Review by Christian Maddick

Seeing somebody onstage whose online presence precedes them can be a bit worrisome, as there is no certainty of their talent translating well in a live setting. In ‘Bailey J Mills: Unfiltered + Scummy’, drag artist Bailey J Mills quashes any of these concerns from the beginning, creating an utterly ridiculous and viciously entertaining performance consisting of video and live performance.

For those unfamiliar with Bailey J Mills, their work is steeped in ‘hun culture’: think of Kerry Katona, Gail Platt from Corrie or Tracy Beaker. Their online videos, popular on Instagram and TikTok, garner thousands of likes, finding appreciation and hilarity in British culture.

The show, which consists of a blend of never-before-seen videos, lip-syncing, and live comedy is a joyous occasion. So much of the show is silly to a genius level, for example, a video showing Mills performing Irish dancing with fake legs is followed up with an even better live performance. Mills cements the absurdity of much of the show with impressive vocals, with their rendition of Cher’s ‘Believe’ being particularly good. While Mills starred in all the videos, the supporting cast was an integral part of the comedy’s success- they particularly shone in the High School Musical skit.

While the pacing of the show was adequate and kept the audience on their toes, the balance between live performance and video could have been better. Bailey J Mills has such a lively presence onstage, being able to lip sync and improvise in such an all-consuming way with such bizarre characters, so it would have been nice to have seen more of it. Besides that, the show was fabulous.

In ‘Bailey J Mills: Unfiltered + Scummy’, Mills shows themselves to be one of the leading faces in the British drag scene. Put on your best going-out top, grab a glass of Lambrini, sit down and have a blast.