Del Rio may be hero we’ve been waiting for
Bianca Del Rio: Unsanitized Pleasance at EICC (Venue 150), until 26 August
Bianca Del Rio blasts into town like a toxic storm. Wearing a glittery acid yellow pant suit, with Joan Crawford fright make-up and a huge concoction of black curls piled on top of her head, this hate-fuelled drag queen is a breath of fresh air. She has no time for mental illnesses, strange new sexual preferences. She has no interest whatsoever in people who might be on a ‘journey’. Bianca is a high octane, megamouth bitch of the highest order. She tears apart the crowd for their fashion choices and body types, she bemoans the dull, unironed drapes of the venue,lambasting the Edinburgh International Conference Centre as a ‘dump’ - with a furious glittery snarl. After interrogating and hurling insults at audience members, Del Rio embarks on the show proper. She explains that the pandemic has not only sent her into drink and drug hell, it has also derailed her career - and she’s desperate to be back centre stage. What’s worse is the world now seems full of drag queens. Del Rio lays into these pretenders with unrestrained venom. She unleashes some especially personal and graphic descriptions of those who, like her, came through Ru Paul’s Drag race. Even Mama Ru herself is the victim of a devastatingly funny impersonation.del Rio has a voice like a jet engine. With every whirl and shriek she unleashes a fresh barrage of rage and she doesn’t let up for a second. It takes huge energy, wit and skill to pull off this sort of character and Del Rio has all in abundance. This is nuclearscale destruction - and it’s refreshing, cathartic and very, very funny. There isn’t time for anyone’s feelings to be hurt. In any case everyone is laughing too much and too hard in the face of her fury. She may be the hero we’ve all been waiting for.