Melbourne drag institution, King Victoria celebrated its 400th show on March 13, making it the longest running, weekly drag king show in the world.
The King Victoria phenomenon started one afternoon in 1999, when best mates Tom Erge and Bumpy were perusing a copy of The Drag King Book by Del LaGrace Volcano and Judith Halberstam and decided to put on a monthly drag king competition at a local bar.
‘Tom Erge and I were great friends, always talking about gender and sex and dressing up,’ says Bumpy.
‘We never thought King Victoria Drag Kings would continue this long because we never thought anything, we just did.’
‘The first show was a sold out success so we kept going. A few months after the competition we decided to go weekly.
‘Lots of people said it was a stupid idea. But it has turned out to be good. We never run out of performers… or audience.
In fact, over the years performers have been drawn from all corners of the globe to perform with King Victoria.
Some of the world’s most famous and well-known kings such as America’s Dred, Moby Dick, Judith ‘Jack’ Halberstam and Del LaGrace Volcano have flown over to take part, while Sexy Galexy (Sydney drag king who is now gaining a massive following in the UK) and rap duo Sista She have also performed at King Victoria.
Bumpy said King Victoria has always aimed to be inclusive and supported many burlesque acts before the ‘re-invention of burlesque’ became popular in the mainstream arts community.
‘Sex Intents and other girls from Girlesque, Moira Finucane and Azaria Universe all performed with King Vic many years ago and The Town Bikes even started here.’
After collaborators Tom Erge and later Ray Jalil, moved away from Melbourne, Bumpy has been running King Victoria solo for the last five years and has no intention of stopping any time soon.
‘Well its still fun and people keep coming. Other people’s shows keep me interested, I love watching them.
‘I do the sound and lights and then occasionally I’ll be inspired to do a show.
‘I couldn’t do shows every week, like some performers. I think they’re really amazing and they’ve got a lot of strength to get up there all the time.’
Super-sexy drag king Rocco D’Amore has been performing almost weekly at King Victoria, racking up almost 100 shows, while Nana Doris (and her previous incarnation as Trevor Forever) is a veteran performer of nearly seven years.
Highlights of the almost nine-years of King Victoria include the four-day Drag King Festival in 2004, which featured fashion shows, photography exhibitions, performances and a drag king workshop.
‘Then in 2005 we went on tour all the way up to Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Newcastle and Adelaide,’ said Bumpy.
‘We would really love to come over to Perth and do some shows. That’s something we’d be really interested in.’
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