This extraordinarily funny adult panto is pure trash and you’re gonna love every second. It’s a new production by TuckShop, “The Home of UK Drag”, the same company behind the West End hit drag comedy Death Drop.

Now Death Drop has a low budget, but Sleeping Beauty is a whole new depth of trash: there is no set to speak of except an old, extremely creased white “cyclorama” sheet for a backdrop, and a sort of “castle” style mini-staircase and balustrade that is literally a cardboard cutout. When the mirror ball is activated, that’s about as fancy as it gets. Director Chris Clegg has steered this production about as far away from the extravagant budget of the annual family-friendly panto at the London Palladium as possible.

The cast, thank goodness, are amazing. Things really hit a high with Kate Butch (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, series 5) as “Queen Camilla”, who insists at every entrance on being addressed by the entire audience shouting in unison, “God save Queen Camilla, rightful ruler of this nation”. With a script written by Miss Moppe (Drag Idol 2016 Winner), the jokes about Princess Diana are way, way beyond the scope of good taste, and hysterical for it.

At its best, this show parodies the British traditions of panto in a loving and extremely well-observed way. But as a parody show, two and a half hours is way too long (not least for the cast, who have to do two shows a night). Hardcore fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race looking to see bemused and exhausted Z-listers trudging across the stage and saying, “I used to be on television”; this show is for you.

Playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, 27 – 31 December 2023.