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Final Queen

 
Paul T. Davies Review by Paul T. Davies 5 Published: 25 Jul 2026 The Dragonfly Lounge Show Dates: 24 Jul 2026-25 Jul 2026

With the tag line, Priscilla Queen of the Desert meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you know you’re in for more than a drag show. Presented as part of the Colchester Fringe Weekender, Australian circus queen Grace Lightning embarks on a road trip across Australia to audition for ultimate gay icon Kylie Minogue, together with her two best drag friends. But events pitch them up in a haunted mansion, where a chainsaw-wielding psychopath awaits them.

This is Drag Max, delivering all of the expectations of a drag show, with much more

It’s an extraordinary solo show, full of exquisite lip-syncing and comic timing. Final Queen is Drag Max, with a strong plot, delivering all the expectations of a drag show, but also much more.

That “much more” is the extraordinary acrobatics. This Queen does things with hula hoops that need to be seen to be believed. Grace’s extremely flexible body creates jaw-dropping moments, not least in a fight with a spirit (a blue cloth), that leads into a lip-sync to Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, and her death drops make for gasps all round.

It’s the simplicity of the show that makes it work so well. When all three queens are present, Grace uses wigs to represent the other drag queens, effortlessly flipping from wig to wig and character to character, at one point having the serial killer on her back while fighting to escape. It all builds up to a superb finale in front of a (cut-out) Kylie, with a hilarious twist.

It’s an hour of defiant, queer joy, using horror tropes to make a deeper point about the threat to drag, queer identity and freedoms that the LGBTQ+ community faces.

This is an artist at the peak of her powers, who should be better known in this country. The Colchester Fringe gigs were prior to her run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Catch her if you can.

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The Blurb:

When the opportunity of a lifetime comes her way, Grace and her two best drag-friends must embark on a road trip through the great Australian outback. Dodging deadly snakes, spiders and bigoted cryptids, they stumble upon a solitary farm house. Inside, they are thrown into a nightmare scenario, hunted by a chainsaw-wielding bushranger. But are these monsters really what they seem... ?