Hell Haus at Tiny Rebel was hosted by the incredibly talented Vanity Act who helped to make sure that the audience stayed excited (and drunk) throughout as well as introducing every single act. Vanity appeared totally at ease with the mic in their hand cracking out brilliant jokes throughout and even treated the audience to a selection of performances from themselves! Hosting can be a very difficult job at the best of times as there are endless things that can suddenly change the direction of the evening but having to keep the show on track while also having your own performances is an insanely difficult thing to do but Vanity did not seem fazed in the slightest! They were also able to crack out a brilliant split during one of their performance which had everyone in the audience gagged!
It is very clear that the next performer Glas is a massive fan of musical theatre as she had prepared a set highlighting musical theatre characters they think are going to Hell! The highlight of their set would have to be their rendition of “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton and in all honesty I am surprised I haven’t seen more drag performers doing their version of this song as it can be extremely camp with the perfect amount of comedy sprinkled throughout. Glas seemed totally comfortable channel the unhinged ruler while simultaneously making the audience howl with laughter which not is not thing to balance!
One of my favourite performances of the evening came from the Bath-based drag performer Diomede who I have to admit was not someone I was particularly familiar with prior to the event however has very quickly become my latest drag obsession! Their mesmerising performance of the Halloween infused, ABBA classic “Lay All Your Blood on Me” was the perfect choice too song to perform as it provided an opportunity for immense character work, is an iconically recognisable song that the audience loves and it tied into the spooky theme of the night. I am about to say something extremely bold here and state that this performance by Diomede was one of the greatest pure lip-sync performances I have ever seen live! There was very little reliance on props, choreography, theatrics etc and instead, the focus was fixed purely on the performance which they seemed to totally excel in! From the insane make-up to the flawless lip-sync, I was totally transfixed from the moment they stepped onto the stage in their demon-inspired look and is someone who is bound for incredible things very soon. If you haven’t already then I strongly recommend dropping them a follow on their Instagram (available at https://instagram.com/diomededrag?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) as they are someone to keep an eye on!
Now from a brand new drag obsession to someone I have been a fan of for just over a year Jordropper! I first met the pint-sized pocket rocket at the bi-monthly transition event hosted by the Queer Emporium (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/10/01/transition-event-review/) and since then they have gone from strength to strength even running a drag king crash course ending at Wales Millennium Centre! Their rendition of “Hopelessly Devoted to you” from the musical Grease was clearly a crowd pleaser as every single person appeared to bellow the lyrics as the track went on however Jord still managed to still showcase their vocal talents by being able to sing over the mob of voices. This song is not an easy one to sing but they appeared to take it in their stride nailing the higher sections of the song with ease! My personal highlight of this performance however was when Jordropper had everyone is hysterics as they simply sat on the stage having a drink during their performance with the most hilarious facial expressions I have ever seen! I also thoroughly enjoyed the rock-infused rendition of Milkshake by Kelis which is something I never thought would work but it absolutely did!
Nemesis Repulsa also decided to go down the musical theatre route as they graced the stage donning an iconic black and white striped outfit with green hair clearly paying homage to Beetlejuice the musical! They managed to replicate the iconic voice of the character and delivered an incredible rendition of “the whole being dead thing” which I thoroughly enjoyed! If I had one qualm it would be that this number could have been used to open the song as the narrative talks about putting on a show and that would have made sense from an audience viewpoint however the performance itself was amazing! I think that Nemesis deserves some praise from not only giving a fantastic performance but they also clearly putting into tremendous amount of effort into showcasing two wonderful outfits inspired by Halloween icons! Those who know me in real life will be aware that I cannot stand horror movies and in fact that haunting Freddie Kruger song has caused me to lose many hours of sleep over the years. So when Nemesis graced the stage as the horrifying horror villain I was instantly on edge! However, my mind was put to ease as the introduction of “What Dreams Are Made Of” by Hillary Duff began to blast through Tiny Rebel. I thought that this song choice and outfit combination was absolutely brilliant as Freddie is famously known for haunting dreams but the camp portrayal of the iconic character was hilarious for me!
Overall, the hell huas team showcased their talents by delivering a musical theatre-heavy, spooky spectacular which for me personally is the perfect way to welcome the Halloween season. This event contained possibly one of the greatest lip-sync performances I have ever seen in person with many other fantastic musical theatre classics! I would rate Hell Haus 4 out of 5 stars!
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