Picture: Pamela Raith
Hot Gay Time Machine continues at Trafalgar Studios 2, London – until 5 January 2019.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
From the moment the doors open over at Trafalgar Studios 2, the audience is hit by a flurry of hot pink as the larger-than-life personalities of Zak Ghazi-Torbati and Toby Marlow greet the crowd.
If things aren’t camp enough already, upon actually entering the intimate auditorium, everything from the music to the glittery pink set and Beyoncé cut-outs makes it very clear the kind of night you’re in for.
Marlow and Ghazi-Torbati make their way into the space, welcoming the audience, chatting to anyone in their eye line and encouraging everyone to get hyped through the medium of dance. If you’re not one for audience participation then maybe avoid the front row just this once.
Marlow and co-writer and director Lucy Moss are the brains behind the hit show Six which is returning to the West End in the new year and one thing is for sure, they know how to write sassy characters that you wouldn’t turn down for a drink. After a successful run in Brighton and Edinburgh, they are ready to take the West End by storm yet again. The songs are brilliantly written, hilarious, and although it comes across as effortless, every word has been carefully selected for a memorable evening.
Part of the charm of Hot Gay Time Machine is how the team’s friendship makes for an engaging performance and they can still make each other laugh on stage. They take the audience through their lives to landmark moments from their sexual awakening to their friendship and everything in between, without of course leaving out the magic of Christmas.
They don’t take themselves too seriously but at the same time make it clear that they’re perfectly aware that they don’t speak for every gay person who may have had a very different life experience.
Marlow and Ghazi-Torbati are both impressively expressive and a single glance reveals a multitude of subtext. Ghazi-Torbati comes across as the more… subtle of the two and that isn’t saying much at all. They both have impeccable comic timing and this amazing ability to morph their voices to whatever the moment requires.
The show is incredibly welcoming and inclusive to all, even if it calls out the injustices of the more privileged among us. The show stays light-hearted and even more sombre moments (rare as they are) are punctuated by a brilliant comment or witty song.
From beginning to end, the show is filled to the brim with flamboyantly enthusiastic choreography and a brilliant cabaret-style comedy. There is no better word to describe the show than their self-proclaimed ‘ExtravaGAYnza’ and it’s impossible to get swept up in it all. If you aren’t dancing at the beginning, you certainly will be by the end.
It’s glitzy, glittering and very, very cheerful. What more could you want in a show at Christmas?
Tal Fox
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