National Theatre (studio)
07 July 2017 (released)
15 July 2017
As part of London’s Pride celebration, a rehearsed reading of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Wig Out’ was performed at the National Theatre on the 7th July; a battle for supremacy between two of New York’s Drag Houses: House of Diabolique and House of Light. *click*
Incisive, snappy, funny, McCraney has crafted dialogue that careers at a hundred miles an hour and offers us a slice in ‘cultural time’ which, as we’re reminded at the play’s outset, will have become antiquated by the end of the evening.
McCraney brings to us the fabulous Rey Rey, alpha matriarch, classy and elegant we’re witness to her brutal cutting at the show’s climax, the Cinderella Ball. Who will be her successor and sit next to Lucian as Mother, in the House of Light? *click*
Stage direction and RnB lyrics seamlessly punctuate the onslaught of verbal exchanges and are performed by a trio of female singer-actors collectively known as the ‘Three Fates’, McCraney’s nod to Greek Mythology.
The ensemble of actors had freedom from McCraney, to shape the characters and develop their own narrative. “…thank God for queer actors…” said McCraney’s after-show Q&A, regarding the rate of linguistic evolution within the scene.
Venus, ‘The Face’. She brought it, we bought it; Craig Stein’s Beyoncé-inspired appearance at the Cinderella Ball was the impressively draw-dropping climax this performance deserved.
Wig Out marries the bold and brash to the subtly suggestive, performed at a packed Lyttelton Theatre to an audience that appreciated each and every intricacy, and you knew it, from the opening scene to production’s finale.
If you have an opportunity to see Wig Out [again], you absolutely need to; I’m pretty sure it will be a whole new experience [again], and [another] great performance.
