his first perfomance during the Prague Frionge of 2024. Watkins - who plays Prince Henry, alongside a few other characters in his tale, was able to hold the audience in the palm of his hand throughout. Despite noisy distractions from the room next door his performance remained thoroughly entertaining and charismatic, talking to the audience as if we are old friends. The show features many tongue-in-cheek pastiches of well-known Disney favorites and they were all performed well, often invoking much laughter from the crowd, particularly as Someday My Prince Will Come took on a whole new meaning.
During Prince Henry’s quest to find his One True Love we also meet the camp, magical, Fairy Godfather (Watkins again) who whisks our hero away to the real world to find out what being gay can be like. There was also a dark turn in the middle of the tale where one of the men he meets, Mr Sleepy, (Watkins wearing a harness and baseball cap) goes down a rather unfortunate path. I am unsure whether this tone-shift was needed as it was never referenced again and stuck out as somewhat baffling during a show where frivolity and fun were the distinguishing features of every other scene. There was also a boyfriend played by a willing, consenting, audience member. At the show I attended it was a citizen named Tom was called up to the hot seat, where he was also able to plug his own Prague Fringe show whilst being romanced and sung to. Watkins was able to bounce off all the audience members well throughout the show - going wherever the interaction took him with witty remarks and banter.
The set was rather bare, but the costumes were the perfect fit for the show. Being both posturing and easily interchangeable. His boots are of particular note, not to mention his finalé costume. His performance incorporating two hand fans was also remarkably well-executed. The sound and lighting worked perfectly in the small space and there were many lighting cues for the operator to do, so I was very pleased that even for this first show they all seemed to go smoothly.
Overall this is a highly fun show, with a strong message that is still relevant today. If you are looking for a good evening’s entertainment you will not go wrong with this delightfully entertaining comedy.
