Dandy Darkly’s Myth Mouth!
Dandy Darkly's fourth solo show served as a love letter to all the fabulous queers before us -- the eternal pantheon of grand old queens of stage and screen who inspire to this day with their bitchy wit and artistic wonders. From Cha-Cha, humanity's first Neanderthal ninny to social media deceptions and Martian space kittens, Myth Mouth! focused on the various aspects of mythologizing and truth-telling and how belief often proves indeed more powerful than reality in the vast scope of human history.
Dandy followed the show's 2016 Edinburgh Fringe debut run with an award winning American tour, playing venues and Fringe festivals across a dozen North American cities — Tampa Fringe, Orlando Fringe, Chicago Fringe, PortFringe (Maine), Providence Fringe, Charm City Fringe (Baltimore), Dixon Place (NY), Under St. Marks (NY), OUTsider Festival (Austin, Texas), Stage West (Ft. Worth, Texas) with additional UK performances at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and the London Horror Festival. Nominated for three 2017 New York Innovative Theater Awards (Best Solo Performance, Best Performance Art and Best Original Music) and winner of Best Show at the 2017 San Francisco Fringe Festival. Myth Mouth! featured original music by Adam Tendler, Rachel Blumberg and Bryce Edwards and was directed by Ian Bjorklund
"Myth Mouth is a multi layered show – it’s a wickedly mischievous, creative, joyous, boisterous, lyrical, brash, poetic, funny and entertaining show!"
"An even queenier Rip Torn with a penchant for sequins, wordplay, and revisionist queer history. An hour of outlandish mythmaking. Meticulously hallucinogenic -- challenging."
"Spanning from the cautionary through the absurd, these twisted yet entertaining tales continuously tested the levels of my imagination."
Review "Each tale is well crafted and intriguing, always building to poignancy. The final twist on Cha Cha’s story made the guy behind me whisper “wow” in reverence."
Print Interview "[Neil's] day job is a far cry from the gloriously over-the-top Dandy Darkly persona he’s bringing to the Tampa Fringe, but even over the phone it’s clear a similar mischievous spirit imbues both."
"For someone who can’t be pigeonholed (humorist? playwright? poet? clown? comedian? performance artist? horror writer? LGBT icon?), the phenomenon of nature known to the public as Dandy Darkly is totally distinctive." Chelsea Now
"Dandy Darkly is a thrilling performer -- with his face painted as an evil clown, Dandy could not be any less evil if he tried. To say I was impressed would be an understatement."
"An incredible talent for telling dark tales using wordplay, alliteration, and a sophisticated soundtrack. Dandy's captivating presence commands your attention as this storyteller brings you on journeys through time and space."
"His narration weaves in and out of verse deftly, recalling the mostly-lost tradition of epic poetry performance. Darkly almost makes you think that it would not be shocking to find the Homer of the 21st century in an East Village basement, wearing styrofoam cones on his shoulders under a silver, form-fitting one-piece."
"If you have yet to be seduced by the lilting voice and penetrating presence of this mincing, menacing, alliteration-loving oracle, it’s high time to give in, because Myth Mouth is the supernaturally gifted phenom’s strongest, strangest creation yet."
"There’s a powerful cohesion to Myth Mouth's engagement with very different kinds of mythologizing, from the primal functions of art and religion to socially and politically motivated misinformation and the magical thinking underpinning personal compulsions. It’s unlike anything else at the Fringe."
★★★★ The Scotsman
"Though camp horror retains its central place in Dandy’s stories, Myth Mouth is as much lore as gore. The stories span the whole saga of storytelling from Cha-Cha the Caveman and first storyteller, through a wasted spin on the tale of Persephone, the Greek queen of the underworld, to an even more strung out cosmonaut dog defending the world from the evils of alien cats."
★★★★★ Edinburgh Reporter
"There isn’t a storyteller as engrossing, twisted, or as sequined. Dandy Darkly’s Myth Mouth is a show of mythological brilliance. A master of myth and the duke of the deliciously debauched."
★★★★★ Grumpy Gay Critic
"Dandy Darkly is a one man storytelling extravaganza -- a psychedelic hour of performance art perfection!"
"As a storyteller, Darkly is a unique creature. His performance style is rhythmic, hypnotic and entrancing. The original underscore only adds to the experience and the audience quickly tunes into his sinister tales."
★★★★ Broadway Baby
"Darkly’s tales are nuanced, sharp, caustic but humane, layered like an Annie Lennox song (Love Song For A Vampire most likely). Everything he does is about letting stories come to life, alternative takes on pop culture, human (or canine) nature and entertainment. [Myth Mouth] crosses time and space in an effort to explore new ideas of queer legends of tomorrow."
★★★★★ Scotsgay Magazine
"Dandy Darkly is in town with Dandy Darkly’s Myth Mouth!, a free show at CC Blooms. He has no regrets about making his fourth foray to Edinburgh."
Catherine Gerbrands
Interview at The Stage