From Nuns On The Run to Sister Act, audiences love a comedy nun. Throw a few drag queens into the mix and you have Death Drop: Back In The Habit – and you better get used to the puns!
With several successful West End runs and a tour last year, the first Death Drop was a huge hit. One of the first plays with a cast made up of only drag performers – queens and kings – the ‘Dragatha Christie’ murder mystery capitalised on the popularity of drag to hilarious effect. Now the same production companies, Tuck Shop and Trafalgar Theatre, are back with a sequel: a “nun-believable killer drag comedy” no less.
Where the first play lovingly threw shade at murder mysteries, Back In The Habit is a slasher horror. The nuns are confined to their convent, the fabulously named St Bab’s, and amidst a visit from the Vatican, a serial slasher is on the loose. Can our fierce nuns stay alive and solve the mysteries of the convent?
Firstly, let’s address the dazzling elephant in the room: this sequel isn’t written by Holly Stars, and neither does she feature in this play; she does leave a huge hole (ahem) and, unlike the first, nothing in this one made me close to having an asthma attack. Back In The Habit was created by Chris Clegg, who co-created the original, and is just as silly. It’s the horror genre’s turn to get a queer spoofing, referencing movies such as The Exorcist, Alien and, scariest of all, The Sound Of Music.
The three Drag Race alums – including Willam and Cheryl Hole – play on their already-familiar characters; Willam can do a sarcastic one-liner better than most, River Medway is as loveable as she was on the TV as the dopey but sweet, slightly Nazi-obsessed Julie Andrews/Maria spoof (unsubtly named Sister Maria Julieandrews). The whole cast is brilliant at physical comedy, poking fun at theatre itself: one standout moment involves running through ‘hallways’, with a Scooby Doo-like gait.
This show, though, truly belongs to Cardiff’s own Victoria Scone and drag king LoUis CYfer. Their performance is like a theatrical dance or duel, with CYfer sent to close down the convent as Father Alfie Romeo. While Scone did not disappoint – she belongs on a stage – the only downside is she didn’t get to sing.
Death Drop: Back In The Habit is filthy and funny (there’s something hilariously immature about watching someone dressed as a nun say “fuck”), even surprisingly creepy at times. I wonder what’ll be next, Death Drop… In Space?
Death Drop: Back In The Habit, New Theatre, Cardiff, Tue 29 Nov
On until Sat 3 Dec. Tickets: £18-£40. Info: here
words CHRIS WILLIAMS
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