You’ve got to hand it to Dina Martina. There is nobody quite like this US drag cabaret stand-up singer. There are lots of performers Martina reminds me of and yet at the end of the opening night of this special Halloweena show it’s clear that Martina is very much a one-off.
How often do you get a show from an American performer bemoaning the layout of Boots the chemist or explaining that she nearly didn’t make it, having struggled to get to the theatre by cartwheeling from St George’s Hospital in Tooting (travel tip from a local, the Northern Line goes directly to Tottenham Court Road as long as you avoid the City branch)?
The Halloween theme kicks off with a daft homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and Martina (performance artist Grady West) singing I Want Candy and handing out sweeties to the audience. Occasionally she even hits the right note. This is very much to crooning what Les Dawson is to the piano - it’s the wrong notes and mispronouncing the words that makes it so funny.
Meanwhile movie clips on the screens on either side point to some of the inspirations. David Lynch’s Eraserhead, trashy 1950s B movies such as The Blob. Forbidden Planet. It’s a kitsch spectacular that reminds me of going to see films at The Scala a long, long time ago. It’s no surprise John Waters is a fan – there’s more than a hint of Waters’ muse Divine to Martina.
But there is also something very Anglophile about the surreal humour here. After a quick costume change Martina returns sporting a skull which is far too cumbersome. It’s part Mighty Boosh, part Frank Sidebottom. Another quick change is into a pumpkin-coloured jumpsuit with, and I don’t use these words lightly, with what looks like a built-in camel toe.
You’ve probably got the idea now. Martina is camp, corny and very funny. An off-the-wall cross between Liza Minnelli haircut and Leigh Bowery lipstick belting out showstoppers and suggesting unlikely ways of fixing climate change. Maybe every performer should take a pause mid-set and stand at the side of the stage to eat pasta. Halloween starts right here. A veritable scream.
Soho Theatre until October 31. Buy tickets here.
Picture credit: DAVID BELISLE
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