Drag is for Everyone

Words by Louise Coulthard

Photos by JJ Waller

As I sit down in The Forbidden Fruit bar to discuss Drag with Nikki Bockerglory, or Alan as they’re otherwise known, the Spice Girls 90’s classic ‘Ah Woooo Ooo Who...Do You Think You Are’ blasts out, and I think, yeah, this feels right as a theme tune to this article: It’s about identity, integrity, your soul, it’s inviting you to step in line with who you truly are and above all, when in its midst you just can’t help but want to thrust about in platform boots and JOYOUSLY swing it, shake it, move it, make it...or maybe that’s just me?

It prompted me to toy with a title of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ for this article, but I thought it might be confused with the BBC documentary series of the same name, tempting readers' minds into thinking this would thematically be a charming piece on family, history, wartime struggles, societal challenges, cultural context, scandal, gasps, over the shoulder wind-swept sexy-gazing into the eyes of the viewer and aimless vignettes of estranged, eccentric aunties in lipstick, donning nylons and with fabulously stiff hair...well...I guess it kind of is, but with much less dimly lit, dusty fingering of old ledgers, and more twinkly piano, Kings and Queens.

As we prepare for Hastings Pride on 30th August we’re celebrating how our local drag is a small scene in which we can ask big questions, and how it’s a wonderful component in supporting and championing the Hastings LGBTQIA community.

One of the reasons Nikki Bockerglory loves drag so much is how empowering it is to be this visual and this loud, there’s no turning away and you can’t NOT see her, as I learned when walking into one of her Drag Bingo’s with my notebook in hand, hoping for an interview. That larger-than-life feeling helps bolster her confidence to say the things that need to be said when it needs to be said, an unnerving but innately loveable drag queen trait passed down through the generations.

“We shoot from the hip, the world is so serious right now, there’s so much hatred and negativity, drag is a release from that, and full of laughter”.

It’s a point well made, that drag is a wildly unserious way of facing very serious things. Heightened visibility can mean more space for prejudice, and as national police-recorded homophobic and anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes have significantly risen over the last five years, the impact felt locally has only highlighted the vital importance that our drag scene and queer spaces such as The Forbidden Fruit provide for this whole community. “We come together in safety”.

This be-wigged caretaking role wasn’t always on the cards for him, despite being a problem solver in many other forms, “If you’d ever had said to me I’d become a drag queen, I wouldn’t have believed you... I was always happy to be in the background, at work I’d cook the Sunday dinners, be on the bar, do the ordering, fix the toilets, then we had a drag queen who kept being too drunk to go on stage, so because I’m hands-on I was just like ‘oh alright I’ll do it!!’ That’s how I started as Nikki Bockerglory... we had a lesbian hen party in and everyone just warmed to her”.

Alan isn’t the only local who has channelled this unexpected need to drag. Molly Hemsley grew up in Hastings and it was only after seeing a show called ‘Lads Lads Lads’ that she decided to use her university dissertation as a means to release her drag alter-ego, Heather Duster. “I’d seen Queens and Drag Kings before” she said, “but ‘Lads Lads Lads’ was a show done all by female identifying people in hyper femme drag...it was a life changing moment, I loved it and I knew I wanted to embrace my femininity by dressing in the heels, make up and wigs too!”.

Both Heather Duster and Nikki Bockerglory agree that by being raised on a Hastings diet of Pram Race, Jack in the Green and pure unadulterated Morris dancing, their appetite for performance, fun and dressing up grew and grew. Our creative, artistic town celebrates that which is outside the norm, a perfect petri dish for drag. “Drag is a space for exploration and gender is a construct so we may as well have fun playing with it!” Molly says.

That sense of play and leaning into the bonkers spirit of Hastings led Heather Duster to lead a drag Sunday service at a local St Leonards church, and some of her favourite gigs have been in care homes. “At first I didn’t know what to expect doing a gig in the middle of the day and I was worried what the residents would think, that there would be an age barrier, or they might not understand or accept this, but they were so warm and really got involved with the hype of it all!”. Heather Duster made such an impact on her care home fans that they even began to bring their own feather dusters to her gigs, dancing wildly with their cleaning paraphernalia.

“Drag is such an extravagant presence, even if you’re not doing your act on stage you still visually represent something to people, and I feel like I want to fulfil that for them, filling the boots of what they expect me to be, building my personality to fill the size of my look” said Molly.

Both she and Alan spoke of how the physical process of getting into drag is like the calm before a storm, a time to channel their character, then once that wig is on and they hit the stage they can be something magical, larger than life and fully bring the party. “You can give people a glimpse of a world they’d never usually see into, it’s a moment of joy and can really change people’s mindsets, bring them out of a depression or just have fun and forget their worries for an hour, we laugh together. I love doing drag because it’s a release as much for me as it is for the audience” Alan said, whose transformation back out of drag is usually quite a stark one as he does the late night security at the bar, going from full make up to putting on his badge and stab vest and being on the door.

The profession doesn’t come without its challenges, particularly in recent years with the cost-of-living crisis, people are going out a lot less and so venues are having to cut back on the entertainment. Plus, even if you do get a gig, it’s an expensive job to have with all the lovely costumes, jewellery, wigs, make up and heels required, and usually your fee will have to include a train fare and hotel for the night, so you often don’t sashay away with much money. Plus, since Ru Paul’s Drag Race, there’s a lot more drag queens now than ever, so there’s a real pressure to be on top of your game and keep things fresh. “People think drag's glamorous, but that’s a myth” said Heather Duster, “if you’ve ever fallen asleep after a long gig and woken up with makeup smeared on your pillow, it’s like something from a horror film and there’s a lot of dragging massive suitcases around, crammed full of unwashed tights... we present an illusion of being glam but it’s not true”.

It got me thinking that that’s what’s I find so wonderful about drag, we all know it’s a representation of something, it offers more to life and has a potentiality and fluidity to it which holds space for us to explore aspects of ourselves that we might not usually get to play with, or even be aware of. It brings colour and sparkle. “The vibe of a drag show is to scream, shout and support, as long as you’re putting your heart into it everyone’s behind you, it’s an opportunity to celebrate who we are and want to be, it really is a family”, according to the gospel of Heather Duster.

That sense of freedom, hope and family will be honoured at Hastings Pride on 30th August, a particularly special event as it celebrates its tenth year of bringing the Hastings LGBTQIA community and its allies together. Heather Duster will be there, along with many more of our local drag performers, and Alan will be on hand helping to organise the whole event.