DISCLAIMER: PR INVITE | GIFTED tickets 🎫
DISCLAIMER: PR INVITE | GIFTED tickets 🎫
*permission given to use photos* - Credit: Cam Harle
RATING: ★★★★
TW: ACID'S REIGN contains flashing lights, strong language, sexual references, and references to homophobic abuse that some might find triggering.
On Friday the 17th of March I got invited to watch and review Acid’s Reign at the VAULTS festival. Written by award-winning writer James McDermott (Eastenders; Time and Tide, Park Theatre), and presented by Relish Theatre. Acid’s Reign brings drag and climate change together with musical direction from Olivier-nominated Joe Beighton (SIX: The Musical)
The show is currently making its debut at the VAULT Festival at the venue's new 125 seat cabaret venue The Flair Ground.
The show follows LGBTQ+ Business tycoon Alex Acid, who wants to build a gay leisure resort in their rural seaside hometown, but the damage to the local environment will be disastrous. They are ready to tear it down and destroy anything and anyone standing in their way, including Mother Nature herself, but Mother won’t sashay away, and Acid’s siblings (Sea, Land and Air) are waiting backstage to teach him a long-overdue lesson in environmental responsibility. Will Acid reign? Or will they learn to embrace all that Mother Nature has to offer? With the help of a little drag magic, Acid’s Reign forms part of Relish Theatre’s Regeneration Season – a trio of new LGBTQIA+ plays.
The show takes on a serious topic but makes it fun and educational, with songs from popular musicals and pop songs like Wicked, Chicago and Born this Way by Lady GaGa. With 4 amazing drag artists (Son of a tutu (He/she/they), Scarlett Harlett (She/her/they), Jamie Fuxx (he/him/they/them) Joshua Oakes-Rogers (he/him)) and voice over by Mischa Velasco (she/sher), the show only runs for an hour, and I definitely think it could have been longer.
Acid’s Reign is directed by Luke Howarth , with a small stage the direction does well and isn’t over complicated as it doesn’t need to be. With audience participation at certain points and the drag performers entering and exiting from different sides of the intimate auditorium, you really felt at times part of the show (and got slightly wet in the splash zone…). The drag performers brought on various props, but made it part of the songs. It felt like another production we know where the “world turns upside down”. Luke Howarth definitely doesn’t complicate direction and understands theatre spaces to give the audience the best experience in a very different space.
With also great movement by Em Williams, the movement wasn't complexed but was impressive and filled the stage. The movement had great sequences showcasing and focusing in on all the characters and themes of the show and helping with the message to get it across to the audience, Em's movement suited Lukes direction and worked well together keeping it simple but effective.
Writer, James McDermott, has taken a very serious topic about the climate change crisis and got our attention through comedic commentary and showing the impact on the LGBTQ+ community. He makes it fun, enjoyable and educational at the same time and makes clever use of Mother Nature (Son of a Tutu) being the main role with three top acts (aka Sea, Land and Air), and the audience definitely roots for Mother Nature throughout the show to take down Acid. With a serious message, but delivered in a funny way, this made it easier for the audience to get the message of the show and still enjoy it at the same time. I really liked that James took a well known story (Christmas Carol) and then changed the characters in a realistic and Powerful way, and then to also get a subject that’s so important in today's world, which is greed, which is carried through into acid reign really well. Christmas carol is a great stimulus and starting point for stories that want to deliver an important and meaningful message. Acids Reign is definitely a great retelling and twist of a tale that’s still important today making it fun and enjoyable.
Acid’s Reign combines popular pop songs and musicals, changing the lyrics (and meaning) to the topic of the show. The selections of songs and how they delivered that message was very clever, but to add to that the drag performers delivery of the songs really hit home, with some great vocals. I particularly liked one of the song lyric changes “When You’re Good to Mama”, changed to “When You’re Good to Nature, Nature’s Good to You” all the songs suited the characters and characteristics of the songs also helped the story along . Joe Beighton has yet again created some brilliant musical direction on another great show.
This is the part in my reviews I normally talk about certain performers who gave stand out performances during the show. But I want to say now, that with this show all 5 performers worked together to create a great show that all the audience enjoyed, including myself. I will mention a few of the performers,
Son of a Tutu, who played Mother Nature really owned and commanded the stage, set the scene right from the start of the show, and brought the other performers together. She is the storyteller and narrator. She made the audience laugh and genuinely told the story from mother nature's perspective like she wasa real person. Son of a Tutu delivered the host very well. She's likeable and heartwarming to the audience and really tries to convince us that Mother Nature needs your help to stop mother nature getting destroyed.
Scarlett Hartlett, who played Seashell, showed off her vocal range which we never saw on popular tv show I personally love watching. Scarlett's character was water and her elegance showed the water's vulnerability as it could be very powerful, also her character having a mini water pistol was a bit of fun and you could see she enjoyed wetting the audience more than she should. Scarlett is the first act of mother nature’s to take to the stage and tell her story and Scarlett tells the story of the danger of what can happen to water if climate change continues, hoping to convince Acid. Scarlett is brilliant and has so much energy and passion for the role.
Joshua Oakes-Rogers, was brilliant as Alex Acid, his performance made me laugh out loud how he really wasn’t interested in the climate change crisis as long as he looked good and got rich. The change in the character's perspective and opinions were shown clearly by Joshua, from baddy to goody Joshua showed both sides brilliantly well. Joshua brings across the role as sarcastic and heartless, and you can definitely tell Joshua has definitely thought about how to develop character and extend the way we would normally see a character that’s based on Scrooge.
Jamie Fuxx’s character was land, which he played the character with cool style, developing the character into a rich landowner, but ironically was the land, with great vocals in songs Jamie Fuxx gave a top-notch performance and gave the land characteristics you’d never thought you would see. Jamie Had a Jazz style which works and is a lovely edition to the character. Jamie's acting choices were clever and bold with Jamie's stage presence being great too. the whole character of land was unique and Jamie fuxx took on the role with ease and made it funky.
Finally but certainly not least is; Mischa Velascu, who was voice over for the character Air, Mischa was elegant and spoke with such purity and really got the character perspective and points across. With also a great singing voice.
The lighting by Catja Hamilton was bright, colourful and atmospheric especially when Air was singing, it wasn't complicated as it didn't need to be, it felt with the right amount of simplicity it didn't over power the space and small stage with the space like the VAULTS it's hard to get the tech right to not overpower and Acid's Reign didn't overpower it was just right.
Acid's Reign is a fully sustainable drag-cabaret play exploring the queerness of nature, and how the climate crisis affects groups. Taking on such a prominent topic at the moment, I was worried how drag and climate change would come together but it was fun, bright and entertaining with also education, Acid's Reign takes a popular story and changes it to a different purposeful way. It's a refreshed narrative of a classic. It felt pure and true to what the water, land and air would say if all three could talk, Luke Howarth's direction complemented James McDermott's, genuinely genius, script writing and tied in a bow with pop and musical songs adapted by Joe Beighton. The VAULTS is a perfect space for the show, it was intimate and is unique and feels that the show could definitely do well after its run.
DISCLAIMER: PR INVITE | GIFTED tickets 🎫
★★★★
*permission given to use photos* - Credit: Cam Harle
Writer Harry Brogan
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