Susan Campanaro brings her own riot from Stonewall
Riding on her soused success at Pride Festivals across the US, New York's accidental icon of cabaret Susan Campanaro brings her doppelganger “Lavinia Draper” back for this year’s season, and she's doing real time!
Having dipped her perfectly manicured toes in the water last year, DOING TIME WITH LAVINIA is now formally programmed by C Venues for a one-woman performance that is as uproariously funny as it is starkly appalling. And this summer, within a strife-filled international landscape, the constantly evolving show becomes a necessity.
Hysterical comedy, dark sensitivity and urgent reality breathe through a moving, throbbing score that shatters genre as deftly as the title character severs the line between comedy and tragedy.
The Lavinia character was cut from the whole cloth of legend by Campanaro and brought to surface by celebrated composer and musical director Lynn Portas. Lavinia’s countless New York City appearances in theatres, clubs (including the historic Stonewall Inn), and atop floats at the annual Pride Parade earned the pair ‘Best Musical’ and ‘Best Composer’ awards at the sought-after United Solo Festival (2022), before melting footlights across the United States.
With so many solo performances on the Edinburgh Fringe, "Doing Time with Lavinia" is the one to see, and the perfect late night show for you and your chums; especially if you've ever wondered what it would be like to be held in an overnight holding cell with the down and dirty of society.
It's a highly acclaimed one-woman tragicomedy, offering a hilarious and cautionary tale about thwarted dreams and addiction.
Reviews consistently praise the show for its creativity, talent, and Campanaro's brilliant performance, noting her physical comedy, comedic timing, and vocal performance, which bring the empathetic character of Lavinia to life.
The production is described as a "masterpiece of creativity and talent", a "hoot", and a "tour de force", with audience reactions ranging from losing their minds to singing along.
Lavinia ultimately resides not within the few but the far-too-many. Still, she’s also the rare dreamer who never surrenders, inspiring the audience to do the same. And at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, she returns to spread the message, music, myth and, surely, mirth.
Doing Time With Lavinia plays C aurora nightly 11-24 August at 22:50 (55mins).