Andrew Doherty: Sad Gay Aids Play review – twice the satire from Gay Witch Sex Cult comic

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghStarting out with a deliciously bumptious persona, Doherty’s show trips itself up with a subplot about arts fundingGay Witch Sex Cult was quite the solo debut last year from Andrew Doherty, a folk-horror pastiche delivered in character as deluded estate agent Kaelan Trough. His follow-up attempts something similar, but trips itself up with a split satirical focus. Sad Gay Aids Play starts out with Doherty again in deliciously bumptious persona, smugly introducing his new drama chronicling the HIV crisis. We expect another genre spoof from an act with an adroit ear for send-up. But that’s not what we get – because the show doesn’t just send up sad gay Aids plays (such as they are), it tilts at Arts Council England funding as well.The conceit is that Doherty wants to make a trashy comedy about reality TV, but ACE won’t fund it. If he wants their cash (and he needs it, because moneyed mum and dad have withdrawn their subsidy) he has to make something grittier, burlesquing his own marginal identity and exaggerating any personal trauma he may (or may not) have suffered. Hence the sub-Angels in America drama he’s now workshopping for us, and keeps adjusting according to live feedback from his ACE paymasters.At Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, until 24 AugustAll our Edinburgh festival reviews Continue reading...

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