Review: HOW TO MATE: THE SECOND TED XXX TALK, Soho Theatre

“Welcome, freshers, to my bedroom”

How to Mate: The Second Ted xx Talk begins with an absolute banger of a preshow playlist, which tends to be a good sign of things to come at the Soho Theatre. The show, directed by Mpilo May, marks the return of  Steve Porters, AKA “Lockup Ur Daughter,” a character created and performed by drag king Daisy Doris May.

We are introduced to Porters with an epic countdown, bubble guns, and a song with a lyric video made entirely from WordArt. He hails from South West London, more commonly known as Guildford - this joke got some of the biggest laughs of the night from Londoners. 

Last year, I attended How to Flirt: The Ted xx-Mas Edition, in which Porters teaches auddiences members, referred to as “freshers,” how to flirt with women using the B.I.R.D. method - “Bold, interesting, romantic and dance.” Now that Porters knows how to flirt with women, he has gotten himself a girlfriend, Kelly, and an “S” has been added to the B.I.R.D. method, “spooning,” and the audience is going to learn more about what to do once you’ve gotten a partner. In this particular seminar, we are going to take a look at the mating tactics of three different birds to guide us on our journey - the peacock, the penguin and the pigeon. 

May does a fantastic job with crowd work, emphasising the importance of consensual participation and allowing audience members to say no if they do not want to interact. There are even moments when audience members interact with one another, bobbing their heads like pigeons and pretending to break up with one another.

A particular highlight of the crowd work was one in which Porters reenacts meeting his girlfriend at the club, with a male-presenting member of the audience taking on the role of Kelly. In fact, nearly (if not all) of the audience participants in the show are male-presenting, and it is fun to see how May interacts with them as Porters. There was one audience member in particular who seemed terrified of joining May on stage but then quickly came out of their shell, making for a fantastic scene. I’m very impressed with how May never broke character!

There are a few moments that stop the momentum of the show, particularly towards the end when the classic Fringe moment of a dark reveal is brought in. I was also disappointed in what appeared to be AI-generated art being used in the presentation, as even though the images of birds with abs were quite amusing, there are many ethical questions that come into play when using artificial intelligence for creative purposes. There were also a few references that I didn’t understand, but that might just be me still missing things that those in the UK have grown up with (if someone could explain Gary Neville being friendzoned and Daniel Bedingfield going through it to me, that’d be greatly appreciated!). 

How to Mate: The Second Ted xx Talk is a brilliant hour of drag king comedy from May, who is able to win over the audience as Porters with ease. I would definitely sign up for a semester-long course by Porters, though I doubt I would actually learn anything from it!

How to Mate: The Second Ted xx Talk ran from 23 to 26 October at Soho Theatre.

To post a comment, you must register and login.