listings * – recommended u – repeated STAGE REVIEW
DEATH DROP New Theatre, Cardiff, Wed 20 Oct
Death Drop is ridiculous – and I mean that in the best way possible. We are cordially – or not – invited to Shantay Manor on Tuck Island, where a group of inauspicious strangers are gathering to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Charles and Diana, and drink to their long and happy marriage. After all, Death Drop takes place in 1991 and we are fully in the realm of camp.
This is Dragatha Christie – and the puns will keep coming – a murder mystery spoof starring drag queens and kings. Half the cast are also Drag Race alums: Willam (one-hit-wonder pop starlet Shazza), Ra’Jah O’Hara (as sultry TV weather girl Summer Rains); Drag Race UK’s Vinegar Strokes as Lady von Fistenburg and Karen From Finance as disliked tabloid editor Morgan Pierce. Subtle it is not.
Holly Stars wrote the play and also plays triplet sisters serving the party – serving it with Fray Bentos, Viennetta, and other 80s/90s fare. Appropriately enough, she’s the star of the show: effortlessly hilarious, seemingly without even trying. I need to see more of this particular queen. Never have Findus Crispy Pancakes been so hilarious, or namedropped at such a rate since the 90s.
Not that the rest of the cast were bad at all. Vinegar Strokes opens the play by singing a tune reminding us that this is 1991. Strokes is a West End queen and her voice is in fine form, as is her purposely comic overacting, this being drag after all. The two male characters in the show, Richard Energy (as Tory MP, yes, Rich Whiteman) and Georgia Frost (TV producer Phil Maker) hold their own against the queens – more impressive for Energy only being around since the start of 2020 and Frost doesn’t seem to have an offstage drag king alter ego.
During the first half the two American queens are the weakest – Willam is basically playing her own character – and while they both come into their own in the second act, Death Drop is deeply British, and probably wouldn’t work anywhere else. Some jokes could maybe be a bit shorter – the whole thing could, really – but you will laugh non-stop.
words CHRIS WILLIAMS photos MATT CROCKETT
from The Searchers, The Trems, Dozy, Beaky Mick & Tich, The Fortunes and The Dakotas. This appears to be here on the same night as Paul Weller but I’m sure there’s no danger of the audiences getting mixed up. The Snuts Tivoli, Buckley. 7pm, £12.50. Info 01244 546201. Think 182 + Down With The System The Green Rooms, Treforest. 7.30pm, £10. Info 01443 841133. Blink 182 and System Of A Down tribute bands.
SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER
Angela Hewitt Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff. 11am, £16-£20. Info 029 2039 1391. Recital as part of the Steinway International Piano Series.
2199. Indie trio who will take pride of place in the ‘worst band names of the month’ list if I bring that back for the November mag. Emma Stevens + Rebecca Hurn The Moon, Cardiff. 7.30pm, £12. Info info@
themooncardiff.com. Singer-songwriter of some sort. Focus The Welfare, Ystradgynlais. 7.30pm, £22. Info 01639 843163. Hocus Pocus hitmakers.
The Dears + Perfect Son Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. 7.30-10.30pm, £15. Info 029 2023 2199. Canadian indie band headline. Ward Thomas + Dan Owen Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl. 7.30pm, £24.50. Info 01745 332414. Country-pop duo. In Swansea tomorrow.
THURSDAY 25 NOVEMBER
Boss Keloid Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. 7pm, £11. Info 029 2023 2199. UK stoner rock band. Brooklyn Wyatt The Globe, Cardiff. 2pm, £10. Info 07950 471888. An American guy I’ve never heard of playing solo shows after leaving a band I’d also never heard of. Budapest Café Orchestra Acapela, Cardiff 8pm, £19. Info 029 2089 0862. Rollicking Eastern European-style folk quartet. Rescheduled from May 2021. Fairytale Of New York The Riverfront, Newport. 7.30pm, £26.50. Info 01633 656757. Deadeningly described as “the ultimate feelgood Irish-inspired Christmas show”. Welsh National Opera Orchestra St David’s Hall, Cardiff. 3pm, £10-£43. Info 029 2087 8444. Tomáš Hanus conducts a programme of Smetana, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.
