Rob Madge: My Son's A Queer (But What Can You Do?) @ Udderbelly

Since becoming a social media sensation, Rob Madge has become something of the poster child for theatre kids who put on shows in their living room growing up. The footage of their childhood home productions – which make up the basis for their new Fringe offering, My Son's A Queer (But What Can You Do?) – unequivocally establishes them as a one-of-a-kind talent. From infancy, Madge was clearly born for the stage. 

Madge's solo show happens in a recreation of a non-descript English living room. A projector screen overhead stands in for the television, and Madge takes us through their many seasons – complete with production schedules – of living room theatre. Madge puts much of their focus into detailing how their father, along with their mother and grandparents, threw normativity to the wind to give their child the space to be themselves. 

The show is part multimedia presentation, part monologue, and part musical theatre cabaret. Madge performs several numbers that feel like intentionally generic versions of the number that flooded Broadway and the West End in the 2010s – broad sounds and on-the-nose emotional arcs locate Madge's upbringing in a highly familiar, if somewhat trite, era of musical theatre. The musical landscape swings between tribute and parody, inviting the audience to look back on the songs that made them. 

Madge is a shining example of what love can do. Their star power is palpable, and their performance is a rapturous celebration of play, family, and creativity. At the end of the show, Madge announced that the show will be making its West End debut – though it is hardly a debut for Madge, who made their West End debut at just nine years old – later this year. It's a fitting venue for a production that is all about finding one's home on the stage. 

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Rob Madge: My Son's A Queer (But What Can You Do?), Underbelly George Square (Udderbelly), until 29 August, 4:15pm, £13.50-15.50