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David Hoyle
Birmingham Rep Door
*** THE most dynamic feature of the Rep’s
Cabaret XXL evening is not knowing exactly what you will get in the show
each month That premise might seem applicable too for
anti-drag queen David Hoyle himself who may have a planned a start and
ending but what comes in between seems to surprise him as much as the
audience. Dressed in an assortment of garments that are
suitably mismatched his show is often surreal and at times pulverises
the audience into attention but then disarms them with a casual remark
or glance. Growing up in Blackpool his homosexuality was a
source of bullying and his mental state has at times suffered over the
years with several breakdowns. Instead of hiding the fact he dissects
societies fear and lack of consideration for mental health alongside
berating and challenging the state, the monarchy and political
autocracy. At times it’s an onslaught of aggressive, yet
thought provoking thinking yet intermingled with some casual and very
funny amateur clairvoyant study of the audience members. An interlude to paint an impressionistic portrait
an audience member was nothing more than that but he then counters this
with several personal renditions of well-known songs. These are set to odd experimental backing tracks
like one of the mechanical sounds of an MRI machine. It should not work
but his timing and intense free delivery of the lyrics makes for a
unique theatrical experience that is hard to categorise.
It is no surprise then that he does not like to
have any video of his shows as the atmosphere he creates in the room is
personal to the moment and again seems to be created as he goes along.
This he believes makes any visual record, other than photographs, not
fully representative of what happens within his performance. No area of society is safe from his brutal
scrutiny from the queen mother to the rich and the faceless captains of
industry. He urges his listeners to wake up to the
reality of the system we are living in and abandon the stereotypes of
race religion and gender. It’s daring stuff and not everything works all of
the time but the one thing it is not is predictable as his show is more
of a personal statement rather than simple entertainment. Jeff Grant 21-04-16
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