We sent our reviewer James to watch Don’t Tell Dad About Diana

Fittingly the audience is welcomed into Connor’s pastel pink and blue bedroom to the tune of 90s phenomenon the Spice Girls blaring out.  And ‘Swing it, shake it, move it, make it, who do you think you are?’ definitely sets the unabashedly camp and high energy tone for the sweet coming of age tale that is Don’t Tell Dad About Diana.

Beneath a shrine to their iconic joint inspiration, the People’s Princess, we follow Connor and Hannah as they prepare their drag act for the upcoming ‘Alternative Miss Ireland’ at Dublin’s The George, deftly envisioned with a quick spin of the wardrobe. For a pair always leading with their hearts not their heads, when news hits of Princess Diana’s unexpected death, the play looks at the fall out for their friendship and who they thought they were. As with the rest of the play, this is played with great humour and poignancy by the two very likeable performers.

The piece suffers a little from what many Fringe theatre plays do in that there is a lot of direct narration to the audience without always really knowing why, except to deliver the next piece of exposition or perhaps comically describe another character. Whilst this is, for the most part, amusing and well written, the show really comes alive when the two actors, who have great performance chemistry together, are allowed to actually play out the dramatic dynamic between the characters. There are also one or two instances where the actors slip into other characters as well, which also lift the piece and it would be great to see more of these.

Despite a couple of well-played events placing the characters in more apparent peril than winning a drag contest might suggest and giving the piece a bit more bite, the stakes never quite feel high enough to make you concerned the play will take too dark a turn. However, spending an hour in the company of Connor and Hannah (and their various collections of family and friends), is still a pleasure.

Don’t Tell Dad About Diana is a well put together, very diverting piece with lovely characterisation and a joyful atmosphere. The journey is a lot of fun, with a good amount of humour and just enough pathos, keeping the enthusiastic crowd chattering delightedly well into the streets after the final black out.

RATING: **** 4 Stars

Thank you again for all your support in reading and engaging with the website.

If you want to help support the website then you can! You can buy Holly a cup of tea (and a biscuit!)