Andrew Pepper at The Other Palace, London.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Exploding high kicking onto the stage in a blaze of strawberry pink fur, arches of blue mascara, shaved head with a bunch of blonde curls on top, Andrew Pepper is a high octane performer like no other I’ve seen. The attack and banter of a drag queen, the timing and nuance of an actor, and an outrageous physical abandonment combine to be exhausting yet thrillingly entertaining. He uses the entire space, interacting with the audience, uninhibited ad-libs, a penchant for wiggling his bottom, and a great choice of songs, backed up by his band The EpiPens, James Church (piano), Alex Maynard (cello and bass) and Tristan Butler (drums).
Opening with ‘Ich Dich Liebe’, a nod to the divas he so clearly admires, name checking Dietrich and Lenya, he includes show songs like ‘Long As I’m Here With You’ and ‘Fifty Years’. The show is intensely autobiographical, and very very funny as he sends up his childhood, his school years, drama school, hitting 40, and the propensity for most actors to embellish their careers. “Just is an expandable word for actors. Just finished often means about four months ago.”
His career highlight in Sondheim’s Assassins being demolished by his kindly aunt who after seeing a performance tells him how much she enjoyed the matinee of Mamma Mia that same day! The acting and stories he tells are very much part of the show, as befits this actor/singer.
Joined on stage by Jamie Anderson, his previous partner in cabaret, topical subjects like gay parenting involving yoghurt pots lead to a modified, up-to-date version of Fascinating Aida’s ‘Taboo’.
The second half is less frenetic and includes Brel’s ‘Jackie’ and Jamie Cullum’s ‘Gran Torino’. There is a wonderful sequence about his school reunion and the way his former classmates view his life as a performer and his first crush. The section about his first visit to the opera and his reaction to Tosca is beautifully constructed, linking into his school reunion and a sexual encounter, the audience hushed, hanging onto his every word, until he jacks up the energy again.
Pepper may not possess a truly beautiful voice or be a great song stylist like many of the performers who grace the London cabaret scene. However, he sings from the heart and closes his show with two great songs, Tim Minchin’s ‘Not Perfect’ and Carole King’s ‘Beautiful’.
He’s a one off, daring to go further than you ever imagined a performer would. It’s a roaring two and half hours, but at the end we are left entertained, moved and sated. Try and catch him on his next outing. It’s something to experience.
Leon Ferguson
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