Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

I first heard the name Hedwig when the movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, was released back in 2001. I was university at the time, just discovering myself and what I’d hoped was my place in the world.

I remember thinking how odd the name was and giggling to myself as my thoughts ran amok while I imagined what the angry inch could refer to. At one point, I even thought I’d read it incorrectly and that the word was itch and not inch.

Since then the movie and stage production have kind of hovered at the edge of my radar, sliding in and out without actually making a full on appearance. Until now that is. Finally, after 17 years since I’d first heard the name, I actually got to watch a full production. And I LOVED it!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the story of “internationally ignored” transsexual rocker Hedwig and her trials and tribulations as she searches for love, fame and acceptance. From her childhood as a boy in East Germany, including a botched sex change (providing the titular angry inch) and marriage, to a divorce, betrayal and life in a Kansas trailer park, Hedwig's journey is an awesome tale.

Loud, brash, irreverent, blasphemous and downright hilarious are some of the adjectives I’d use to describe the show and well worth watching. The South African cast of Paul Du Toit and Genna Galloway are simply superb with voices complementing each other beautifully.

Although the run at the Pieter Toerien Theatre at Montecasino is over, I would recommend this as a must see if it ever shows again, except if you’re easily offended. If you are, then give it a miss as you might get a whole lot more than you bargained for. Well, maybe just an inch or so more.