It’s impossible to talk about the East End gay, art and performance scenes without making straight for the mega-talent that is Jonny Woo. Where other trannies dabble in wigging up and frocking on stage to mime the odd pop song, Woo delivers phenomenal original material that turns preconceptions of drag acts inside out. Fluffy, Saturday night entertainment he simply never is. He might be a bloke in a beard wearing stilettos, but his material is as raw and bone-revealing as it is funny. International Woman of Mr ‘E’ is Woo’s first full-length solo show. It’s not necessary to know the background story – in brief, Woo collapsed exactly one year ago following 20-odd years of hedonistic partying and spent two months in intensive care with multiple organ failure – to appreciate this loosely linked run of wildly different numbers.
Boasting linguistic skills which put the most nimble council estate MC to shame – the rapid-fire version of ‘Pretty Polly Piper’ is surely just the classically trained Woo showing off – he runs through a Richard II monologue, surreal costume changes and songs that range from the humorous (‘Sports Kit Trannies’ looking forward to Hackney 2012) to the shocking (‘Bareback Riding’ covers – surely taboo ground?). ‘Woman Of Mass Destruction’ is a superb call to arms – sung into a cheesy video-styled wind machine to the piano chords from ‘Imagine’ – that you’ll want to rewind and play over again. When Time Out saw the show last October, it wasn’t polished – at times, the mic cast a face-covering shadow, cues didn’t, the sound wasn’t as clear as it should have been to fully appreciate his voice. But International Woman is clear evidence that when it comes to alt-drag, performance art and modern cabaret, Jonny Woo owns them all.
