Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World brings Vegas glitz to Manchester

The set of Werk the World, which opened its UK tour at Manchester AO Arena last night, is all about time.

The theme of the show is time travel, with four clocks telling a different time, showcasing different time periods.

Asia O’Hara is trying to get back to Season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, as they mention multiple times throughout the show, which becomes a running joke amongst the audience. 

Before the show, the buzz around the arena is electric. The show is about acceptance and accepting one another and as I look around, there are many people of different ages and races joined together in unity. 

After the first couple of performances, Asia O’Hara gets the crowd involved by picking volunteers to lip sync for their life, which is a common way of elimination in the TV show.

James from Manchester takes the battle in his stride by walking up the steps which no-one (and I mean no-one) has done on the tour.

Shack the TikTok influencer moves their body and showcases flexibility throughout their turn.

They battle against Jorgeous, who is nicknamed the Lip Sync Assassin.

The audience choose the winner by cheering loudly for them – and as you can guess, Manchester chose the local. James made Manchester proud. 

We’re an hour in, and a group of people come in late. Asia stops the lip sync battle because they need to find out why they showed up late.

After the battle, Asia tells us she need to sort something out off stage and the next thing we know they are walking towards the front to have a serious conversation with the late comers.

When asked why they were so late, they gave the most British answer you could imagine: “2 for 1 cocktails!”

Asia find this to be a worthy excuse and lets their leader, Katie, go back to her seat – but not before calling her back and making her give the sassiest walk back. 

The best performance for me was Plastique Tiara’s Ancient Greece set.

They come down from the ceiling dressed in all white resembling an angel as they are wearing wings.

They lip sync Ariana Grande’s God is a Woman before changing into a black one-piece and lip syncing to Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman.

I find myself not cheering as I am too struck by the godly presence Plastique radiates. 

There is tons of hairography as each queen moves their hair around during the songs. Jaida Essence Hall even removes their wig during their futuristic era to showcase the union between two genders of female and male. 

Asia O’Hara is the highlight, getting the crowd involved by making them say RuPaul’s iconic lines.

They recruit the steward, Joe, making him say: “To the time machine!”. Which he fails miserably at least three times.

There were so many jokes, my jaw hurt. 

Werq the World is an incredible show that brought all the glitz and glamour from Las Vegas to the lively city of Manchester. 

RuPaul’s Werk the World was at Manchester’s AO Arena on 19th May before the show embarks on a UK tour, with tickets available here.