Ginger Johnson serves us daredevil realness in this loud and colourful spectacle.
She has charisma, she has uniqueness, she has nerve, and she has talent. She’s an excellent comedy queen, and the reigning winner of Rupaul’s Drag Race UK. But what do you do when you achieve your dream? Ginger Johnson reveals that when you grasp your goals (for her, the sparkling sceptre) you need to find a new challenge for yourself. What’s Ginger’s? To become the ultimate daredevil, the most dangerous woman in the UK (but not in a JK Rowling way).
With an incredible fifteen plus years of drag under her wig, Ginger is a seasoned performer, and knows how to work a crowd. Her show ‘Ginger Johnson Blows Off’ is hitting the Soho Theatre main stage after a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The pre-show atmosphere was buzzing. After a rocky start with a few technical issues (which a lot of us thought was part of the show) Ginger rides out onto stage atop a comically small motorcycle, clad in an incredible glistening jumpsuit, silver cowboy boots and a ginger wig that defies gravity. From the get-go she is a force of nature, unphased by the previous technical mishap, a natural performer. She begins with a hilarious song chock-full of witty lyrics, referencing her time on Drag Race and the fame that she found while on the show. She refers to the enormous prize differences between Drag Race America (tens of thousands of dollars plus a huge amount of makeup) vs Drag Race UK, before whipping out her shiny stick to dazzle the audience and amusing us with the new improvements she’s made to the object.
Ginger takes us back on a journey through her childhood aspirations (being a zebra seems like a fantastic idea when you’re a little kid) before revealing her awe when she first saw a stunt performer fired from a cannon, soar gracefully through the air, and land safely in a net far away. We’re introduced to Jen, Ginger’s onstage health and safety assistant, and her polar opposite. While Ginger bubbles with vibrant energy and colour, Jen, dressed in a dull black jumpsuit, stands glumly by, deadpan and disapproving, cleaning up and assisting the queen where needed. Jen is a fantastic, funny stage companion, and it’s particularly impressive that she managed not to break character at all.
What ensues is a series of daring acts – from mentos, coke, a mini trampoline, and farts that could really blow you away, to a risky game of party-popper russian roulette (I could go on about this, but don’t want to give too much away – you’ll just have to go and see for yourself!). Ginger gets the audience involved, asking them about their most brave moments, and bringing them up on stage to join in with stunts. It’s all very polished, and despite some issues with the microphone in the latter half of the show, Ginger powered through with style. Ginger’s songs were particularly funny, and I’d have loved to hear some more jokes outside of the stunts, but perhaps that’s for another show another time. Either way, it was a real blast.
Ginger Johnson Blows Off is funny, weird and wonderful. It plays at the Soho until 12th October.