Another Audience with Mary Golds
****
Sat Feb 16, Lookout Cafe, Cardiff Bay
Not since the second Mamma Mia film has a follow-up been so anticipated by so many gays as much as Another Audience With Mary Golds. Never mind Cher, this one had Shirley Bassey (sort of).
Rachael Roberts (no, not the Welsh actress who was married to Rex Harrison) was Golds’ special guest this time. Roberts has perfected her Shirley Bassey tribute for years and can do the Dame to a T. Her comic patter is up there with that of a drag queen, making her a classy and fitting warm up to the show.
This show comes hot on the heels of Golds’ first successful cabaret show last October. That one sold out. This one sold out even quicker; the audience was about 50/50 returners and newbies.
This time we only got one showbiz tale – the time Golds’ celebrity husband was Fools and Horses’ David Jason, with a story involving Dames Bassey and Collins (Joan). With all the extra hilarious improvisation and audience work, Golds is going to need parts three, four and five to get through her life story.
With more questions from the audience (questions were planted at the last show) it felt more real, with Golds breaking character when being caught out by the cheeky questions from her friends (e.g ‘snog, marry, avoid’ the managers of the Cardiff bars Golds usually works at) resulting in huge grins. The jokes at the expense of the rest of Cardiff’s drag community were still there, and although they could be vicious there was no malice behind them.
The success of the first show clearly buoyed Golds, here giving an emboldened and self-assured performance, but still layered with the self-depreciating elements of comedy. Golds clearly enjoys herself. This is still a classic drag cabaret with a modern twist; think of Danny La Rue as her spiritual grandmother and Julian Clairy as her spiritual mother, and you’ve got Mary Golds.
Filthy, funny and entertaining. Roll on part three!
words Chris Williams