That Girl Vs The World at The Bridgehouse Theatre

Who’d have thought that putting on a dress and reading some stories would lead to war on the streets of South London?

Meet That Girl. If there’s one thing you need to know about That Girl, it’s that she loves books: she loves writing them (Boy Queen, available at all good bookstores), and she loves reading them.

One day while getting ready to do just that she found herself in the middle of the new wave of an age old battle. What followed was a media storm like nothing she had ever faced before, a storm that circulated lies, dog whistling and scaremongering in an attempt to ruin her.
But That Girl, and the local community, had other ideas.

What started as reading books about kindness and inclusivity to children became a battle of false principles and faux outrage that taught That Girl more about about the power of community and the strength within than she’d have thought possible.

And now it’s time for her to tell her story.
THAT GIRL VS THE WORLD is an all lip-syncing, all singing, all dancing extravaganza taking you from her humble origins to centre stage in a media storm.

Part talent showcase, part drag show this one-person performance That Girl Vs The World delves into the life of George Lester and their drag alter ego That Girl.  It explores them unwittingly becoming the face of the alt-right’s outpouring of hate towards drag queen storytime.

Lester is clearly a talented performer.  The comedy, the timing, singing writing and lipsinking are all on show here and to great effect.  The first act is there mainly to set us up as an introduction to Lester as both the person and performer; how they got into drag, their inspirations and their love of books.  At times I forgot the context of the wider story around drag queen storytime as we are lost in their world, with the occasional recollection as chants from a hate mob are heard outside.  It’s a very intimate performance, as Lester lets us into their private dressing room to apply their make-up and later express their innermost fears.  It feels like a 1 on 1 chat with a friend at times.

The second half is where the meat of this story lies, as we see That Girl bullied both online and in huge protests spilling into the real world.  It is harrowing, heartwarming and emotional and feels both despairing and unifying witnessing the community come together to fight back.  There are some great comparisons of both Shakespeare and Pantos’ history of having men performing women that really help hit the point home to anyone who may be left with any doubts.

The video design by Luke Adamson and lighting design by JLA Productions are really well done, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good and full-feeling production in a theatre pub space.  The AV in particular runs seamlessly when interacting with the on-stage performer, something that is difficult to do and is a testament to both the live performance and video production.  It all flows very naturally and elevates the performance as a whole.

There is no doubt that this is a good show, but I think with a light edit to the first half to keep it tight this could really become a great 5-star performance.  That Girl Vs The World is on at The Bridgehouse Theatre until the 16th of February, tickets are £14 with pay more and pay less options available.

Tickets were gifted in exchange for a review, all words and opinions are my own