Ginger Johnson’s new solo performance Show Pony, half psychedelic musical, half electrified stand-up in full drag, rocks Soho Theatre. Her fame as a Drag Race Superstar and Celebrity MasterChef Champion will surely draw the crowds, but it is the rawness, joy, rage and loss, every feeling drawn from a personal life lived through the deep and very real crises of 2026, that we want to see live. Johnson brings out the exact palette of all those feelings across a highly entertaining 70 minutes, in maximalist style.
The show takes us on a comical journey to the astral realm, where Johnson seeks spirituality and creativity. She’s looking for her childhood imaginary friend, who helped her survive hard times. Johnson doesn’t shy away from her feelings of ageing and being uninspired, or from her internal struggles. To reconnect with spirituality, or to see the pony again, she writes down her dreams and tries gong bath meditation, chakra practice, tantra and all the popular wellbeing activities that society sells to us. Of course, Johnson takes them all with a huge pinch of salt. Nothing really works until a moment of deep personal crisis, when Johnson returns home to the North East, licks a toad as instructed and goes on a trip: a kaleidoscope of every spiritual activity she has ever tried, shown through a process of metamorphosis. Amidst it all, we hear the sound of a pony galloping here and there, projected by Johnson. Is it the pony? Or is it pony play in a psychedelic manner? Never mind. Johnson’s inner horse is out and about.
Show Pony is powered by original songs that Johnson describes as a soundtrack from the radio of a 1970s VW camper: think ‘Janis Joplin… if she was a Geordie’. They fit very well into an old-fashioned trip, with haze and rotating coloured lights, like the gig of a surreal rock star in drag. Johnson’s voice is indeed powerful. There is the potential for a full album of pony love songs across the show, blending tenderness with Johnson’s iconic silliness and dark camp humour.
Show Pony gives us a window into an unpolished, unrestrained version of Ginger Johnson that no one would expect to see on reality TV. It has all the flavours and layers of a true queen, and gives the audience the kind of energy recharge that is much needed in November.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
