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drinks Monday 1 September 08 Edinburgh Reunion in London
Topping And Butch Hit Leicester Square 26-27 September 08
MaryAnn Devally in PRINCE, HIS PUSSY AND ME
Verdict: Funny and endearing obsession
Edinburgh - Pleasance - August 02
London - Joe's Comedy Madhouse - First Wednesday in October 02
Joe's Comedy Madhouse - Downstairs At Ryan's - 181 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16. Tube: Angel. Bus: 73 from Angel. Train: Dalston or Stoke Newington, and walk. £4/3(concessions). Please check all details with venue.
Yes, it is that kind of pussy. Both, actually.
MaryAnn (MaryAnn Devally) is 'hot-wired for infatuation from an early age'. Who better, after Jesus, as a target for her unnatural desires, than Prince - 'A purple ponce, touching himself'?
As a young girl, she's a sceptical catholic - 'No matter how many times you go to Lourdes, you'll never tan'. She grows up in Northampton - 'So mediocre the only thing it's famous for is that Princess Diana's buried there'. Programmed for disallusionment too - 'Morrisey, my first living pop idol. Gay? Morrisey? Oh no, he was celibate - just like Kenneth Williams'.
Then comes Prince. The purple diva's 'You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on' speaks directly to MaryAnn. But her new flame presents a dilemma: 'Never dirty enough for Prince, never clean enough for Jesus. Stuck between a cock and a hard place, as Fr Brendan used to say to me.'
It's MaryAnn's first Prince concert, she's in the front row. She imagines 'marrying Prince, divorcing, watching him having a shit'. He cancels. A friend tantalises her with photos of Prince clasping two furry bunnies given to him by her friend. Fired with jealousy and that little something extra, MaryAnn flies to concert after concert.
Ditching an earlier fixation with Jimmy Savile, she's hooked - and her fantasies escalate. She underlines all the relevant passages of Catcher In The Rye. In her dreams she waves a gun at Prince while reassuring him that she won't hurt him.
In reality she visits Prince's Paisley Park Recording Studios in Minneapolis, USA. 'A door opens, and - he's rubbing himself against my ankle'. Yes, he's small. But this is Paisley, Prince's pussy. Not to be deterred, MaryAnn crashes a press conference, leaps aboard the tour bus and - yes! - meets Prince himself.
Quite what happens next is revealed in this delightful tale of obsession. It's not giving away secrets to say that MaryAnn might 'let him stroke my shoulders and hair - but not my pussy'.
Prince, His Pussy And Me is a finely scripted play for one, delivered with finesse by MaryAnn Devally as MaryAnn. From the start she invites the audience into her her quirky, teasing story, and holds attention to the climax. If Graham Greene hadn't already taken the title, this could have been titled The End of The Affair, but where's the innuendo in that?
END
John Park
reviewed at The Pleasance / Friday 2 August 2002
Prince His Pussy and Me at The Pleasance
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
