After touring the country with a show shaped by Blackpool’s glitz, graft and contradictions, Mr Blackpool finally arrives home this week – bringing with it feathers, drag, dance, politics, nostalgia and, for one night only, some of the town’s famous illuminations.
Mr Blackpool arrives at the Grand Theatre on Wednesday for its long-awaited Homecoming Gala – finally returning to the place that made it, both geographically and spiritually.
Harry Clayton-Wright’s theatrical extravaganza has travelled the country collecting acclaim and bewildering audiences in equal measure. Part cabaret, part fever dream, part social commentary – just like the town itself, Mr Blackpool is difficult to pin down neatly.
‘An end of the pier show at the end of the world’, the production folds together autobiography, drag, dance, magic, club culture, variety and class politics into something at once ridiculous and moving. It is steeped in Blackpool references but never trapped by nostalgia. The show understands that Blackpool is funny, tragic, glamorous, rough, beautiful and exhausting all at the same time.
Set in a not-too-distant future somewhere between climate collapse and late-stage capitalism, the show follows four performers navigating the strange afterlife of Britain’s favourite seaside resort. Through cabaret turns, dance routines, drag, magic, storytelling and surreal comedy, it explores what it means to grow up in a town built on escapism while trying to survive the realities once the glitter is washed away by the rain.
Audiences can expect a show that’s visually extravagant, emotionally unpredictable and unlike anything they’ve ever seen before from a theatre seat. There’ll be giant feathers, slick choreography and razor-sharp comedy as well as deeply personal reflections on class, identity, entertainment and the people who keep Blackpool going. There are echoes of social clubs, end-of-the-pier variety, ballroom culture, nightlife and local legends running throughout – all presented with the kind of maximalism the Blackpool does best.
Most importantly, it’s authored by people who actually understand our town and in many ways embody it. Clayton-Wright is joined on stage by Aysh and Sam De Belle – performers whose names are familiar from their careers spent shaping dance culture and alternative nightlife in the town.
Trained by the De Belles at House of Wingz and selected for Sadler’s Wells’ National Youth Dance Company, Blake Rainey rounds off the cast of four. The youngest performer in the company, he serves as a reminder that Blackpool continues to produce extraordinary talent despite often lacking the infrastructure to properly support it.
For the Homecoming Gala, the production will feature a number of the town’s historic illuminations on stage, including pieces from Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s gloriously excessive Decodance series. It is hard to imagine a more fitting collaboration – the illuminations and Mr Blackpool share the same instinct towards maximalism and nostalgia of the neon variety.
The show has also resonated with audiences outside Blackpool. Despite hyper-local references, it taps into a familiar desire to escape somewhere while also being pulled back to it and feeling both embarrassed by and defensive of where you come from.
This homecoming is particularly significant as Mr Blackpool has never actually had the opportunity to be performed here before now. Just as so many artists leave in order to forge a professional career, Clayton-Wright had to look outside of the town for support to make Mr Blackpool more than a recurring 2am fever dream. It was commissioned by leading UK producer of queer-led intersectional performance, Marlborough Productions. But Mr Blackpool shows us that our town’s culture, is worthy of serious attention without us having to smooth off our unconventional edges.
Don’t miss it. Get your tickets to Mr Blackpool Homecoming Gala, this Wednesday at the Grand Theatre, here. Read Harry Clayton-Wright’s behind the scenes insight into the making of Mr Blackpool here.
