Henry VIII comes back to life in Gilded Balloon Patter House’s EIGHT: The One (Wo)Man Drag King Musical Parody, written and performed by Hannah Clift, bringing together belting vocals, eyebrow-raising humour, and a larger-than-life personality in one place.
Facing down a few centuries’ worth of bad press, Clift’s Henry VIII’s one (wo)man show is a direct and pointed response to one of the Fringe’s biggest success stories in recent years, SIX. Where that musical saw the six wives rewrite their histories, now it’s Henry’s turn in EIGHT.
Any one-person show needs a genuine talent at the centre of it and Hannah Clift is just that. From the first velvet-clad step on-stage, her bounding steps exude confidence, not just in keeping with Henry’s arrogant character as king but also her own as a performer who kept the audience in the palm of her hand.
When she pouts and prances as Henry, it’s hard not to coo and applaud in response. That’s helped along with a fantastic voice that easily sashays from Ed Sheeran to Celine Dion. Whatever song King Henry has adopted to tell his side of the story, Clift performs with a natural ease and captivating humour.
That talent would perhaps benefit from some sharper writing. The show lost a little momentum in the audience participation segment, always a risky endeavour for any Fringe show, and one that EIGHT: The One (Wo)Man Drag King Musical Parody didn’t seem to need.
Indeed, more time should perhaps have been spent blending the references to real-life misogyny from current topics with Henry’s bawdy jokes. The current attempt felt jarring, with the king’s irreverent jokes clumsily hashing over genuine references to women’s mistreatment in modern times.
A little more time for that moment to breathe would have helped it to settle better among the audience, and likely help the show to make a more powerful statement.
As it stands, it feels as though EIGHT: The One (Wo)Man Drag King Musical Parody didn’t quite know whether it wanted to make people laugh or scream. There’s a world where it could have done, but it isn’t quite there yet.
That said, scarcely a minute doesn’t go by without either a fantastic musical performance or a genuinely laugh-out-loud joke, so you won’t be left bored if you buy a ticket to EIGHT.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
