Butch: A Queen's Struggle to Become a King

Within the space of sixty minutes, Butch: A Queen’s Struggle to Become a King, manages to single-handedly set back the LGBT equality campaign by approximately twenty years. It is frankly shocking the ease with which one man can shamelessly rape every gay-themed drama that has appeared on our televisions in recent history, chewing them up and spitting out a "comedy" play so offensively clichéd and laden with two dimensional caricatures of a section of society that has been embraced by the majority of British people.

After ten minutes of Menno’s performance, he congratulates himself on seamlessly inserting a new "joke" into the show. It is at this point that this reviewer realises that what had come before was intended to be amusing. The writing is simplistic to the point of embarrassment, and Menno’s energetic flamboyance grates like fingernails on a blackboard. The most distressing aspect of the show is that legendary Fringe favourite, Stephen K Amos, lends his booming voice to one of the characters in the play, thus tainting his own career by allowing his name to appear in bold letters on Butch’s posters. The show then proceeds to murder songs by Dylan, Simone and The Beatles, as their lyrics are replaced with a horrendously trite narrative and sung off-key.

Butch is incorrectly classified as comedy and barely claws its way out of the gutter of bad writing. As the show closes, Menno invites the audience to give to the charity, Waverley Care. Cut out the middleman and donate your ticket money directly to them.