MAN!FEST continues at The Green at Pleasance Courtyard until 31 August 2026 (except 17, 26).
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
This is a neat little show performed by four very likeable performers. Each plays a member of the fictional, hugely successful boyband; each of them packaged as having a ‘trait’ to market to the teen audience. Performing detailed choreography to a pounding backing track with added vocal support, their marketable value is clear to see.
Maddie Bell, Hollie Jameson-Clarke, Esther Dracott and Emily Benucci are in drag throughout in excellent make-up and outfits. Particularly the frequently flashed ‘abs’ of Cody, the “sporty” one.
The different views of the successful band are expressed by the quartet as excitable squealing teenage girls and, in marked contrast, the men in suits and shades who make their money from the band’s success. That success is dependent on keeping the band fresh and appealing.
Needless to say, this is not a happy set of circumstances.
The upbeat music and choreography are great, but an opportunity goes begging to hear the real inner minds of these performers as their lives change on and off stage.
This show will attract a great audience, particularly those who loved a boyband in their younger days.
Fiona Orr
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