★★★★
Ryan Stewart’s alter-ego Goody Prostate, a German “deranged cousin of Ronald McDonald”, is strutting about in sequined lederhosen, preparing for a big show. Well, it’s Drag Storytelling at a local library. This invite spins Goody into a whirlwind of tangential thought, expunging philosophically on the idea of childhood, sexuality, fascism and so much more.
It’s essentially a drag lecture. A TedTalk in a see-through Teddy. Goody has artful costume changes and lip-syncs to some nice numbers. But there is substance to the spoken word, ironically, the last thing people listen to when it comes to drag. Stewart is making a clever point here. Are LGBTQ+ performers taken seriously? Are we only allowed to perform in as colourful way as possible for approval, or can we take time to actually say what’s on our mind.
What’s even more interesting is that Goody never settles on an answer. It culminates in a familiar warning, that something as innocuous as queer people talking to children is somehow suspect, such is the creep of fascistic ideology. It leaves you feeling like you’ve had a Queer Holy Communion, and perhaps we will be saved, all of us, in the end.
KINDER is on at Big Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate until August 30th
