Show reviewed: 19/03/26

Show rated: Out of this world, 5 stars.

Clowning is as an artform that often seems silly, comedic and absurd, but it is through having the ridiculous reflected back at an audience that we are able to challenge social norms and standards by measuring them with a different yardstick. B48Y Crash Lands on Earth! is set among the smouldering ruins of Mary Poppins, where among the the debris of crashed landed UAP (Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon) is extraterrestrial “B48Y.” B48Y (played by Lukas Meintjes) takes an alien perspective on the identities we construct for ourselves and authentic self expression through improvised play with a giant yellow alien.

For me, I rather enjoyed embracing what I’m clowning they term my inner idiot and as B48Y, I found I could connect with the vulnerability and weirdness of doing drag with a young, adolescent and impressionable alien who wants nothing more than to be as fabulous as our original and beloved “Mother,” Ru Paul. It was highly interactive, often inappropriate, downright bizarre and just an overall fun fringe experience.

This is an interesting observation of beauty trends and glamour in popular culture as something curated and it wasn’t faux deep pretending to be an intellectual interrogation on body modification and the identity of construction academics. By presenting it from an alien perspective, it becomes more of an ode to being authentic self and not giving up those things that bring you happiness under the pressure of confirming to society.