#Drag kings show code#

Sustaining a career in drag is somewhat of a minefield, particularly considering the current lack of arts funding in the UK. It is genuinely unsafe to get on the night bus if you’ve finished a gig.” There are hair pieces, costumes and make-up but I think the cost that often gets forgotten is the travel. I don’t tend to wear my drag while I’m travelling.” Sumac adds: “Drag is expensive to do. “But I experienced transphobia on a bus once when I was wearing a moustache. “I’m never fearful of performing in drag. Often I feel like I have to pick one or the other, even though I’m non-binary.”Ī post shared by shiv aka dishi sumac describes the high moments of performing in drag as “euphoric,” but talks of the hardships too. It allows me to feel both feminine and masculine at the same time. “I hope I’d have enough in my back catalogue to develop something different…drag has connected me with who I am. “Based on my political beliefs I hope my current drag career is limited because I want Rishi Sunak to get kicked out of government pretty soon,” they say.

Although with such a clear political influence central to their drag personality, Sumac hopes they won’t be doing this act forever. “I’m guaranteed to be the only Tory you want to see in their boxers,” they say. “It was kind of like a boot camp that gave me the opportunity to really hone in my act,” says Sumac whose drag persona pokes fun at British prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Their first performance was part of a seven-week-long competition earlier this year. “As soon as I knew drag kings were a thing I thought maybe there was space for me in the world of drag.” “The first time I saw a drag king was at the Man Up! competition at The Glory in Hackney,” they say. In the years following, Sumac regularly attended drag nights in LGBTQ+ spaces across London including The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. They recall the first time they saw drag queens at Pride in London as a teenager: “I had never seen such an expression of identity like that,” they say. You feel that you have to make ten times the amount of noise so you’re seen but also so people realise your art isn’t just a kooky little thing.”Ī post shared by Len Blanco is a fairly new king on the circuit but has been “obsessed” with drag and “appreciated the art form” for a long time. I’m part of an artistic community that is so close to invisibility. “Drag kings are not new, but we’ve been practically wiped out of public consciousness. “I’m so aware that our history can be erased so easily,” says Len Blanco. Yet, despite drag kings being around for hundreds of years, their art has largely gone unpublicised. Drag’s history is inherently queer and politicised so the pure act of doing drag is radical,” says Dishi, “particularly when you’re sharing that radical experience with other people on a line-up or with an audience in the room”.

This history is often felt by kings as they perform today. “The reason we have the Stonewall uprising is because of a drag king”.

#Drag kings show code#

“Stormé DeLarverie was performing at a pub called the Stonewall Inn in drag and was pulled out by police for essentially breaking a dress code law,” explains Dishi Sumac, a drag king and journalist currently working in London. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many drag kings also worked in music halls.Īnd though no one is entirely certain, many credit Stormé DeLarverie, a lifelong gay rights activist and drag king for throwing the first punch of the Stonewall Uprisings. The presence of their art can be traced back to the 1660s when women were first allowed to appear onstage. But drag kings do, in fact, have a rich and long history. “Most people just don’t know what drag kings are,” says Welsh-born drag king Len Blanco. But though they have received much less mainstream media attention, drag kings are nothing new. Like drag queens, they explore style, gender and politics through lip sync, comedy, dance and song.

Drag kings are usually cisgender women, transgender men or non-binary people performing on stage in masculine drag.