Coco the Time-Travelling Tart - 7 out of 10
Presented by Max Norman
TICKETS: Coco The Time-Travelling Tart | Adelaide Fringe
Coco the Time-Travelling Tart is an obscene journey
through time with plenty of audience participation. Coco, our guide for an hour
of time-travelling via a London black cab (driving mimed by an audience
member), towers over the audience despite wearing just 2-inch heels. And if Max
Norman’s character of Coco didn’t have you squirming in your seat, the
increasingly bawdy and filthy jokes will.
Embodying the spirit of drag performances, Coco relies on
both double and single entendres as she takes us from the present day to the
era of the Virgin Queen, to Ancient Egypt (be ready to make a pyramid with your
guide), and beyond. If you’re more of a wallflower, the front row is not the
place for you; certainly don’t sit right by the props box as this reviewer did.
But if you want to robe a new pope and wear a minotaur mask, take the chance!
While still in its infancy with only 12 performances under
its belt, the show relies heavily on the unpredictability of its crowd. Coco is
generally adept at wrangling her volunteers, yet the pacing occasionally
stutters when instructions aren’t quite clear. Leaning further into the drag
tradition of the acid-tongued queen—deploying a few cutting insults when an
audience member fumbles—would bridge those awkward gaps and keep the momentum
high.
You will laugh, be uncomfortable, and then laugh some more.
If you enjoy drag, comedy, and a very short skeleton dressed as Napoleon that
will get you (literally) wet in the front row, then don’t miss Coco the
Time-Travelling Tart.
–Scott
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