Final Queen review | Midsumma Festival | Gasworks Arts Park

Final Queen is a drag circus horror comedy one-woman spectacle, which already sounds like a fever dream, but in the hands of creator/performer Harrison Sweeney and co-creator Rachel Kerry, the chaos is controlled, playful, and often very funny. The story follows drag sensation Grace Lightning as she receives the life-changing call that Kylie - yes, THE Kylie - wants her to audition for her world tour. This requires an urgent road trip from Sydney to Darwin, because of course that is where global superstardom begins.

But a road trip isn't a road trip unless you take your besties with you, so naturally Grace’s (expendable) sidekicks, Jax and Kelly, both brought to life by Sweeney through swift wig changes and defined character work. Jax reads as the seasoned drag queen who has seen everything twice, while Kelly is flirtatious, phone-obsessed, and delightfully chaotic. The driving montage neatly sketches each personality with minimal staging, proving how much Sweeney can do with very little, something he accomplishes repeatedly with this production.

Sweeney’s incorporation of circus and drag is thoughtfully woven through the piece. The flips, splits, cartwheels, and aerial acts never feel like decorative party tricks. Instead, they sit comfortably inside the show’s camp horror framework while serving the emotional beats of the characters, including the masked killer. A silks routine becomes the manifestation of an evil spirit, transforming technical skill into theatrical metaphor. It is creative, highly ridiculous, and exactly right for the mood Final Queen is chasing.

The structure leans gleefully into horror tropes, masked killers, ominous phone calls, doomed friendships, and the creeping sense that nobody is making it out alive. Crucially, he knows when it is being predictable and plays that awareness for laughs rather than pretending it is reinventing the genre. That self-awareness keeps the tone buoyant even as the body count rises.

There is a strong vein of humour running through Sweeney’s audience interactions and self-aware commentary. He understands the absurdity of what he is doing and invites us to laugh at it together. Even the inevitable curtain calls for characters we know are destined to fall are staged with comic flair, complete with memorable drag numbers and lip-sync extravaganzas.

Final Queen is scrappy in the best possible way, inventive, energetic, and driven by performance over production gloss. If there is an area that could elevate the experience further, it is the sound balance. Increasing the volume of the lip-sync and musical moments would help pull the audience more fully into Grace’s world and give those sequences the punch they deserve.

Still, what remains is a lively, genre-mashing solo showcase that embraces camp, horror and circus with open arms and a perfectly timed split. And honestly, if you are not willing to cartwheel away from a masked killer while in full drag, are you even a final queen?

Click here to read our interview with Harrison Sweeney.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park
Season: until 7 Feb | 8pm
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $32 Full | $28 Conc
Bookings: Midsumma Festival

Image credit: Anais Stewart