Prince Henry is the only gay in a kingdom far far away, and he longs to be in what he calls “the real world,” and find his one true man.
But as Rich Watkins brilliantly portrays, Henry has one obstacle after another to overcome in his path to being who he believes he really is.
And that’s the cleverness of Happily Ever Poofter – it’s a high-octane, full-velocity comedy in the style of panto, but with lots of Disney parodies, yet having an underlying educational message at its heart.
And it has a big heart.
Rich worked his socks off in what turned out to be a sauna of an upstairs room at The Actors. He needs and gets our support with a bit of panto audience participation and a lot of Disney-ness.
As he keeps telling us, stepping out of character, he’s been portraying the hapless lovelorn Prince for best part of six years – and it shows in the best possible sense – it’s quick, slick and takes no prisoners.
But its humour is very carefully crafted – we’re mid-scene when we realise he’s been trying to date via Grindr the seven diminutive companions of Snow White – well, one by one.
But under the crazy, raunchy humour, there’s a message: let people be their own true selves. It’s timeless and timely too. A great evening, and though Rich says it’s coming to the end of its shelf-life, I think we’ll see the Prince again.
Happily Ever Poofter was part of Brighton Fringe.
