D.R.A.G is a loving homage and celebration of New Zealand drag artists, honouring their history and pondering with trepidation their current state.
Dressed Resembling A God takes the audience on a trip which encompasses the centuries old tradition of burlesque theatre and bawdy entertainment but doesn’t stop there with it’s tracking of the socio-political history.
From women’s liberation to the feminist movement, the legalisation of homosexuality and the recognition of same-sex marriage, to the current rise of the LGBTQIA+ phenomenon.
This is an era of continuing social upheaval. If the most significant development last century regarding male and female gender roles was the invention of the birth control pill which allowed more women to enter the workforce and compete with men on an equal footing. Then the rise of gender fluidity, the ideas of pansexuality are pushing out the boundaries until we are in a very strange planet indeed.
This show, which is two thirds a very human drama and one third a wonderful and exquisite drag show, touches on those current polarising issues.
The show is written by Daniel Williams and Sophie Roberts and is the directorial debut for Williams.
We enter the fictitious Lady T nightclub. The Loft at Q Theatre is transformed with the stage reversed from the usual position to be framed by the large window overlooking Queen Street.
The Lady T is celebrating fifty years as the longest running gay nightclub in New Zealand. For a moment some of the scattered Boomers like me are transported back to the time when Auckland was a vibrant and dynamic centre. It is a shame and in indictment on the current situation which blights central Auckland.
We first meet Adena Delights (Adam Burrell), the matriarch of the club affectionately referred to as Aunty.
He doesn’t need to talk much. He commands the stage on first entry with his authoritative presence and a plastic mobile face like a classic Jim Carrey.
We are backstage at the Lady T club. Adena is the old school drag queen, and he appears ambivalent about the future.
Not so his former protégé and now leading force behind Lady T, Hugo Grrrl (George Fowler).
Hugo is a drag king. I admit to being unsure what this is, but a king is gender fluid at heart.
Early banter between Adena and Hugo highlights the distinction, around the discussion of RuPaul’s Drag Race and its influence.
Adena thinks that his positive influence has opened acceptance and employment for this special class of entertainers. Hugo is affronted by his lack of inclusivity in the wider diaspora of gender fluid entertainers.
As does the third member of the group Slay West (Levi Waitere). Slay is fiercely supportive of transexuals, which RuPaul has tended to shun.
I have seen Slay earlier this year as one of the Tiwhas, a drag super group which was a featured show at this years Auckland Cabaret Live festival.
Backstage and the three are trying to get it together to put on a fund-raising show for the club. They go through numerous attempts at ABBA’s Dancing Queen.
This is the opening night and the world premiere of the show and there are special guests appearing each night of the season. Tonight, it is Bryony Skillington, an experienced actor who does a wonderful comedic turn belting out a delightfully scathing Christmas song which rips it to pieces.
The first half may get a little messy with its polemics of the current fraught political issues. Winston Peters and Brian Tamaki are conflated together. Even Charlie Kirk gets a passing mention.
It all gets washed away with a superb second half when we get the full show they have been gearing up for.
This is where the lighting and sound designer Sean Lynch, along with set designer Micheal McCabe, elevate the show to the heights.
The music envelopes the venue. YMCA from the Village People, Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Patti LaBelles Come as You Are, Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is a Place On Earth.
Weaving through all this is snatches of Chic’s Freak Out.
Expertly choreographed and the lip-syncing is elevated to an art form.
We do get ribald humour and lots of innuendo as you would expect. A lot of the audience are clued up on the current lingo, and a glossary is provided to help us less dialled-in folk.
Serious social issues are touched on, and it illustrates how much further we have come since Priscilla Queen of The Desert, which just finished its Auckland run recently. The programme does include an essay on sexuality, gender and politics, which is more opaque than illuminating.
But D.R.A.G fulfils its main brief to entertain us. All the while being dressed resembling a God.
Rev. Orange Peel
D.R.A.G plays at Q Theatre until Saturday 6 December 2025