Edu Díaz is heralded in his introduction as a universal beauty of volcanic intensity, but that doesn’t stop him from being late for his own show. Dressed in a bulky sweatsuit and ball cap, he’s reluctantly forced into the spotlight by repeated fanfares after a seeming eternity of impatient audience applause, when the music takes hold and the magic begins. That teasing, trolling introduction is only the first taste of “A Drag Is Born,” a wonderfully weird and whimsical solo show that’s one of this Festival’s best representations of the Fringe spirit.
Under Rachel Resnik’s delirious direction, Díaz delivers a tour de force performance blending dance, lip sync and mime into a beautifully bizarre whole. His mostly mute character communicates through snippets of found audio and vintage songs (including the Bond theme “You Only Live Twice”), as this clowning caterpillar sheds his multilayered cocoon and metamorphoses into an hirsute butterfly.
The surreal silliness of the early sequences gives way to a powerful anti-homophobia message, before the exuberant finale leads to one final rainbow-hued surprise. At times, this oddity of a one-man show tested my patience with its deliberately obtuse pacing, making me wonder if it was all building up to something, but Díaz’s go-for-broke stage presence makes this a detour well worth taking. If you’re looking for the fringiest of the Fringe, look no further than “A Drag Is Born.”
Orlando Fringe Festival: Tickets and times for “A Drag Is Born”
Lowndes Shakespeare Center
This article appears in May 15-21, 2024.