Christmas may be a distant memory, but we’re here to re-live our final event of 2024, and its celebration of queer Northern talent!
Hosted by drag and cabaret star Rhys Pieces, this Camp as Christmas edition of our queer cabaret was designed as a festive party, at what can be a difficult time of year for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community.
Lorelei L’Armour, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
With a confectionary inspired theme, both the line up of artists and our community brought plenty of sweet delight to Sidney and Matilda on 14 December. Our ‘more is more’ approach to decor also helped transform the venue into what could perhaps be best described as interior design by the Sugar Plum Fairy!
AMereKat, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
We had plenty of representation from South and West Yorkshire, with acts from Leeds, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Doncaster and of course Sheffield. Drag king Raymond Petty showed off his pipes and a very festive costume, musician AMereKat got the crowd singing along to their gothic comedy songs and burlesque artist Loxie Tocin shared an eccentric and educational act complete with some giant props!
Unknown Amazon, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
We were treated to two performances from drag king Unknown Amazon, who showed her incredible 70’s disco moves in the first, and gave us a thoughtful deconstruction of gender stereotypes in the second. Lorelei L’Amour brought all the glamour and drama in her burlesque act and Hot Pot made their drag debut with a completely original and amazing act that left many a bit emosh.
Loxie Tocin, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
Rhys Pieces hosted the event with flair and plenty of fun, performing acts that elicited smiles, whoops and gasps in equal measure. A DJ set by Victoria Peaches rounded off the event with dancing for those who didn’t want the night to end.
Hot Pot, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
A huge thanks to Rhys and all the artists who performed and brought such joy to this special event. We must also give a special mention to Becky, who as ever, provided BSL interpretation with her usual professionalism, despite the cheeky antics of Rhys!
Thanks to everyone who joined us for this special event, creating such a supportive atmosphere for our artists to share their work. Also huge thanks to the team at Sidney and Matilda and our team and volunteers for producing an event so many enjoyed.
It was so beautiful to be surrounded by people from my community and feel connected, especially at Christmas time (which can be hard if you don’t have a supportive family). I also loved the diversity of the line up, including Global Majority representation. I really appreciate Andro and Eve’s focus on accessibility too, e.g. allowing seats to be reserved and sharing lots of info before the event.
Audience member – A Reyt Queer Do
Keep doing what you’re doing! It is needed, now almost more than ever
Audience member – A Reyt Queer Do
With that and many other audience comments in mind, we are more committed than ever to creating joyous spaces for the LGBTQ+ community to come together and celebrate queer culture.
We’re currently fundraising for our 2025 programme, and with grant funding being increasingly competitive, a donation towards our work makes such a difference.
You can give a one off or ongoing donation via our website at the top of this page or Kofi. Even £5 a month makes a big difference.
Keen to attend a future event from us? Get subscribed to our newsletter now to make sure you’re first to get access to tickets!
Raymond Petty, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em ObengA Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em ObengA Reyt Queer Do Camp as Christmas (2024). Credit – Em ObengUnknown Amazon, A Reyt Queer Do 8 (2024). Credit – Em Obeng
We are looking for a DJ for the next A Reyt Queer Do on Saturday 14 December!
If you are a queer DJ based in the North of England and want to perform in front of a friendly crowd in Sheffield then this might be the opportunity for you!
A Reyt Queer Do will be hosted by burlesque and drag artist Rhys Pieces and is about platforming emerging queer performance talent. Our crowd is a mix of ages from 18 – 55+ so if you like to play an eclectic mix of genres and music from across the decades we’d love to hear from you.
We’re particularly keen to platform folks traditionally less well represented in the music industry and those based in Yorkshire. You don’t have to have lots of experience, but we do need you to be comfortable and confident in playing at least a 60 minute set to a room of people, and be able to foster a fun dancefloor for the LGBTQ+ community.
We can offer a £200 fee and up to £60 cover transport or accommodation costs in Sheffield.
We just need you to be available from 10pm – 12.15am on the day of the event and to play a 90 min – 2 hour set.
> Your name + social media handle > A link to a DJ mix by you > Tell us what DJ experience you have > Tell us why you’d like to DJ for the Andro & Eve community.
Deadline to apply: Midnight Thursday 28 November.
We look forward to hearing from you!
If we don’t select you for this opportunity, we are still keen to build our contacts with DJ’s in the Yorkshire region so we’d encourage you to apply so we can contact you about future opportunities.
We’re happy to announce that we are again offering open mic slots for fresh queer acts at A Reyt Queer Do on Sunday 22 September.
This queer cabaret event is ‘Back to the 90’s themed’ and is at Sidney and Matilda in Sheffield city centre.
