Muddy Stilettos

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/New-company-of-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" alt="New-company-of-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" class="wp-image-115019" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/New-company-of-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/New-company-of-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/New-company-of-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



If you&#8217;re wrestling with the endless depressing stories about war, global warming and political unrest, I have just the antidote you need &#8211; a hilarious, joyous, daft and completely uplifting production of <a href="https://muddystilettos.tixculture.com/london/shows/40903-titanique" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Titanique</a> at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly. As light as sea mist with no hidden depths, it&#8217;s nevertheless one of the best nights I&#8217;ve had this year at the theatre. 



Launched off-Broadway in 2022 before hitting the West End in January this year (and promptly winning the 2025 Olivier Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play), Titanique is an absurdist spoof of Jack and Rose’s doomed romance aboard James Cameron&#8217;s Titanic film of 1997. 



Celine Dion famously sang the title track to the film, but in this show, she becomes one of the guests on the Titanic itself, telling her story of what really happened on that fateful voyage. Clearly, if Dion was on the famous liner, that makes her 150 years old and &#8220;People don&#8217;t live that long,&#8221; pipes up an observer at the modern Titanic museum where Lauren Drew as Dion has just revealed her identity. &#8220;Or do they?&#8221; says Drew archly, to laughter, as the story goes back in time and the mayhem begins.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1001" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" alt="Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" class="wp-image-115018" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Luke Bayer as Jack, Lauren Drew as Celine Dion and Hiba Elchikhe as Rose</figcaption></figure>



Subtlety is neither desired or delivered by this show with the Captain of the ship high on Ecstasy, Rose’s fiancé Cal secretly browsing Grindr when he gets a free moment and with jokes including “Everybody loves seaman” (an easy laugh but a low point). 



Nor is Titanique tasteful if you feel strongly about respecting the memory of those on the Titanic. As the ship looks set to crash, Tosh Wanogho-Maud struts struts onto the stage looking like the mash up of Tina Turner and Ru-Paul. “I’m the iceberg, bitch!’ he says, eyes rolling, before belting out a number, and then doing what icebergs do best.



All very on the edge, but also &#8211; very funny. The one-liners come thick and fast, crashing over each other so quickly that you can miss the wave (the in-jokes about Drag Race passed me by), but it doesn’t matter- there’s always another gag right behind it.



Drew, rightly nominated for an Olivier Award for her role, delivers a pastiche-perfect Dion impression ribbing the singer’s penchant for sky pointing and chest beating, diva exclamations (“I love you guys. So. Much!”) and legs planted wide in her famous gold sequinned thigh split dress as she nails Dion’s songs that dot throughout the show. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Centre-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1000x667.jpg" alt="Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Centre-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" class="wp-image-115017" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Centre-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Centre-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Luke-Bayer-Lauren-Drew-Centre-Hiba-Elchikhe-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



A former semi-finalist in The Voice 2021 from South Wales, Drew works hard as the narrator, frequently on stage to move the action forward, with the added comedic bonus of making Dion spotlight crazy, at one point even getting between Jack and Rose to sing as they attempt to kiss. Her vocals are astonishing (not easy to go head to head with Dion) but her comic timing is excellent too. Unfortunately there&#8217;s not long left to see Drew in action &#8211; she&#8217;s being replaced by Astrid Harris from Tues 15 July, who’s been performing as Celion Dion in the French production of the show to great reviews. 



Aside from Drew, the whole cast deserved its prolonged standing ovation at the end of the show, though special mention needs to go to Carl Mullaney as Rose’s overbearing, money-grabbing mother Ruth &#8211; pretty much a scene-stealer whenever he appeared; and Luke Bayer newly installed in the cast as Jack, who squeezed the pips out of every comic moment he was handed. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="714" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-714x1000.jpg" alt="Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" class="wp-image-115015" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-714x1000.jpg 714w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-429x600.jpg 429w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1463x2048.jpg 1463w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Carl-Mullaney-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Carl Mullaney</figcaption></figure>



At a time when theatre can run well over three hours and often feels like cultural torture, Titanique’s exuberant, hard-working performance at 1 hour 40 minutes with no interval was a relief and a pleasure. We laughed non-stop – I’ve never had a funnier night at the theatre. And because I was out of the show by 9.15pm ish, I was also able to have a drink afterwards with my friend, rather than rushing out at the ovation to leg it for the last train of the night. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Darren-Bennett-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" alt="Darren-Bennett-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg" class="wp-image-115016" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Darren-Bennett-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Darren-Bennett-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-600x400.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Darren-Bennett-in-Titanique-West-End.-June-2025.-Credit-Mark-Senior-1000x667.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



A life-affirming, laugh-a-minute YASSS from me. Think the best panto you’ve ever been in a voice-off with late night queer cabaret and you’ll pretty much have it nailed. Teased with affection rather than bile, Dion comes out of this show elevated rather than diminished and creates the warm heart to Titanique that raises it above a waspish late night revue.



Good for: Anyone looking for absurd, fluffy, comedic escapism. Grab as many friends as you can and go. I can&#8217;t recommend it enough. The theatre is literally next to Piccadilly tube so really convenient for non-Londoners.



Not for: Ditch the kids. There&#8217;s strictly no admittance to under 12s and a 14+ recommendation because of the strong language and sexual references. 



Fancy it much? <a href="https://muddystilettos.tixculture.com/london/shows/40903-titanique" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BOOK TICKETS</a> 



<a href="https://muddystilettos.tixculture.com/london/shows/40903-titanique" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Titanique</a>, Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly London, W1J 9HR. Tel: 033 33 202 895. Until Jan 2026.



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Review: Titaníque at The Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly, London

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