Making-up is such a Drag

This week Priscilla Queen of the Desert sashays onto the stage of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.

A musical based on the movie that humanised the female impersonator, it’s the latest work to commodify the drag queen for the masses. With YouTube tutorials showing us how to craft the perfectly-painted face and TV shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race exposing the tricks of the trade, what do the old hands think about the drag scene in Ireland today?

“I can’t tell them apart,” Shirley Temple Bar says, referring to the current crop of ‘baby’ drags. “They all want to look like Britney, doing slut drops in their spiky heels. Drag performance isn’t just about sticking yourself in ladies clothes and putting a wig on. A lot more artistic thought goes into it.”