Norwich Drag Show Pageant Interview with entire cast
The Norwich drag pageant has returned this year for round number 2 at the Norwich Arts centre, hosted and judged by the fabulous duo for the night that is, Liv and Moth. Following its success last year, these wonderful drag performers have brought a whole new cast to compete in the Drag Pageant, presenting Alexa Darling, Sam Moanella, Iceni, Kylie M’Hoe, Allie Express, Cammy Leone and The Duke (shown from left to right).
I had the chance to catch up with the talented cast the week before they take the stage and chat about the Norwich drag scene, their drag styles and of course, the highly anticipated Norwich drag pageant.
How are you all feeling with the drag race only about a week and a half away from now?
Everyone: So excited, really looking forward to it!
I read that the hosts of the evening, Liv, and Moth, have both competed in drag races before, has anyone been in a drag competition before, or is the first time it will be a pageant, opposed to it being a performance?
Kylie M’Hoe: This is my first time ever competing in a drag pageant, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I think a lot of it was just finding the confidence to bite the bullet and do it.
Cammy Leone: This is going to be my first drag performance ever! Everyone has been really nice and supportive, so I don’t feel intimidated, I just feel really positive and excited about it.
Kylie M'hoe
Cammy Leone
Have you all met and performed together before, or will this be a chance for some of you to meet
new people on the drag scene?
Liv: I think before the Pageant, Alexa, had worked with Kylie on soup, and Duke and Samoanella, have both worked on the Kings of the Castle show, but not at the same time.
Moth: That was what we wanted to do with the pageant, that it was a competition, but the main part is that it’s a platform for newer drag performers to get themselves out there and to bring people together to create a sense of community within the people competing. We want it to be a positive experience so people can learn from each other and create connections, that will benefit them in the future. So, for someone like Cammy who is new to the scene and there’s other people competing who haven’t been doing drag that long, that are part of the scene and do know either other from doing performances together, so it’s a bit of a mix!
Sam Moanella: I think the rest of us have all worked together quite a bit, we are quite tight knit and help each other! As much as me and Duke pretend to have beef with each other we’re still asking each other, “How do you do this?”, which is always nice to have.
Sam Moanella
The Duke
Yes definitely! The way you all talk about it makes it really clear that it’s a community where you all support each other and you want to let each other flourish and grow, it doesn’t sound competitive!
Liv: Something we never realised, was that competition was something that can bring a community together. It’s quite a cohesive medium, strangely, you’ve got people against each other, but it actually brings them closer.
Kylie: The main thing that drew me to the drag pageant was to showcase Kylie, she’s more based in Cambridge and she’s not that known in Norwich yet. I feel like that’s something in general with this cast is that we aren’t the usual performers you see in Norwich so it’s nice to diversify the talent here. Another reason I was drew to the pageant was my teaching younger people to dance with passion productions, and I wanted to be an example to them, especially the LGBTQ+ students in my class, that you can do what you want to and prove that if I can do it then you can do it as well.
Liv and Moth, this is the second year that you’re running the drag pageant, are there any changes that you’ve made, other than having a different and just as talented cast involved?
Moth: One of the changes we’ve made, is that we have added an extra competitor, so this year there will be 7 instead of 6. We had a lot more people that applied this year, almost triple, because we had more people to choose from it was a lot more difficult. But having done it last year, we felt a lot more confident in our ability to produce it smoothly, as we weren’t doing everything for the first time. We have the season 1 competitors returning and they’re going to do a special performance at the pageant which is very exciting.
Liv: Now we know what we’re doing, we’re not exploring, we’re just revisiting the jungle that is The Norwich Drag Pageant.
Moth and Liv
It’s really positive that you’ve had 3 times as many apply this time round, were you expecting that kind of response?
Liv: I don’t know! I was expecting a few more as people could look at the content we had of last year’s pageant and realise what they would be getting into. Season one’s cast were very blind as to what was going to happen, we were just marketing it as this landmark show, it’s going to be the first of hopefully many, and they bravely just said yep sure! So, I thought we would have a few more applicants this year, but they stretched from London to Birmingham to up North, people from all over the country were applying. People were looking at the Norwich scene, they wanted to come and be a part of this and come and try out for the pageant, but the talent in Norwich was just too strong.
Norwich’s talent overruled all the other applicants!
So, I know, some of you have been on the drag scene for longer and some of you are newcomers, but how do you feel like the Norwich drag scene has changed since you first arrived onto it?
The Duke: I think there’s a lot more non binary coming out in the drag scene, there has always been drag kings in Norwich, but there are a lot more drag kings coming about now, with showing something different every show, which I think is a really cool thing to do!
Alexa Darling: Just the sheer range of what physically is out there on the Norwich drag scene is insane, you have everything from glamour to horror, it’s so diverse. It’s crazy to walk into but it feels so alive, it’s such a cool environment to be in.
Allie Express: When I came into the scene it was just after Covid and I’d done a couple of online drag shows through Covid when the Norwich scene took that break where we couldn’t go to shows and we couldn’t support out artists. It’s so nice having seen the scene grow again since Covid and more people are going to shows, being really invested in drag and it’s all opening again. I feel like it’s given us the platform to grow our art and just be the best performers that we can, as we all love doing this, and Norwich has been the best place to do it in.
Liv: The variety of the Norwich drag scene is what makes judging it quite hard. For me and Moth when we are judging it on the night, we’ve got such a variety of artistry in front of us it’s quite hard to judge. I think maybe that’s why mainstream channels of drag aren’t exploring the full diversity of British drag, because it’s a challenge to judge such diverse talent. They need to take on the challenge like we do!
