“On stage are some of the most enthralling creatures you will ever witness”
“I’ll try anything once” is an appropriate statement, in this setting, but I’m talking theatrically, and the Ladyboys of Bangkok are a new experience for me.
There is still the inherent whiff of impropriety about the troupe; discussing with friends I found myself blushing, almost unable to get the title out. Khao San Road and men in Hawaiian shirts and balding pates flash before my eyes. 25 years of touring, and like many “erotic” acts the LBB have sashayed their way upmarket – well, slightly.
If a big top tent in Shepherd’s Bush Green can be called upmarket then, yes, they have, I guess it’s better than an underpass in Sidcup like Zippos Circus. We are corralled into the bar and be-bulbed photobooth area, gouged for two softies (almost a tenner with plastic cup rental charge) and dumped on “tables” (small benches for your rented cups), complete with a bouncing floor and stifling heat. Why run away to the circus when you can sweat in one on a Tuesday evening?
I sound snarky, don’t I, and I don’t mean to be. On stage are some of the most enthralling creatures you will ever witness, mythical sirens of the Far East, flowing black hair, legs that never end, eyes hazel like polished chestnuts, enough to turn me straight… well, sort of. Mr Jakkrit Lannok (Lilly) leads a lot of the numbers in various fluffy and straight wigs, by far the best lip-syncer and channelling high sass and c*** with splashes of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. Mr Surasit Tanomchat (Nook) and Mr Pornput Liamtubnoi (Naomi) also stand out for their choreography and graceful snaking movement of the many scattered diamantes. Yaya, one of the taller performers, has the warmest stage presence, and in the few parts where they flutter like moths between the rows of seats she beams with the joy of the spotlight.
Mr Decha Nuchangsing (Ole) is our comic relief, doing some rudimentary magic, some lacklustre comedy and some spirited Tina Turner lip-syncs. Mr Arthur Dy Saensuk (Arthur), Mr Taweesak Samdangrit (Oak) and Boss are the masculine-presenting performers, confident dancers but rather awkward in the few strip-teasy bits they are given.
Apparently tied into a tale about a confused wizard in a full moon party in Thailand, we get none of that. It’s as if RuPaul’s Drag Race lip-sync battle was populated with only gorgeous Asian queens. Pop hits from the last 50 years, mainly clustering around the 2000s, are leaped through with the occasional firework, confetti cannon or laser volley. The costumes at points hint at Folies Bergère but never quite sumptuously enough; the song/dance/lip-sync gets a little old, especially as many of the performers don’t fully know the words.
Maybe the concept was risqué in the early 2000s, but now with so many breathtaking trans and gender-nonconforming people singing, acting, swinging and creating on our stages and TV screens, I fear the LBB are left a little behind. Hoping to get us animated by the Macarena and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Can eyewatering beauty sustain two hours of performance at £53.95 per ticket? I’m saying not.