If you don’t already know the story from the film version, the ‘desert’ referred to is the Australian Outback and ‘Priscilla’ the name of the bus that carries them across it. The story tells of a dash from city to the back of beyond by a couple of drag artists and a transsexual, ostensibly to rescue the club/bar of the wife of now securely gay, Tick, who also longs to see, ‘the best mistake he ever made’ in the shape of his young son. It has also been pointed out to me (by a well-known artistic director of my acquaintance) that it is also a kind of coming-of-age (film) story about Australia finding its own, somewhat quirky, ‘This is us, take it or bugger off’, voice and identity, on the world stage. Alongside the almost inescapable homophobia (and ‘otherness-phobia) of a predominantly ‘bloke’ culture there sits a hard-nosed, beer-swilling acceptance of ‘cocks in frocks’.
The show is the Everest of High Camp; more, it stands tiptoe on the summit of Everest waving excitedly to the world below. If theatre existed on a continuum with ‘Not I’ at one end, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, sits at the other. It is a glorious celebration of human diversity – at least one OTT aspect of it.
Along with the story of Tick and his journey to paternal duty and fulfillment, there is the parallel human story of Bernadette, a transsexual (man to woman) looking for acceptance and love. Her story has a certain warmth and could, if one wanted to be pompous, be said to reflect the struggle of many a minority as humanity trundles along making moral discoveries on the road to equality for all.
Above all however this is a show, a glittering, energetic, colourful, tune filled extravaganza. The laugh-out-loud costumes are such that would put any pantomime dame or ugly sister in the shade and numbers included dancing paintbrushes and swirling, cavorting cup cakes, the latter to a very camp version of Macarthur Park. The floating divas, each suspended beneath their own fluffy cloud, alternately depicting glittering seraphs and cherubim each sing (as one would hope) angelically, and tip the show from the outrageous into the surreal.
All the central performances are well conceived: Simon Green as Bernadette rightly concentrates on the emotional rather than biological aspects of the character. Both he and Duncan James as Tick, round out characters who are at ease with the people they are and give the show a grounding which prevents it from being mere froth.
This is a highly entertaining show, which still manages to feel freshly minted. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 1st June 2016
