George and The Drag Queen at Husthwaite Village Hall, York

With three actors, a changing set and Pipeline’s trademark immersive soundscape, this show will take you on an unlikely, funny, poignant journey.

Join Maddie, George and Elias at the local village fete. Elias is a Lebanese refugee who’s also a Drag Queen (Eliana Sultana) and who, as a minor tv celebrity, has been booked to open the fete. He has been given the St. John Ambulance tent to get changed in, much to his dismay. Maddy and George are St. John Ambulance volunteers: George – a stand-in Grandpa to Maddy, and Maddy – a stand-in Granddaughter to George.

Maddy is resentful of Elias’s arrival, as it’s George’s last event before he retires, and she doesn’t want it spoiled by a stranger (she has other reasons for resentment which surface over the play). George is distracted by the day, by intrusive thoughts bubbling up from his past, particularly given his realisation that he worked in disaster relief in Elias’s home-town (a time he has tried to blank out). Meanwhile Elias is waiting to find out if his homeland is now declared safe and whether he must go back.

In terms of issues, pure theatre, and entertainment, we’re going all in! Leaping between easy banter, moments of historical fantasy and multi-role-madness, the play skewers themes of asylum, cultural identity and belonging, with warmth, humour and nuance. And against a backdrop of quintessential Englishness, personal histories and political tensions shape attitudes and actions, with tragi-comic results, exposing the complexity of modern debates around migration, gender identity, and community.
This play will show how ordinary people can become caught between compassion and prejudice, loyalty and fear, while grasping for understanding and connection.

‘George and the Drag Queen’ is part of the national Create Tour Connect project.

Suitable for age 14+