All photos by the authorRuPaul, international drag champion and mastermind behind the hit American TV show that bears his name, recently said in an interview that drag "will never be mainstream". This weekend London plays host to a "family friendly" festival of contemporary drag, where The Glory – a queer cabaret-driven East End pub – collaborated with cultural behemoth the National Theatre. Together they're set to deliver three days of performance to the type of audience more likely to go for Saturday strolls by the Southbank than glitter their faces up for a night at Sink the Pink (perhaps to Ru's surprise).
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With a collaboration on this scale, that's merging alternative culture with one of the most traditional theatre spaces, surely drag's crossed over. Rather than just take RuPaul's word for it, I headed down to the theatre to ask some of the Glory Days performers one question: has drag gone mainstream?
Edith Pilaf
A Man to Pet
Holestar
Pffft, that bitch made it mainstream! And there is a place for drag in the mainstream, as transgender issues especially are changing a hell of a lot, becoming more prevalent and getting major press. I think the general public are becoming more accustomed to not living within gender binaries and the grey areas between. RuPaul is full of shit – go out there perform the shit out of it and change people's perceptions of the binaries by being fabulous.
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Adam All
Baby Lame
Mzz Kimberley
Jonny Woo
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