Russell Barr, writer and star of Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters, certainly knows how to make an entrance. He begins this solo show in full drag, towering over the audience in leather platform boots and a blonde wig, and announces in a deep Scottish brogue, "I was in the back of a halal butcher's meat truck, covered in offal." But don't worry. The meat truck doesn't figure prominently. It's part of a recurring dream, stemming from a deeply traumatic incident we learn about at the very end of the piece.

Barr plays a Scottish drag queen, and the show is basically a long soliloquy about his strange and terrible life. Much of the life he describes is indeed terrible. Abusive ex-boyfriends, alcoholic parents, gay-bashing and drugs consume most of his young life.

Fortunately, Barr knows to carry along the momentum from the opening scene and he isn't self-pitying or self-aggrandizing at all. In fact, even the drag plays a smaller role than you would think. His story telling is straightforward and neither flamboyant or histrionic. He spends most of the play stripping off his drag outfit (created with panache by Studio Dante's costume and scenic designer Victoria Imperioli) and makeup, ending up in comfy pajamas and a pair of old socks. Every so often, Barr interrupts himself to engage with the audience. This is not so much audience participation as it is Barr drawing out key moments, by engaging in a staring contest or by sitting in someone's lap. (Warning: don't sit on the aisle if you want to avoid that sort of thing.) Toward the end of the play Barr turns that attention on himself, and draws out his physical reactions to bad memories with a shaking hand or a nervous itch.

The main weakness of this piece is that it lacks a larger context. To be sure, here's a character has led an eventful and interesting life, but there's no real sense of character development or plot momentum. There isn't even a real ending. The play just stops, without closure or purpose. As directed by Michael Imperioli and performed by the author, it nevertheless makes for an interesting 70 minutes. Besides, it's not often you encounter a show about a non-dramatic drag queen ???a Scottish one, at that.