There might be no funnier celebrity (mis)impersonator on UK stages right now than Tracey Collins. After a socially distanced revue as Shellsuit Cher in 2021 for Believe In Bingo, Collins was back at the Wales Millennium Centre’s new Cabaret space recently – this time as Audrey Heartburn for Bingo At Tiffany’s.
As the titles suggest, the premise of Collins’ one-woman shows blends a Snatch Game-style caricature of a famous person – selected for their high camp appeal – with a game of real bingo that has real, deliberately naff prizes to be won. (This time, Greggs fanny packs and golfing hats are up for grabs. Haute couture!) The result is chaotic, rip-roaring, and at times surreal, but always superbly entertaining.
I had no idea what to expect when I saw Believe In Bingo two years ago, and neither did the rest of the sparsely placed audience. Shellsuit Cher is not just semi-alliterative, there’s backstory for it: she’s shellsuited for the purpose of generating enough static electricity to keep herself alive. If that doesn’t sound like it makes sense, it’s not really supposed to. Here, Audrey Heartburn doesn’t seem to be craving Gaviscon but has been ‘burned’ by love one too many times in her Hollywood life, so she’s here in Wales looking for romance among the common folk. And with a bigger audience packed into a purpose-built space, there was far less warming up for Collins to do.
Where the impressions are concerned, the comedian’s voice and mannerisms aren’t Oscar-worthy (intentionally so) but instead strike that fine balance between recognisable and comedically heightened: Audrey leads Tom Jones singalongs, tries crisps for the first time, and starts a conga line with the crowd.
Collins is one of those special performers who seems completely herself and at ease in front of an audience, and luckily, also naturally funny. It makes the entire room want to do the same the moment she steps on stage, oversized cocktail and sunglasses in hand. Much like Victoria Scone and other female impersonators, artists like Collins also help extend public perceptions of what drag can be. Many in attendance might not even have considered that what Collins does is drag, but you’d be hard-pressed to describe this kind of colourful, boozy theatricality as anything else.
She’ll be back again this July as Elvis Lesley, which I’d tell you not to miss, but I don’t want all the tickets to go before I can get one… Cheers, darlings!
Bingo At Tiffany’s, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Fri 10 Mar
words HANNAH COLLINS
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