TICKLE REVIEW,
GAY LONDON LIFE
Tickle, Drayton Arms Theatre review – a big, gay, rib-tickling romp’
★★★★☆ by Ifan Llewelyn
Much like wellie wanging and toe wrestling, competitive tickling is a sport that sounds made
up until you discover that it’s not only real, but thriving. Horrifying and hilarious in equal
measure, this discovery tends to happen when you’ve reached the depths of a post-night out
dive down a YouTube rabbit hole. Alone with half a Big Mac on the bedding beside you, you
sit in awe, basking in the LED glow of grown, half-naked men writhing at the fingertips of
their competitor. This is exactly how you feel in the audience of Tickle, a high-velocity
musical comedy about friends who end up as pawns in the industry of ‘big tickle’.
Chris (Kieran Constable) and Callum (Tommy Murray) are two young lads on the
precipice of adulthood, stuck in a dead-end “Crappy Town” and terrified that they’ll never get
out. That is until a chance encounter with headhunter extraordinaire Davina Diamond (Lucy
Whitney). Murder in a pair of heels, Davina has an audience to cater for and sees dollar
signs upon hearing Callum giggle as he and Chris engage in a little roughhoused tickling.
Assured by the fact “It’s Not Gay”, her two recruits can’t resist the money themselves when
they’re promised the big bucks by the tickling industry’s allusive kingpin: Tina Tickle (Dereck
Walker).
Safe to say, the two boys’ scantily clad tickling matches are an internet sensation,
though perhaps for all the wrong reasons. The dynamic between the two is electric, which
we later learn is down to a poorly concealed secret: Callum’s unrequited pining for his
straight best friend. As their tickling careers balloon, so too does the pressure on their
complicated relationship. If they want to bow out, they’ll have to go through Tina the
terrifying.
Our two principal players, Constable and Murray, have a great back and forth
throughout, even during an explicit shower scene that not even Nostradamus could’ve seen
coming. This is one reviewer that’ll never complain about excessive nudity – commendations
to director Robbie O’Reilly. Under her direction, this cast of players creates a world that
joyfully toys the line between wantonness and whimsy. Dereck Walker’s panto dame tickle
magnate exemplifies this perfectly: bonkers yet beguiling.
An evening of HIGH camp, this deliciously compact 70-minute show is a delightful
evening of song, delicate stroking and sexual desire. Each short, snappy musical interlude
rolls in for long enough to drive along the plot without overstaying its welcome. You’ll be
humming the closing number, What Would Julie Andrews Do?, the whole way home – a feat
not achieved by some of the West End’s most celebrated shows. A true testament to the
writer/composer of this big gay, rib-tickling romp, Chris Burgess. I urge any London dweller
to grab a few friends, a few drinks and a few tickets to be well and truly Tickle’d.
Tickle is playing at the Drayton Arms Theatre, 153 Old Brompton Road, London SW5
0LJ until Saturday, 1st October 2022.
