With Chappell Roan’s discography playing in the background, as Cabbage checks your tickets upon entry, there is no better start to a show than this. It’s easy to instantly see that Cabbage the Clown is our very own version of a ‘Super Ultra Graphic Modern Girl’.
Cabbage the Clown: Cinemadrome is an insanely camp, Gen-Z, and stupendous comedy show with spectacular storytelling; entailing an almost love letter to all things cinema & filmography, working at a local cinema, queer relationships, and how others perceive you. Performed by drag comedian, Eliza Nelso, they bring a whole new level of comedy to Edinburgh’s Fringe — through a combination of drag performance, puppetry, queer comedy, and an amazing amount of costume changes.
After Nelso mentioned that they completed a BA (Hons) Costume Construction, it’s to no one’s surprise that the large amount of costumes are highly impressive. Ranging from an outfit based on cinema bin bags, to a popcorn costume, and multiple cinema uniforms, including one exclaiming in big, bold letters “ASK ME ABOUT CINEMADROME” (every minimum wage employee’s worst nightmare!). These fit perfectly with Cabbage’s Chappell Roan-esque beautiful makeup, combining the makeup styles of drag and clownery.
Furthermore, they really bring a whole other level to puppetry and clownery in the twenty-first century, whilst simultaneously maintaining the traditional values of these two performance genres. Including the portrayal of Cabbage dancing with someone they met at the club (represented through a broom, a hanger, and a loose red shirt), and a puppet made out of rubbish found in the cinema bins – being instant evidence for the comedy genius that Cabbage truly is.
The chronically online girl deep within me felt so seen with Cabbage’s movie pop culture references, but also through the early 2000s childhood nostalgic movie references too. Their set was quite literally the epitome of tomfoolery as they had the crowd in hysterics, and is definitely a must-watch for anyone who loves movies, clowns, cinema, drag, and needs a bit more queer comedy in their life!
Image by Lina Sakoviča, provided to The Student as press.