Dandy Darkly’s Trigger Happy!
Dandy's third show delicately tackled the difficult subject of American gun violence with the panache expected of this seasoned solo show veteran. Playing off the opposing themes of physical violence (gun deaths) against emotional violence ("triggering" and P.C. culture). Trigger Happy! offered a heavy dose of good ole boy gun porn with rhinestone dazzled cowboy schtick. The show was a sobering examination of truly all-American epidemics.
Yet still Dandy Darkly maintained the winking mischief that permeates his tales. Stories included a lovelorn veteran coping with a sexual awakening and lycanthrophy, a drag queen rat, Bidet, fighting off the ghouls of neighborhood gentrification, a tawdry tabloid obituary for a fallen American scream queen and a rallying cry in remembrance of The Ghosts of Stonewall. The show featured original music by Adam Tendler, Rachel Blumberg, Jeffrey Underhill and Bryce Edwards and was directed by Ian Bjorklund.
Dandy Darkly's Trigger Happy! premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with additional runs at Dixon Place, Under St. Marks Theatre and the Frigid Festival.
"Darkly uses these blood-soaked tales of horror and revenge as a vehicle for his own eccentric brand of social, political, and sexual activism."
"Neovaudevillian, sexy-creepy ringmaster Dandy Darkly comes out with all guns blazing!" Time Out Critic's Pick.
Time Out Magazine
"I was terribly tickled by one of the tales in Dandy Darkly’s Trigger Happy!, the latest collection of queerly supernatural satirical stories from the prodigiously loquacious Southern drag clown."
"Darkly’s warm and well timed, hypnotic and erotic prose leaves the audience enthralled from the get go. ... Behind the painted smile lies an absolute raw talent that shines throughout the performance."
★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
"For all the fantastic phantasmagoria, Dandy's stories are increasingly grounded in a very real world."
★★★★★ Edinburgh Reporter
"Mr James is performing Dandy Darkly’s Trigger Happy!, a show he describes as 'musings on guns, PTSD, hypersensitivity and good ol’ American hypocrisy'."
"Simply one of the most thoughtful, hilarious and harrowing queer talents at work today."
★★★★★ Scotsgay Magazine
"Bizarre and irreverent. Incredible and mesmerizing."
★★★★ Broadway Baby
"Rock-poet dismantles the American dream -- mesmerizing in his rawness and realism."
★★★★ Fest Mag
"A scathing indictment of contemporary American society ... and somehow there’s a star-spangled glimmer of hope."
★★★★★ TVBomb.com
"The most jubilantly camp, twisted, and gob-smackingly unique prose performances out there."
★★★★★ Grumpy Gay Critic
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