One of our trusted reviewers, Karen Ryder, headed over to The Lowry on Wednesday for a night of fun and frolics, as she went to see the smash-hit drag murder mystery. Death Drop. The production runs until Saturday. If you want a good laugh, book your ticket today...

And the category is………………Death Drop realness!

I was gagging to get my first real life glimpse at legit RuPaul alumni and I was not disappointed.  Each and every Queen (and King) entered the stage to rapturous applause from their eager audience and continued to demand it throughout their performance.

Vinegar Strokes (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK S1) is the first Queen to enter the stage, and literally arrives with a bang (behave yourself – no pun intended this early on!)   Vinegar plays Lady Von Fistenburg, the host of a strange manor house on Tuck Island where guests are invited to celebrate Charles and Diana’s 10^th wedding anniversary.  Vinegar starts by belting out a song that makes sure we know this play is set in 1991, with numerous witty, nostalgic and funny references to trends, celebrities and politics of the time.  It’s a great tool to use hindsight as comedic gold, and use it they do.

As the play unfolds we see the guests and hired help start to arrive, all of whom offer their own unique brand of fabulousness.  Holly Stars (comedian and writer of Death Drop) plays the Bottomley sisters trio of Blue, Brie and Spread (but only because Claudia Schiffer and friends couldn’t make it!)  Blue, Brie and Spread are triplets – identical just like peas in a pod (three little peas, named after cheese!)  They remain identical until the second act when things, well - kind of have to change!  Murder will do that after all.   

Willam (RuPaul’s Drag Race  S4, Nip / Tuck) plays Shazza  - a sassy fading popstar who no one (well almost no one) wants to hear sing.  She has a recent past with Phil Maker – a sleezy sex crazed television executive played by Georgia Frost.  Shazza and Phil are papped on a date by the loathsome Morgan Pierce, Editor of The World Of News.  Morgan is played by Karen From Finance (RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under S1) and little does she know that publishing her picture of Shazza and Phil will lead to murder.

Ra’Jah O’Hara (RuPaul’s Drag Race S11, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars S6) plays Summer Raines – a famous weather girl………sorry……..meteorologist, who as you would expect from Ra’Jah, wears a lot of purple and reverbs “Oh My God” a lot.  The cast is completed with Richard Energy (All The Kings Men, stand up) playing Rich Whiteman – a pompous, woman hating political figure who has many secrets of his own.

Once the guests have all arrived at Shantay house, it begins to dawn on them that nobody actually knows Lady Von Fistenburg, nobody is actually going to get to meet Princess Diana and nobody can actually leave Tuck Island due to a storm closing off their only exit route.  The power is dodgy, the phone lines are down and things are about to start getting very real very fast.  After all, there’s nothing like a little murder to give you perspective.

Death Drop isn’t like your average murder mystery.  It is a mix between a farce, an adult pantomime and every colour of the rainbow inbetween.  It makes great use of physical comedy, slapstick and toilet humour.  Yes it has a cast of drag Queens and Kings but it does not rely on this.  Holly Stars is clearly a writer who knows her theatre styles and celebrates its rich history of drag on the stage.  So Holly, you can tell your friend Wendy from next-door-but-one that yes, we are sure you’re going to be just as famous as Shakespeare is!

The costumes and make up in Death Drop are pure Drag Queen extravaganza.  The Drag King costumes are comedic gold.  The songs are original, funny, shady and catchy with a few T bombs thrown in for good measure.  Shazza’s “Oh go on then, I’ll sing my big hit song if I have to” number “Oopsie Whoopsie” is reassuringly catchy and the whole audience ends up joining in, though I’m sure we all secretly wanted to and loved the cheese of it all.  And if you don’t like cheese, fear not because there’s also artic roll on the menu and you WILL love that because it’s from M&S!!

All in all, Death Drop is a strong, professional and very British show.  It is nothing like the chaotic Drag Race acting challenges. The only reason the show didn’t score 10/10 is because I was dying to see an actual death drop and there weren’t any in tonight’s performance, though never say never for future performances. 

If you were around in the 1990’s you’ll love Death Drop for all its references – good and bad - and I promise you’ll never look at a crispy pancake the same way again!  So book your tickets. Don’t forget you can still make use of our exclusive £20 Offer for Thursday and please do everyone a favour – when you do go – take some cocktail sticks for goodness sakes because they could really use some!

We score Death Drop - 9/10!!!

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