by Ed Fortune
Over at STARBURST, we are rather fond of a good Hammer-style Dracula story, especially when it’s a parody. Drag Queens vs Vampires is a gloriously camp and queer take on everyone’s favourite count that isn’t a puppet.
The show starts with Crudi Dench and Kate Butch preparing the audience for flight by handing out rather rude in-flight safety cards to the tune of Scooch’s Eurovision Song Contest banger, Flying the Flag. Given that this song is impossible to take even remotely seriously, it sets the tone for the show perfectly.
The plot sees Crudi and Kate travelling to Transylvania to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, as apparently, all the other British entrants had a mysterious accident. It’s at this point the show follows the plot of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Well, sort of. Mostly it’s innuendo, strategic voice-overs, some lip-sync, puppets and tactical use of audience participation. Still, we think Bram Stoker would be delighted.
Dench and Butch bounce off each other splendidly well, delivering gag after gag. There is fantastic chemistry between the two, and they make an excellent comedy duo. They are both delightfully over-the-top characters, and they are also quick to develop a rapport with the audience, drawing us all in and making it easier to land each gag or silly observation.
The vampire genre gets plenty of parody; from Buffy to Twilight, there’s not a single pop culture bloodsucker that doesn’t get some sort of roasting. This is all taken in the show’s stride; it’s the Drag Queens who are the stars, not the vampires.
The staging is fun and quick; we get costume changes that are almost seamless, and the limitations of the venue and the show’s budget are handled creatively and cunningly; every opportunity to make the audience laugh is taken, meaning that you will laugh a lot during the show. Prepare for your ribs to be tickled. Deeply funny.
Drag Queens vs Vampires runs at the Edinburgh Fringe until August 27th, 2023; tickets can be booked here. Further information on the show can be found here.
