A Beautiful Beast!
I COULD tell Gingzilla oozed charisma from the moment she greeted her queuing audience outside The Hat (in The Warren) with sweet and salty popcorn.
Towering over me, this 7ft ginger giant gleefully reminisced about the time I saw her eat an entire bucket of fried chicken onstage at Her Upstairs in London. Just like her pre-show snack, Gingzilla’s latest creation Gingzilla: Glamonster Vs. the World sits on a knife-edge of sweet and salty camp.
Inspired by the ‘creature features’ from the 1950s (i.e. Godzilla, Attack of the 50ft Woman, King Kong), Gingzilla: Glamonster Vs. the World tells the story of an ordinary woman trying to live up to society’s old-fashioned gender expectations. Our campy protagonist is guided along by a God-like voice – straight out of a cigarette advert – and is provided step-by-step instructions on how to be a real lady. Fortunately for us, chaos ensues and a glamonster is unleashed onto the audience.
With a mix of music, movies and mess, the show offered a little bit of everything: lip-synching, live singing (and the girl can sing!) and light-hearted audience participation. I was particularly impressed by the video projection, where Gingzilla’s face was superimposed onto clips of old sit-coms and black-and-white horror films.
What I loved most about this show was how it straddled the line of comedy and tragedy; in true camp fashion, there was a fascinating duality to Gingzilla. Think: the lovechild of John Waters and Rob Zombie. She was constantly flipping back and forth – from the hilarious to the horrifying; from beautiful singing to beastly screaming; from impeccably precise choreography to stumbling on smoke machines backstage.
The audience experienced this duality too. I won’t spoil it, but there was a moment involving ice cream that made me want to chuckle and blow chunks at the same time. But the absolute highlight for me was when she used the audio from a 1950s television show to allude to domestic abuse, and the audience genuinely didn’t know if it should laugh or cry. That kind of grotesque confusion and genre-fuckery is exactly why I love camp.
Go see this show.
Not only is Gingzilla talented, and a sweetheart, but she’s the kind of queen you want to root for. And, if you’re lucky, you might even get a face-full of her ginger cleavage.
Plays at the The Warren: The Hat on May 9 and 27.
For times and to book tickets, click here:
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