Allie Express
Alexa Darling
Allie you just mentioned that Norwich has been the best place for drag but has anyone experienced drag in other cities and know what it’s like elsewhere?
Liv: Before I started on the drag scene here, it was mostly local queens working in bars, gay men doing drag as drag queens, then I started to do something with my collective about 5 years ago now, which explored people of different genders doing drag, people doing drag that’s not seen on television. Once we started doing it, it started expanding and it was beautiful and amazing and then Covid…and it all started to go away and the only channel of drag people had been Drag Race.
I’ve been to London, Nottingham, Birmingham, and they’re all very forward thinking and similar, however I haven’t seen the level of commitment to uniqueness to Norwich. Everyone is on their own quest into a niche area of queer artistry, and everyone is so intensely committed to it. Everywhere I’ve been in the UK, people have understood my drag, my side of it is hairy legs, no wig, which in some places might not be received as well, but everywhere I’ve have really celebrated me, which is always nice! You can be enjoyed in other cities but in Norwich, that’s where it gets created, that Norwich style of drag.
Yes, as being a member of the audience, I always think the more different the better! You want to see someone come on stage that does something crazy that I could never do and think what inspired them! Off the back of that, what influenced all of you to become part of drag and start performing?
Cammy: I tried to start doing drag before the pandemic started, and for me that was because I wasn’t seeing much representation of people like myself in more local scenes, I’m from East London. In London, it’s very much trying to appeal to the masses because London is the capital city and they want to get as much money as possible, if you do something that might be a bot too out there, they’re worried about losing that audience. I just wanted to see more black artists, that weren’t high fem, If no one else is going to do it, then I’ll bloody do it!
Do you have any influences or other drag performers that you’ve felt inspired by?
Cammy: One of my biggest inspirations is Yvie Oddly, she represents not only black drag artists, but also disabled drag artists. The disability she has is a chronic illness, she’s very open about her entire experience and allows herself to vulnerable with her audience, which is something that has really inspired me. She’s really strange, but in a good way, which is something that I really resonate with, as I’m very inspired by things that are ‘strange but beautiful’.
Kylie: The main inspirations I have comes from the showgirl aesthetic, having big feminine energy and loving to command attention on stage. If you’re performing and someone is looking anywhere other than at you then you aren’t doing your job properly! I love Christina Aguilera, Normani, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, all of them command attention. I also like catwalk fashion and 90’s supermodels, I try and base my looks around that with my make-up and looks.
Duke: I’m mostly inspired by the Circus and clown make up, I really like the idea that the circus brings a bunch of strange people together to create something really pretty, sparkly and fun and it entertains the masses! I also take a lot of inspiration from a lot of the original drag kings that I remember seeing.
Allie: My inspirations come from other performers around me, the first time I went to a drag show, I was in it, and I really regret that as I didn’t feel I had the experience and knowledge to put myself out there. As I’ve grown and done more drag, I’ve been inspired by the amazing people around me, as they have been so supportive!
Sam: A lot of my inspiration come from the 70’s and 80’s, gay men on the arts, like Prince as drag style is quite flamboyant. I found some of my drag style from panto as I was into that when I was younger and then had the influence of drag race, but there was no male equivalent, so I thought ‘oh I can invent a whole new category’, then I discovered drag kings!
Alexa: My biggest inspirations come from musical theatre and performers, so very old school like Barbra Streisand, that kind of ear and Queer history and how important drag history has been. With drag I felt like I could just do exactly what I wanted to do, and it was a space that I felt safe and supported and free in, to perform whatever I wanted to!
Iceni: My inspiration comes from the things that I see, my drag style is created myself, I created Iceni with all the make up, but for looks and performances I take a lot of inspiration from other queens on the Norwich drag scene, Drag Race, Instagram, anywhere really. I can see a cow in a field and think ‘Cow print, lovely!’, I really comes from anywhere and just my imagination.
Iceni
I can imagine it can be quite daunting to think, ‘where do I fit into it?’, as you said you felt there wasn’t an area for you to go into it, until you discovered drag kings.
Sam: This year we’ve had a high exposure of drag kings, before this year the few main established kings were Will and Dandy Darling, but it’s nice to see that we’ve now grown and how far we’ve come. I’m actually hosting my own show next year at VooDoo Daddy's, I’ve got big plans for the Kings community.
Liv: Also, where else in the UK, apart from London maybe, do you have two regular drag queen dedicated shows! I’m yet to find a place where there’s two different shows just for drag kings, I think Norwich is quite cutting edge for that.
For my last question, do you have any words of wisdom that you would share with anyone who wanted to join the drag scene and start performing themselves?
Sam: Don’t get too drunk! There is strength in the community, it’s a very welcoming stage. You don’t have to bring a friend, come by yourself, we’re all friends, we don’t bite unless you want us too.
Cammy: Do what you fucking want! If you try and create something that you think other people want, you’re just not going to have as good of a time doing it. That’s what drag is about, self-expression and sharing it with other people!
Iceni: Glue your wig down and know your shit!! And don’t get drunk!
Alexa: Do it for yourself, drag is what you make of it! It’s an important art form within the queer community and within queer history, go crazy!
Duke: Don’t be afraid to ask for help, anything you need, tips on make-up, hair, dance, just anything, everyone is so friendly and helpful.
Allie: Go to loads of shows, volunteer yourself for that like lip sync or that runway, any little chance you get to put yourself out there and pout your art in front of other people is such a good opportunity! You have to put yourself out there and go and get what you fucking want!
Tickets are available for The Drag Pageant on Friday the 16th of December, hosted at The Norwich Arts Centre:
