Nothing Like
Panto Dames
Manchester Evening News/December 15th 1999
[Daniel Brockelhurst]Please note that this is an elderly article und Ugli Sisters no longer EXISTS!
Don't worry, the Royal Exchange hasn't come over all pantomime and decided to stage Cinderella.
These 'ugli' sisters are none other than agents provocateur and gay icons Chloe Poems and The Divine David.
Poems, who is best known as Manchester's foremost gay socialist transvestite, sports too much red eye make up, a gingham dress and running shoes.
David, the oversized queen of comedy dons his trademark shock mask together with a pink glitter suit.
Together they come on to the mock solemnity of Send in the Clowns.
After a swiftly written sketch about the future of Mardi gras, they launch into a bit of entertainment; after all they don't want anyone trying to get a refund.
First up is Poems and it's Poems by name, poems by nature.
The schoolgirl exterior hides a rising passion which comes spewing out in odes such as the self effacing Me and a moving tribute to Quentin Crisp and all those like him, The Effeminate.
After the break we get a bit more of The Divine David, a fine comedy performer and quite the most striking tranny you could ever hope to meet.
With costumes aplenty hanging to one side of the stage it's not long before we meet Nancy Germany and Rachael Cleansing, the epitome of tacky drag acts.
Poems and David will appeal to gay audiences first and foremost, but fans of the outrageous might like to note that this is pretty well the most radical show the Royal Exchange has ever had under it's roof