MONDAY 22 NOVEMBER
Abz Love Fiction & Vinyl, Swansea. 10pm-2.30am, from £2. Info 01792 828777. Abz who used to be in boyband 5ive. This might be more of a club night that a live show, not sure. Deacon Blue Motorpoint Arena Cardiff. 6.30pm, £39. Info 029 2022 4488. Long- running Scottish soul-pop smoothies. Ingested Sin City, Swansea. 7pm, £12. Info 01792 468892 Gutturally slamming slam death metal guttural brutality from the Metal Blade Records roster. Jason Donovan St David’s Hall, Cardiff. 8pm, £39. Info 029 2087 8444. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of his debut album Ten Good Reasons. Albeit the concert was supposed to be October 2020… and the album was released in May 1989. Jason seems quite self-effacing so I expect him to laugh this off. Skerryvore Acapela, Cardiff. 8pm, £21. Info 029 2089 0862. Ceilidh type folkies from Scotland. Rescheduled from May 2021.
TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER
Concerto Competition Semi Final Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff. 6pm, £6. Info 029 2039 1391. The Offspring + The Hives Motorpoint Arena Cardiff. 7.30pm, £45.60. Going to this and pointedly referring to them as just “Offspring” all evening. “That’s what they were called on their independent debut album Smash,” I add to anyone who raises it.
Blancmange Portland House, Cardiff Bay. 7pm, £20. Info 029 2048 7602. Synthpoppers from the early 80s. I feel like they were treated as a sort of novelty band for a long time, probably due to being called Blancmange, but are/were decent. Blazin’ Fiddles Aberystwyth Arts Centre. 7.30pm, £18. Info 01970 623232. Scottish fiddle group. Cabbage Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. 7.30- 10.30pm, £12. Info 029 2023 2199. Indie band from someplace. Claire Martin & Alex Garnett The Garage, Swansea. 7pm, £15.
Infoswanseajazz.co.uk. With the Dave Cottle Trio. A Swansea Jazz night. Cwmwl Tystion II/Riot! Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff. 7.30pm, £15/£13. Info 029 2039 1391. Kelly Lee Owens Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union. 7pm, £20. Info 029 2078 1458. Electronic musician from north Wales, not that she ever did anything before moving away as far as I know. See Music.
Sam Fender Motorpoint Arena Cardiff. 7pm, £25. 029 2022 4488. Rescheduled from May 2021. Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi Live In Concert St David’s Hall, Cardiff. 7.30pm, £37.50. Info 029 2087 8444. John Williams’ score performed by a symphony orchestra and the movie shown onscreen. Rescheduled from November 2020. Svalbard Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. 7.30-10.30pm, £12. Info 029 2023 2199. Postrocky sludge metal type band from Bristol.
The Charlatans Tivoli, Buckley. 7pm, £32.50. Info 01244 546201. Baggy-into- Britpop veterans with a new best of out. Gig has been moved from the (currently closed) William Aston Hall in Wrexham and is sold out.
The Drifters Gwyn Hall, Neath. 7.30pm, £29.70. Info 0300 3656677. Perma-touring singing sensations of old. The Mersey Beatles Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl. 7.30pm, £23. Info 01745 332414. Tribute band. Rescheduled from April 2021 and August 2021. The Velvet Hands + JAckson Lucitt + Versify + Black3lvis The Moon, Cardiff. 7.30-11pm, £7. Info info@themooncardiff. com. Presented by This Feeling. Ward Thomas Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. 7-9.45pm, £25.31. Info 01792 635432.
FRIDAY 26 NOVEMBER
The Stylistics St David’s Hall, Cardiff. 7.30pm, £37.50. Info 029 2087 8444. Philly soul icons.
WEDNESDAY 24 NOVEMBER
Cwmwl Tystion II/Riot! Aberystwyth Arts Centre. 7.30pm, £13. Info 01970 623232. Second part of Tomos Williams’ Welsh jazz project Cwmwl Tystion, this time featuring Soweto Kinch, Orphy Robinson, Eadyth, Aidan Thorne, Mark O’Connor, alongside live visuals from Simon Proffitt. In Cardiff tomorrow; Merthyr on Fri 26 Nov; Bangor Tue 30 Nov; Rhayader Wed 1 Dec and Swanea Thurs 2 Dec. See Music. Drug Store Romeos Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff. 7.30-10.30pm, £10. Info 029 2023
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2 Rude The Dolls House, Abertillery. 7.30pm, £10. Info 01495 213300. 2-tone covers.
British Lion Tivoli, Buckley. 7pm, £17.50. Info 01244 546201. Steve Harris out of Iron Maiden’s other band, headlining here but supporting The Darkness in Cardiff tomorrow. The email announcement for this gig came through exactly as I was formatting the gig listings for this date. Cosmic.
Bugeye + Selena In The Chapel The Moon, Cardiff. 7.30pm, free. Info info@
themooncardiff.com. Cwmwl Tystion II/Riot! Theatr Soar, Merthyr Tydfil. 7.30pm. Info 01685 722176.
Goldie Lookin Chain Grand Pavilion,
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