Review: DRAG ‘N’ DROP, The Village Soho - Tour

Ri Baroche’s Drag N’ Drop - currently on the London leg of its tour - is hard to summarise, so chock full of ideas as it is. Unfortunately, the nutribullet of ideas that make up this one-person dystopian diatribe about gender neutrality is on the blink and all of the elements aren’t quite blended together as smoothly as they should be.

The show centres around the intriguing core concept of a removals company in a post-gender world, which specialises in removing clothing items and accessories that conform to gender binaries - ties, dresses, high heels, wigs… This is a unique and potentially rich framing device to explore the idea of gender expression, a topic that is still sadly and incomprehensibly still a matter of intense debate and division in society today.

It’s frustrating to see the intention of this piece so plainly, but the delivery fall somewhat flat. Ri Baroche is a passionate performer but seems to get carried away with the excitement of their own ideas. Endearing as this is, the show suffers occasionally with scrambling and garbled delivery.

A bit too late in the script for it to make sense, Baroche introduces some quantum theory and physics to reframe the idea of gender. As interesting a thesis as this is, it leaps out of nowhere and feels like a jolting pull in a different direction.

Beyond some smoothing and shaping of the script, writer and performer Ri Baroche would benefit from some considered direction to help the flow of delivery and channel some of their frenetic energy in a more concentrated and considered performance.

The show is altogether too long and needs considerable editing - an entire audience participation section explaining a quantum physics concept could be cleanly excised altogether for a start.

The main strengths of this show are the songs dotted throughout - including ‘Lesbian with a Penis’ - which give a sense of shape and structure that the rest of the script lacks.

There is a lot of promise in this unique show and with careful work could be developed into something very striking - we would be keen to see the next iteration of the tour!

** Two stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

Drag ‘N’ Drop tours until 31 March, with further information here.