REVIEW | Death Drop: Back in the Habit
★★★★
Reviewer - Emmie
*Disclaimer: AD | Gifted Tickets
With three sold-out West End runs and a smash-hit UK tour, Death Drop is back in an all-new mystery in 2023!
Now strutting once more across the UK on a tour, Death Drop: Back in the Habit delivers a rigorously funny all-drag horror comedy that you won’t forget in a hurry. New writer Rob Evans spins another tale in this follow-up, it offers a new take on Sister Act both in its title and subtitle as a ‘nun-believable killer drag comedy’.
Assemble are a group of fierce Nuns who are confined to the walls of their Convent. But their peace and tranquillity is shattered by the arrival of a serial slayer slashing their way through the sisters. An unexpected visitor from the Vatican arrives and together can they save St Babs, their souls and themselves?
The audience lapped up the laughs that kept pouring out from this whiplash production. The plot grows as increasingly bizarre as you’d expect it to be from this show but there are some brilliant quips (“Kiss my ring” is as obvious as it is hilarious). It certainly is not for the faint-hearted. Jesse Jones has directed a play which develops better as time goes on. The end of Act 1 and the entirety of Act 2 were more developed and particularly memorable. This play certainly took some time to sit with before you reaped the rewards. Rob Evans even manages to incorporate some brilliant nods to well-known horror movies in the script that supports the delivery of this story to a hilarious response, as well as a joyous Mr Blobby impression from Cheryl Hole which made my night!
Of course, this performance is largely dependent on the sick’ning drag queens, and king. The queen’s own individual stints on Drag Race UK have built a huge following and reputation that isn’t lost in this show. In fact, I think this demonstrated perfectly how receiving the theatre community is of LGTBQ+ performers and we definitely need more of that.
Cheryl Hole, River Medway, Victoria Scone, LoUis CYfer and Kitty Scott-Claus are collectively a force to be reckoned with. They each bring a new ounce of energy and joy to this production that the fans of Drag Race will adore. Although the added extra moments when they’d break out of character were welcomed in roars of laughter by the audience. There is so much that they could do with productions on this level and I really hope for more bold presentations like Death Drop on the stage in the future!
To see where Death Drop: Back in the Habit is heading to a theatre near you. Visit their tour website.
