Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story

3
Reviewer's rating

Diana: The Untold and Untrue story is a comedy which combines multimedia and puppetry. The show also relies on audience interaction, meaning the show could be funny depending on who is sitting around you. The show parodies the royal family and celebrates the queer community – which is always welcome.  Throughout the performance Diana, amazingly captured by Linus Karp, recounts her story from heaven, with both events that did but mostly that didn’t happen.

The play is written by and performed by Linus Karp who effortlessly takes on the role of ‘Lady Di’. Linus commands the stage, both paying tribute to but mostly parodying Lady Diana with his heightened mannerisms and voice. There were clever throwbacks to Diana’s famous words of ‘there were three of us in that relationship, so it was a bit crowded’ repeated and delivered in the same seriousness as Diana.  It should also be noted that the costumes played homage to many of Princess Diana’s outfits. Linus’ skill and commitment is intensified when interacting with the audience, not only breaking the fourth wall but additionally with audience members who took on short roles throughout the show, such as a gay fan, Diana’s mother and father, a corgi or even a landmine.

The other characters included Prince, now King, Charles III (voiced by Joseph Martin), the Queen (Geri Allen through video clips), God (Zina Badran through video clips) and of course Camilla. A personal favourite was when Charles was first introduced to the audience as a life-sized cardboard cut-out of modern Charles completed with hair stuck on his head. Recurring jokes such as the Queen using the full extent of her power of being a queen or counting down until she is no longer queen made the audience roar with laughter.

If you feel disconcerted with the idea of laughing at a recently deceased monarch, this is not the show for you. Another successful moment for the audience was Camilla, who came to life as a puppet who produces monstrous sounds with only two things on her mind, sex and alcohol.

Those keen on parodying the Royal family, or those keen on and untold information on Princess Di are very likely to enjoy the show.  While the play is not exactly my cup of tea, I did enjoy watching it, it was not my type of humour, but the rest of the audience were in tears of laughter and evidently enjoying the immersive experience.