News / LGBT Bristol
Sold out drag pantomime to return
Last year seven Bristol drag performers staged a pantomime selling out three consecutive days at Strange Brew.
With rave reviews, the Bristol Drag Theatre Company has once again sold out three nights of performances from December 19-21 at the same venue.
Cynthia Road, who has written the pantomime the Company will be performing, told Bristol24/7 the play will be: “Very Bristol-focused. As a city we’re a bit rough around the edges and we’re proud of that. It’s very tongue-in-cheek – we don’t take ourselves seriously.”
is needed now More than ever
The script was written specifically for the drag artists featured in the cast, meaning Cynthia could play to each of their strengths when writing it.
Tess Drive, the producer of the pantomime, explained that the Bristol Drag Theatre Company exists so performers can take existing theatre and make it more Bristol, more queer and more fabulous.
She said: “It helps make the production ours. It gives us more of an identity.”
The performers at last year’s sold out panto at Strange Brew
Cynthia said on the theatre company shows a different side to Bristol’s most-prolific drag performers. She explained: “Drag performers are in-built producers, marketing teams, toolboxes. Tess Drive has won awards for choreography and production, Spank ran a whole session on characterisation (and) Dominique Fleek is running our social media.”
The theatre company allows performers to not only flex their performance muscles, but also engage their business skills. It also brings an opportunity to unite a diverse spectrum of Bristol drag performers.
Tess Drive added: “We all work so regularly in different places, it’s so lovely to be able to have everyone in a room together…Each performer has their separate spaces; brunch queens, rave queens, cabaret girls.
“It took combing the entire scene to get different artists you wouldn’t usually see on stage together. You would normally have to run around the city to see all of these performers on the same stage.”
Rehearsals are a great place for performers to bond.
Tess explained:“We’re constantly trying to make each other crack, and laugh, and the audience loves to see that. If we’re laughing, then the audience is laughing.”
The pantomime platforms a diverse range of Bristol drag performers that wouldn’t usually appear together on stage
Cynthia said people now recognise her more from pantomime than anywhere else: “I got off the stage at Bristol Pride, and someone asked me about the panto. I did an ABBA brunch up in Cheltenham and a lady recognised me there too. I’ve done other stuff in my career too!”
Tess interjected: “I think that’s really brave calling it a career!”
To which Cynthia responded: “And she wonders why she’s been cast as the villain two years in a row!”
“Typecasting right? I’m known as the Wicked Witch of the West because I have an acid tongue. Well, it’s acid reflux really,” Tess said before they both started laughing.
This year’s drag pantomime promises tongue-in-cheek humour and Bristol-inspired twists
Last year’s pantomime success meant the show was able to sell out this year without a marketing budget.
The performers credit support from venues like Old Castle Green, and offers of studio space from The Island, with playing a role in the show’s success.
Tess Drive explained: “The beauty of Bristol’s drag scene is that we do support one another.
“Venues are very pro-drag. These event spaces not only share our events, but actively support us.
“It’s really exciting because it gets you thinking, what’s next for the theatre company?
“We could do more intimate shows. We could do a massive scale musical. Who knows?
“It’s fresh, it’s brand new and it’s very Bristol.”
Sinderella: An Adult Panto is running at Strange Brew from Thursday, December 19 to Saturday 21.
For more information, follow the Bristol Drag Theatre Company on Instagram.
All photos: Bristol Drag Theatre Company
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