'George and the Drag Queen'
Warning: Contains scenes of empathy and kindness
Pipeline Theatre brings you their new show, 'George and the Drag Queen':
a bittersweet, bonkers cake-mix of the epic and the outlandish, beaten together with the everyday, and the plain silly.
The setting:
A village fete - bunting, cakes, outsize veg, and wasps.
The characters:
Two bantering first-aid volunteers setting up their tent - George, a stand-in Grandpa for Maddy; and Maddy, a stand-in Granddaughter for George.
Oh, and one Lebanese Drag Queen - Eliana Sultana, booked to do the raffle, getting changed in the corner.
The drama:
In a ‘twist of fete’, their stories entwine with explosive results.
Why has a Drag Queen been booked for a village fete?
What is Maddy's connection with Eliana's boyfriend?
Where has George seen Eliana's face before?
And just how allergic is Eliana to wasps?
a bittersweet, bonkers cake-mix of the epic and the outlandish, beaten together with the everyday, and the plain silly.
The setting:
A village fete - bunting, cakes, outsize veg, and wasps.
The characters:
Two bantering first-aid volunteers setting up their tent - George, a stand-in Grandpa for Maddy; and Maddy, a stand-in Granddaughter for George.
Oh, and one Lebanese Drag Queen - Eliana Sultana, booked to do the raffle, getting changed in the corner.
The drama:
In a ‘twist of fete’, their stories entwine with explosive results.
Why has a Drag Queen been booked for a village fete?
What is Maddy's connection with Eliana's boyfriend?
Where has George seen Eliana's face before?
And just how allergic is Eliana to wasps?
For their latest project Pipeline theatre have done that thing of looking at the current state of the UK cultural/political landscape, and going all in.
All in, in terms of the issues.
All in, in terms of using all the theatrical devices in the book.
All in, in terms of entertainment. (Yes it's a bold claim!)
At the same time, we're not interested in beating an audience over the head with easy, self-evidently progressive truisms. All the characters are both good and flawed, relatable and complex, and, as in life, everyone has a story, and nuance is all.
All in, in terms of the issues.
All in, in terms of using all the theatrical devices in the book.
All in, in terms of entertainment. (Yes it's a bold claim!)
At the same time, we're not interested in beating an audience over the head with easy, self-evidently progressive truisms. All the characters are both good and flawed, relatable and complex, and, as in life, everyone has a story, and nuance is all.
The cast:
Kiko Gomersall - Elias, aka Eliana Sultana
Kiko is half Egyptian, half Australian, and recently graduated from the University of Cambridge reading Middle Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature. Over the course of his studies, Kiko was a regular at the University’s ADC Theatre, whilst also touring in two international productions performing Shakespeare and running workshops in theatres, schools, and universities across Western Europe and the US East Coast.
Beck Watts - Maddy
Beck is an actor and theatre-maker, originally from Rutland. After training at the Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (Falmouth University) in 2024, she completed a year at the Bristol Old Vic as part of its residency theatre-maker company, where she co-founded Paper Cow Ensemble. Since then, she has been touring theatre across the South-West. Recent acting credits include: ‘Runt’ (Pipeline Theatre), ‘Peer Gynt’ (Miracle Theatre), ‘This Is Not a Garden’ and ‘Brilliant Bristol’ (Bristol Old Vic).
Al Munden - George
Alan is a founder member of Pipeline Theatre and has co-designed and built all their shows, often acting and stage managing in them. He has designed over 40 shows for Miracle theatre, and acted in one. He has designed and built shows for many companies in Cornwall and nationally, and, as plywood gets mysteriously heavier he wants to do more acting.
Photo credit - Steve Tanner