Drag Factory, The Court Hotel’s weekly challenge to wannabe drag queens is celebrating it’s second birthday next month with an additional jelly wrestling competition that will see local Queens include Sheila Mann, Ruby Jewels, Veronica Jean Jones, Scarlet Adams, BarbieQ, Val Nourished and host Miss Hannah Conda tackle each other.
To reflect on the last two years of the competition we caught up with the host of one of the best night’s out Miss Hannah Conda.
It’s two years since Drag Factory was launched, what performances stand out as being the best during that time?
There have been so many that have left myself and the crowd in awe. I have loved Veronica Jean Jones’ Asian inspired number and her show to ‘Did it on em” by Nicki Minaj when she eats a chocolate bar but the whole crowd think it is poo. People’s faces are priceless!
Fay Rocious has also had a few standouts, especially the first time she brought down her girl dancers for Single Ladies that was awesome. There have honestly been some brilliant moments.
…and which ones are memorable for other reasons?
One word… ANTHONY. Our resident dancing man, you either love him or scared of him. He is the best pre-show entertainment a girl like myself could ever ask for!
Which tune has been performed too many times?
Where Have You Been by Rihanna has been done to death, no thanks to me.
We’ve seen drag kings and faux queens, this year OUTinPerth predicted the rise of the faux drag king… do you think it might happen?
A Faux Drag King!! What a revolutionary concept!! I hope my understanding of it is correct, that it’s a boy coming out as a drag king? If so… this is pretty much covered by Veronica whenever we need someone to do boy vocals in a song. HAHA. We have actually had a few moments this year in some of our shows where we have had a ‘Faux Drag King’ so it could totally be the in thing.
I recon the girls would like to see this movement come to life so they don’t have to tuck away their meat and two veg. Let’s be fair!
Tell us about your new segment ‘Drag Box’
DRAG BOX has been in the works since late last year. Bree Maddox, owner of the Court Hotel, came to me and said she thought it would be genius to pick out a few people from the crowd, get them dressed up in drag and bring them out to perform for the crowd, and that is DRAG BOX is a nutshell. We pick out some willing people, they have 40 minutes to get all dressed up in drag. Makeup, costume, wig, glitter and all and come out a perform to one of my handpicked songs. It is all about getting up, having a good time and a bit of a laugh, and if you impress the crowd enough you take away a bar card to treat yourself.
What would your sidekick Ruby Jewelz hate you to share with us? 😉
She got so angry at me one night cause I told everyone that she forgot to bring stocking and undergarment, causing her to miss the first show. She ended up being put together by the undergarments of all of the other girls. In short she was mortified. She told me to not tell anyone again… WHOOP SORRY RUBIS! hahaha
For someone taking on drag for the first time, what the most important things to focus on.
Firstly: get your name, its important to have a drag identity. It’s part of the fun of building a character.
Secondly: think about why you are doing drag and what you want to achieve.
Third: Practice!!- Your Makeup, costuming, your routines. Learn your words. Perfect your craft.
Fourth: Investigate, learn and absorb all that is going on around you. You never know where inspiration for your next show or makeup look could come from. Be open to finding inspiration everywhere.
Finally: HAVE FUN!! Enjoying yourself is the most important part of doing drag.
Drag Factory at The Court Hotel celebrates it’s Second Birthday on February 5th from 6pm, head down early and grab a pizza and beer through the Wicked Wednesdays deal.
