Happily Ever Poofter at Kings Head Theatre

Happily Ever Poofter is a one man show that focuses on Prince Henry. Prince Henry has tried dating Cinderella and Snow White but he is now on his search for his Prince Charming. Using re-imagined Disney classics, puppets and some fierce accessories we follow Prince Henry from his journey from Kingdom Far Away, to Soho and then to find his writer.
Rich Watkins is not only playing Prince Henry but he is the writer of this piece. The piece is well written with plenty of Disney references, a huge amount of queer references but best of all lots of fist pumping moments screaming for equality. The show was unashamed in these moments which the audience wholeheartedly embraced at ultimately if Disney won’t do a gay love story….it’s about time someone did.
Some of the Disney puns may have been obvious…..’Someday My Prince Will Cum,’ for example but others were clever such as the Disney reference to Doc and linking this to PrEp.
Prince Henry is a multi-talented prince and luckily Watkins is a multi-talented actor. He high kicked, puppeteered and sang his way through the show keeping the audience engaged throughout. You can’t deny that some Disney numbers are huge sings and whilst Watkins may have struggled with some of the bigger numbers you easily forgive this due to the wit behind the song and the sheer sass he performed them with. He also had a great talent at interacting with the audience and ad-libbing when needed.
Watkins opens the show for asking people to cheer if they like Disney and then cheer if they were gay. If you don’t cheer at either of these points (or at least don’t identify as Allied) then this show probably isn’t for you. However if you want a night which means you will never hear some Disney songs the same way again then Happily Ever Poofter is a great choice.
Happily Ever Poofter is on at the Kings Head until 8th February. For more information visit their website.
If you like this review you might also like my review of Hot Gay Time Machine and Vincent River.