Hype songs and a light show transform the blackbox theatre. It sets you up for a big ice-hockey clash even though there’s only a very small stage (and an even smaller amount of hockey). However, to make up for it there’s a big diva (Diana Vickers), huge muscles on show, and a mammoth amount of talent on stage.
Based on the book and TV series Heated Rivalry, this panto-style show Deep-Heat Rivalry is an absolute riot. It wasn’t going to take long for a show like this to pop up. Trevor Ashley and Phil Scott have written the perfect show for thirsty gays in 2026. As someone who has never engaged with the source material, I can confirm that it’s completely unnecessary to binge the six-episode series, it’s very easy to follow along.
When the first scene has the hockey-players Shane Hollandaise (Sario Solomon) and Ilya Stroganoff (Jason Leigh Winter) in grey joggers, you know exactly what you’re getting into. It’s a blend of the musical Chess and an adult panto, where fortunately all the audience interaction adds value to the show, whether that’s the limbo at the start of Act Two or the salacious smoothie song.
The stage is drenched in sweat and humour as Puck (Ross Chisari) begins the entertainment. He’s tanned, muscular, and wearing very little. He’s got a fantastic ability to shift accents and performance from hype man to Shakespearean narrator. The pace of this show never lets up throughout its runtime.
It’s the contrast between Winter and Solomon’s characters that makes the show work. Winter plays the part of the Russian with piercing eyes, thick accent, and his blunt lines land well. The running joke about the identity of his father works wonders and helps to embed the trope of topical references and jokes that we’re used to in panto. Whilst Solomon plays the part of a hunky emotional bottom well, it's the hilarious calls with his mother that will have you howling in your seat.
We need more divas and less dames in panto, because Vickers is a real superstar in this show. She takes on many personas, including parodies of Celine Dion, Claudia Winkleman, and Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek. Her best moments on stage are when she transports you to the West End with songs from the shows with new comical lyrics, including Sunset Boulevard and Anything Goes. The tongue-in-cheek jokes about needing a better agent to get bigger gigs work well because she brings so much talent to her role as ‘The Diva’.
Some of the best parts of the show are the props used, including the ridiculously small bay tree, the workout equipment that is laughable for guys with their physiques, and of course that Perspex screen at the end of Act One.
The only slip-up that happened on stage was the Russian accent slipping into Glaswegian, but the improvisational comedy that followed kept the audience laughing.
A few more notable mentions: Starlight Express on Heelys, Hot Balm being pronounced like Hot Bum, a Russian-themed version of Padam Padam, and changing Cher’s Strong Enough to Stroganoff.
This show does exactly what it set out to do for its intended audience. There are musical theatre in-jokes, plenty of pop-culture references, and enough bare-bum to tick the gratuitous nudity box. It’s clearly said in the show, ‘this is burlesque cheap, the lowest of the arts’, but my word, doesn’t it leave you with a high.
Show warning: rated R, nudity, sex scenes, strobe lighting and drug use.
It runs until 11 October.
Review: James Dix Photos: Mak Senior