Baga Chipz: Material Girl ★★★

BBC3’s hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race has quite the presence this Fringe, with not only season two winner Laurence Chaney making an appearance later in the run, but self-styled Material Girl, Baga Chipz, also delivering her first ever one-woman show. Is it coincidence or deliberate that their turns haven’t clashed? It could have been false eyelashes at dawn!

Arriving on the Gilded Balloon stage to the strains of, no lipsticks for guessing, Madonna’s Material Girl, we’re then treated/assaulted to a cocktail of classic cabaret staples: cover versions, costume changes, dance routines, and enough bawdy humour to power a thousand Carry On movies.

Rather daringly for her first ever show, much of the action is unscripted, relying on interaction with the packed audience for the banter. Not all of this works and it’s undeniable that parts of the show feel a little unfinished. The humour, of course, almost consistently lands on the thunderingly unsubtle but Chipz is such a warm and winning presence that it’s easy to titter along with it.

Frequent requests for Jaegarbombs ensure our star is lubricated (fnar) for her run through standards that range from Aqua’s Barbie Girl to (in what is the one true surprise of the night) an affectionate rendering of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.

If the suspicion here is that the show could have done with a few more practice runs before being unleashed on the public, Chipz is a thoroughly engaging presence throughout, ensuring an entertaining hour of camp cabaret.