lost for words: Tube tops and tribulations of a falling woman

Sally is furious, she's lost her cherry, and now she's losing the plot. She's almost on the wagon, she's on the verge of breakdown, and she's on the pull - nothing can stop her. She is glam, wild, bitter and big hearted - the disowned heiress of a wealthy Deep South estate and she needs to talk. With the occasional aid of a harmonica and just a little Southern Comfort, she will pour out her heart.

'Tube Tops and Tribulations of a Falling Woman' is a solo drag tragicomedy about the extravagance and vulnerability of an anarchic character on the edge and how she almost falls off. It is a performance about performance, loss and mental health - how we talk about struggle and how we avoid it, exploring the role of appearance and presentation both as expression and hiding.

This is will be Nathan Rodney-Jones', 'lost for words', third show at Fringe Extra and his first full-length drag show. He is a writer and performer working between Devon and Norwich, where he studies Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Strong language, sexual references, references to suicide.

Full list of all Fringe Extra, Barnstaple, performances here.

Review:

‘Tube tops and tribulations of a falling woman’ – drag with an edge

This is Nathan Rodney-Jones’ third time performing at Fringe TheatreFest, but his first in a new guise – for it is not Nathan we see on stage, but Sally; a gutsy, outlandish and fragmenting woman, and lost for words’ maiden foray into drag performance.

Armed with her tumbling red hair, dramatic lashes, and legs for days, Sally pours her heart out on stage, regaling us with outlandish stories of sex, seduction, extravagance and a life on display. As the show progresses, we watch as she cracks little by little, revealing more and more, showing vulnerability, desperation and heartbreak.

Her hard-as-nails, sassy exterior can’t contain her much longer, but she is determined to carry on and give us, the audience, her best – even as some unexpected news sends her into a spin.

This is drag with an edge; it is, as you’d expect, funny and edgy, but it has a poetic, theatrical side which will please anyone familiar with Rodney-Jones’s usual way with words. Sally tests the waters of audience interaction and dips her toe into improvisation; Rodney-Jones is clearly enjoying introducing us to this new member of the Fringe crew.

Sally owns the stage with a confidence that suggests a softer, more vulnerable side. The hardships of life are doing their best to dull her light, but flame-haired Sally cannot be extinguished.