Gendermess Productions’ Messy Friends are making a glorious return to FRINGE WORLD, this time at the Studio Underground of the State Theatre Centre. They opened last night to a loving crowd, who all stayed despite Gendermess’s content warnings and not-so-subtle suggestions that those who might be triggered kindly make their way to the exits.

Full disclosure, I saw Ginava’s Messy Friends in 2023 at one of the spiegeltents, and loved what I saw – a cabaret of drag, dance, burlesque; shimmering and shimmying to the beat of its own drum. It was up close and personal, and in some senses, it was almost as if we were sitting inside Ginava’s lounge room with them while their infinitely interesting, cute, sexy, and funny friends got up and did their art for us. This loungeroom gathering feel was partially set up by video clips of Ginava doing 1-on-1 podcast chats with each of these friends, interspersed between drag and dance numbers.

Shifting Messy Friends into the black box of the Studio Underground, which is ideal for contemporary dance and theatre, but sometimes too cavernous for more intimate Fringe shows sparked my curiosity. In many ways, Messy Friends sits very comfortably in this more formal space, with its stadium seating, black curtains and intelligent lights. Ginava’s choreography, costumes, and staging are all incredibly polished – ‘elevated’ as they keep pushing on RuPaul’s Drag Race. And I firmly believe that Ginava and all her messy friends are creatives of the calibre that can and will make art that belongs in formal performance spaces.

I do wonder if the ‘messiness’ that inspired these artists to come together risks becoming too tidy as it moves further mainstream, that it could lose some of the energy reciprocity from the crowd that fuels these artists. In the video interviews with Skye Scraper, Bobby Russell, Mary Lamb O’ God, and Flynn V, every single artist mentioned how essential that energy loop between the audience and themselves is to their performances; it’s important to consider how much that communication loop changes in different spaces. In the end, last night’s audience did its best to send our love across the gulf between the seating and the stage, and I think it was felt.

The group dance numbers are eclectic and electric, and the solo performances are unique in tone and character, ranging from more traditional drag to contemporary dance to performance art. This is what makes Messy Friends difficult to categorise and genre-fy, but also what makes it such a treasure chest of fun.

Messy Friends is essentially a show about making art, by whom, for whom, when, and why. It raises questions about queer trauma and transformation, and it invites broader conversations and thought as much as it invites fun and freedom of expression. It belongs anywhere and everywhere it wants to live – black box, basement, rooftops, carpark, loungeroom (we should be so lucky!) and it’s the kind of art that can morph to its surroundings but still remain true to its ethos.

CICELY BINFORD

MESSY FRIENDS runs at the State Theatre Centre of WA from 19 – 25 January as part of State of Play at FRINGE WORLD. For tickets and more information click here.