Monday, January 27, 2014

Theatre: Diva and The Vaudevillians


Diva
By Tiffany Barton
Directed by Helen Doig
Performed by Tiffany Barton

The Vaudevillians
Jerick Hoffer (Jinkx Monsoon) and Richard Andriessen (Major Scales)

In Tiffany Barton’s small triumph of that name, the diva is June, a faded opera singer living out a scratchy, frustrated retirement with her costumes, her wigs, her pills and her lurid memories.
It’s beautifully constructed, and sets you up for an absolute zinger of a climax, a seemingly inevitable ending that doesn’t so much fail as get rejected outright, an affirmation of life, with all its heartbreak, darkness and obscenity.
Barton is simply great as June. She has an impeccable collaborator in Helen Doig, a director with all Barton’s courage who keeps June’s unruly story firmly on the straight and narrow. 

Jerick Hoffer’s celebrated character Jinkx Monsoon is far and away the most convincing, and authentically talented drag artist I’ve ever seen. With the gifted Major Scales (Richard Andriessen) alongside her, and the brilliant conceit of the show, it’s a fantastic set-up, but it ended up leaving me cold.

Link here to the complete reviews in The West Australian


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