Mr Blackpool by Harry Clayton-Wright at Brighton Fringe Review
Written by Rosie for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own
For a show that looks to have all the typical elements of a cabaret, drag-esque, 18+ show, “Mr Blackpool” also has a shedload of heart at its core - for the world, for the art of performing, but mostly for the people and place it centres around. Underneath all of the pyrotechnics and fog (for which there are lots), Harry Clayton-Wright has created a show that celebrates his heritage at the heart and is not afraid to bare it all. The show strikes a great balance between the typical ‘end of the pier’ shows you see native to Blackpool and other seaside towns, with a sparkling tourist scene, and a love of queer comedy, politics and a little Liza to top it all off.
With a cast of four, Mr Blackpool jumps from section to section, sometimes performing a dance, sometimes setting the scene of a typical visiting party to the town, sometimes putting on a crowd-wooing magic trick. The cast are all from Blackpool themselves, and you can tell that this show is a real chance to show everyone that the town can be both laughed at in the grandeur of its
absurdity and also celebrated in one. I think this is a testament to Clayton-Wright’s ability to construct a show to redefine what people think - he takes the idea of Blackpool being a “shithole” and asks the audience to think about what the people who live there think when that idea is reinforced. There’s a masterful way that the show is able to tackle the energetic dancing and magic before taking the audience to a place of real sincerity.
Sold as a show set “in the not too distant future against the decimated backdrop of climate change or late stage capitalism”, it felt all too grounded in the present. The dance numbers and flashy outfits (again, of which there were many!) had the audience clamouring with joy, but it was the moments of quiet where Clayton-Wright spoke to the audience about the scary stuff happening in the world right now that hit the hardest against the backdrop of the show. It was almost enough to give you emotional whiplash, and clearly struck a chord with the audience as heads nodded in agreement with every word said.
As someone who is not a regular attendee of drag and cabaret shows, I thought that Mr Blackpool was an absurdly funny, fantastic, and important night out. In the words of the show itself: it’s “camp, funny and f*cking glitzy” - what more could you possibly want?
Mr Blackpool played as part of Brighton Fringe in 2026.
★ ★ ★ ★
