There’s a delightful pantomime-esque quality to Alfie Ordinary, who welcomes us into his world for this hour of song, dance, puppetry and even a spot of gymnastics. The son of a drag queen (a drag prince), Alfie is a perfectly sequinned mash up of Paul O’Grady and Oktoberfest. With a wonderfully gentle and convivial manner, Alfie is refreshingly sweet – a far cry from the uber-sexed drag cabaret that’s ten a penny at the Fringe.
An hour of relaxed humour, clever lyricism and more sequins than Shirley Bassey’s dress collection
Alfie regales us with tales of his schooling at Madame LeCoq’s Preparatory School For Fabulous Boys, where some of the lessons available are Herstory and Sequinnery. He’s crafted his own lyrics to some of the classics like YMCA, Sugababes, Tiffany and Christina Aguilera – which he belts out as he plays along on his keyboard. Alfie is exceptionally skilled in his keyboard playing, and when the notes of the show tunes get too high, he utilises the support of some of the greats like Bette Middler and Whitney to help him out.
Alfie’s narration of the offside rule in football, explained via the medium of buying shoes, is simply genius! As a female who both understands the offside rule and adores the purchasing of shoes, I just loved both the humour and the stereotype smashing achieved with this. Alfie’s show is lots of fun, and he also has something serious to say about living in a heteronormative world where coming out is still a big barrier for lots of LGBTQ people. We understand the poignant message behind this, whilst never breaking the air of entertainment and jocularity which Alfie effortlessly creates.
A genuine safe space for all, this is an hour of relaxed humour, clever lyricism and more sequins than Shirley Bassey’s dress collection.
