DRAG
I’ve performed as Lady Aria Grey at countless drag and cabaret nights, and also in plenty of plays – not necessarily as Lady Aria, but usually in drag-adjacent roles.
Below are some highlights of drag nights, and a collection of my favourite theatre projects:
GREY WIDOW
King’s Head Theatre, London (2022)
VAULT Festival, London (2023)
Grey Widow is a monologue play, which I wrote for myself to perform. In it, Lady Aria tells the supernatural and debaucherous story of her turbulent marriage to, and subsequent murder of, her absolute wanker of a husband. She’s also being haunted by his ghost - it’s a whole thing.
Winner of the 2019 London Horror Festival Playwriting Competition, and subsequently performed at the King’s Head Theatre in 2022, and VAULT Festival in 2023.
The work-in-progress playtext is available to purchase from Junkets Publisher, and the show was reviewed by Gay Times, Theatre Weekly, and Reviews Hub.
TAYLOR MAC’S 24-DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC
The Barbican, London
Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music was a 24-hour piece of theatre, which Taylor was touring the world in small chunks at a time. The show we did was the first 3 hours of the total 24, and the intention was to bring the following 3 hours back to London every 4 years, but Covid put a stop to that.
In each new city, Taylor would perform the show with a small army of local performers, known as the Dandy Minions, and I was lucky enough to be a London Dandy Minion.
Truly the most fun I have ever had on a stage.
MULAN ROUGE!
The Vaults, London
A drag mashup of Moulin Rouge and Disney’s Mulan, this cabaret-cum-play sprang forth from the mind of writer / director Shay Shay, and was just as unhinged as it sounds.
I originated the role of Roxy - or to be precise, Roxanne Octavia Emerald O’Hara Dupree III Junior - who was a dumb and lovable skank. I also covered the role of Madame.
LADY ARIA GREY DEMONSTRATES MUNDANITY
COVID Lockdown, My House
A deeply stupid piece of digital drag I made during the first COVID lockdown in May 2020
READ FOR FILTH
The Library Club, London
My very own drag night in London! Read For Filth was a night of draggy literature readings, which I started in 2018. A lineup of drags would each read an extract of a book they’d chosen, according to a theme I’d set, and hopefully reading that extract in drag would somehow change its meaning.
The very first edition was themed ‘The First Chapter’ and the rule was that each reader’s chosen extract had to be the opening chapter of a book. Stella Marbles read the Bible, and having a drag monster read ‘God created man in his own image’ really made the meaning shine through.
ALADDIN AND THE FEAST OF WONDERS
The Vaults, London
Another madcap adult panto from the brain and pen of Shay Shay.
I alternated between the roles of the Widow Hanky and Princess Jizzmine.
Their names should give you a fair idea of the tone.
THE REMARKABLE ROOMING HOUSE OF MADAME LEMONDE
The Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town
A short, dark, and fairly obscure one-act play by Tennessee Williams, in which the paraplegic Mint is tormented and scorned by a number of characters in Madame Lemonde’s rooming house, including the Madame herself.
I played the Madame, and she was delicious.
HAMLET
Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, Provincetown, USA 2017
International Shakespeare Festival, Craiova, Romania 2016
Grahamstown National Arts Festival, South Africa 2015
My first experience onstage playing someone who wasn’t a man made this a very special play to me. This was an all male production of Hamlet, directed by Fred Abrahamse and starring Marcel Meyer, with me playing Queen Gertrude.
Read the HuffPost review here.
