Sink the Pink: The Xmas Shows
In 2018 and 2019, David was asked to join the cast of LGBTQ+ collective Sink the Pink’s alt-drag, alt-Xmas Xtravagnaza’s which ran for five weeks each Winter at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington.
The shows How to Catch a Krampus and Escape From Planet Trash were written and directed by Ginger Johnson, with David taking the titular and lead roles respectively. David also provided additional material for Escape From Planet Trash: a number of his character’s monologues and re-writing the lyrics of ‘What’s This?’ from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
escape from planet trash (2019) - Sonny Jim Johnson
It’s 2050. The world’s a dump, the humans have fled and the turkeys want revenge. Just another average day in the life of the last two remaining inhabitants of Planet Trash: Ginger Johnson and her adolescent 28-year-old man-child Sonny.
That is until something crash lands. Something that threatens to ruin their peace. Something dangerous. The most dangerous thing in the universe: Hope.
A love story to campy sci-fi, queer resilience, and the places we choose to call Home.
‘Cumming gives a bouncing-off-the-walls performance’
- ★★★★ WhatsOnStage
The cast are quality with David Cumming and Mahatma Khandi deserving special mention
- ★★★★★ The Londonist
‘One high is a reworking of ‘What’s This?’ from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ – when Ginger’s son first discovers Christmas and all the tinsel and tat that comes with it’
- ★★★ TimeOut
‘Johnson and Cumming keep it moving with endearing, enthusiastic performances’
- ★★★ Evening Standard
How to catch a krampus (2018) - Doctor Ziegemann (krampus) / various
No-one hears his hooves. No-one sees his horns. No-one hears their screams.
Another child gone from the hard, snowy streets of Victorian London. So what? Probably just ran away. But unscrupulous spirit medium Ginger Johnson knows better. Enlisting the help from a coven of twisted midnight sisters, Johnson sets out to end this horror once and for all and catch the demon child-snatcher.
But maybe, just maybe, that is what the Krampus wanted all along…
‘David Cumming excels as a creepy therapist with mother issues’
- ★★★★ The Stage
‘Then there’s David Cumming, a veritable tour de force on stage, his terrifically tortured and sexually twisted performance of ‘The Masochism Tango’ (Tom Lehrer) worth the ticket price alone’
- ★★★★ Musical Theatre Review
‘Highlights include drag legend Lavinia Coop’s unexpected take on Rihanna and David Cumming’s lascivious Tom Lehrer number.’
- ★★★★ Evening Standard
David Cumming invokes his inner German fuhrer to give a Krampus fit for a night with Max Mosely.
- ★★★★★ The Londonist