Produced by Gendermess Productions

Review by Jack Quinn

George Assembly Square Gardens: Tickets

These friends may be messy, but this show is nothing but slick and sensationally performed. Oozing with vulnerability and originality, Messy Friends showcases cabaret, drag, burlesque, mime, performance art, and ultimately, a fantastically good time, all performed by a charismatic and enchanting group of drag performers from Perth, Australia.

At the heart of this glitzy show are the beautiful artists and their stories. A series of video footage filmed in preparation for the fringe shows the messy friends out of drag, telling their stories ahead of their acts, and allows the audience to gain an understanding of the trauma that is true to the queer experience. This clever device works as a functional interlude between the acts and adds a vulnerable depth to each performer’s talent as they each share an authentic presentation of the person behind the performer.  

Heading these interviews and the whole production is GINAVA, whose warm charisma enthrals the audience, guiding us through the evening, introducing us to their friends, and performing an emotional representation of their experience of an eating disorder, which is sensitively portrayed in an embracement and celebration of overcoming and rising through traumatic events of the past. This is a thread that ties these performers together, from Flynn Vincent’s daring number, which is sure to set your night off to a flaming start, Bobby Knox’s beautiful burlesque, which showcases their specificity of movement and flow, Mary Lamb O’God’s hilarious blindfolded act, and Skye Scraper’s fabulous rendition of Patti LuPone’s Rose’s Turn from Gypsy in her sensational eleven o’clock moment.

To see the costumes alone is worth the price of the ticket, but this is a beautiful show which welcomes the audience into their very special queer community, opening the doors of rawness, and reminding us to be proud of what we put on our fridge, just like Harvey Milk. Showcasing charisma, uniqueness, nerve, talent, AND vulnerability, Messy Friends is a must-see for all looking for an authentic representation of the queer experience.

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