The ‘Queen of Ireland’ Panti Bliss returns to Arts Centre Melbourne for Midsumma Festival

After eight long years, The Queen of Ireland Panti Bliss returns to Australia with her record-breaking, smash hit comedy If These Wigs Could Talk gracing Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio stage from 4 – 9 February 2025 as part of Midsumma Festival.

Following a lifetime of accidental activism, far-fetched shenanigans and making a full time show of herself, notorious drag queen Panti Bliss is now taking a moment to question her purpose in this changing world.

Salacious stories, impassioned polemics and some seriously funny soul searching are in order as Panti takes audiences from rural Mayo to London’s acclaimed West End via Tokyo’s dazzling underground and the Irish Ambassador’s residence in Vienna, where the answer to her existential question presents itself in the most unexpected way.

If These Wigs Could Talk has enjoyed record-breaking runs at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Soho Theatre in London, and across North America, with Panti inviting audiences to learn from her ridiculous mistakes, laugh at her glittering failures and share in her triumphs.

Panti performed in RIOT at Arts Centre Melbourne in 2017 and High Heels in Low Places in 2016 racking up stellar reviews and packed houses in Australia and around the globe.

Panti played a major role in the successful referendum campaign for Marriage Equality in Ireland, has authored her own memoir Woman In The Making, starred in the 2015 critically acclaimed documentary The Queen of Ireland, and is also the landlady of her popular Dublin bar, Pantibar, which opened in 2007.

She has been the recipient of many awards for her work as an entertainer and an activist, including a Person of the Year Award and an Honorary Doctorate from the prestigious Trinity College Dublin.

Audiences can delight in a double bill of Midsumma brilliance with An Evening Without Kate Bush and If These Wigs Could Talk performing back-to-back in the Fairfax Studio.

Hilariously vivid…mesmerising” – The Reviews Hub

Glittering and glorious” – The Sunday Times

Exquisitely tart-tongued comedy” – The Irish Times

All hail the Queen!” – Broadway World

An Arts Centre Melbourne and THISISPOPBABY production, produced in association with Far and Away Productions and Supported by Culture Ireland.

Season Details

Venue: Fairfax Studio
Date: 4 – 9 Feb 2025

For more information click HERE