A Reyt Queer Do 7 will be hosted by drag queen Bipolar Abdul and is about platforming emerging Northern LGBTQ+ performance talent. Whether you’re a new act, or you have new work you want to test out in front of a friendly live audience, we’d love to hear from you.
Drag, comedy, clowning, queerlesque, song, anything goes, as long as it works in front of a live audience. In return for you performing one 3 – 5 minute act we’ll provide refreshments and up to £70 to reimburse any expenses. You’ll also receive a few photos of you performing shot by a professional photographer. We just need you to be available from 3.30pm on the day of the event.
To help you get a sense of what to expect, this blog about our 2022 edition of A Reyt Queer Do is a useful read. While the theme of this edition is ‘Back to the 90’s’ your act doesn’t need to be tightly themed around this.
It doesn’t matter if the film of you performing is not in front of an audience, we just need to get a sense of your performance style so we can programme a mix of acts.
Deadline to apply: 9am Wednesday 4 September. Priority for slots will go to those based in South Yorkshire.
Please note – This event will be BSL interpreted, so if your application is successful we will expect you to provide any lyrics / script in advance of the event for our BSL interpreter to learn. More information on the access provisions in the venue can be found here.
We expect to have more people apply to perform than we have time and budget to give a platform, so we won’t be able to offer everyone a slot, but there will be further opportunities later this year. We are unable to give feedback to unsuccessful submissions, but we may keep your details on file for future bookings.
We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions that aren’t answered below please drop us a line to hello@androandeve.com
FAQ’s
I am not based in the North of England, can I apply? We will not consider applications from acts based in locations other than Yorkshire or the North of England, Northern talent to the front please! (We consider Northern talent to be inclusive of the East and West Midlands).
Do you only platform drag king acts? No! A Reyt Queer Do is for all kinds of live performance acts to share their work. The Kingdom Come is our platform solely for drag kings and we tend to focus on platforming more established acts there.
I can’t perform on the 22 September but want to apply, should I? Thanks for your interest, please hold off for now! We are a part time team, so we’d appreciate you helping us manage capacity by applying for a future opportunity. There is another Reyt Queer Do planned for December so please sign up to our newsletter to be first to hear about the open mic slots for that event.
I haven’t got an act to fit with the 1990’s theme, can I apply? Our theme for this event is important as it has come from our community, so we will take into consideration whether acts have something that could fit with the theme, but it won’t be the only thing we will consider so we’d encourage you to still apply.
We want to say a huge thank you to all the artists and freelancers we’ve worked with this year along with our volunteers and board for helping bring people together through queer culture. And a massive thank you to those who’ve supported our work by attending our events or workshops, buying a zine or some merch or sending us a donation. Links above if you want to do the same!
So in no particular order here are 10 highlights of 2022 for Andro and Eve!
1.Our first live cabaret event in 2.5 years – A Reyt Queer Do!
A Reyt Queer Do. Credit – Sophie Okonkwo
Hosted by Sadie Sinner, with Rhys Pieces, Ditzy O Darlin and a cracking line up of emerging talent, everyone who came down to Sidney and Matilda had a great evening. Read more about the event here.
2. Drag Kings!
Mark Anthony performing at The Kingdom Come 6. Credit – Dawn Kilner
From both our online drag king workshops with Christian Adore, to ALL our live events this year, and especially The Kingdom Come, an event designed solely to share the UK’s most exciting drag king talent, we were thrilled to be making space to platform these amazing artists, that too often get overlooked in the drag scene. Long live the kings!
3. Fresh Air Zine
We worked with Site Gallery’s Society of Explorers to create a brand new zine, inspired by our Gender Awareness Training. Packed full of illustrations by artist Luci Pina its a gorgeous resource for young and older people alike. You can still get a copy for free here.
4. A Reyt Queer Extravaganza
A Reyt Queer Extravaganza. Credit – Misha Warren
Our biggest ever event was a collaboration with Ghetto Fabulous, with our artistic director, Finn Warman, working closely with artistic director and choreographer Darren Pritchard to programme and produce this event featuring over 20 performers to an audience of 300 people at The Leadmill. Hosted by the legendary Rikki Beadle – Blair, to say it was an epic endeavour, but utterly worth it, is an understatement! Read more about the event here.
5. Forgeous
Through queer dance and movement workshops that we produced in collaboration with Ghetto Fabulous in June and July, new queer dance collective, Forgeous were forged in all their gloriousness. They then made their debut performance at A Reyt Queer Extravaganza. Hear more about their experience in this short film made by filmmaker Toni Lee.
6. Teamwork!
Ibk Adebambo and Finn Warman at A Reyt Queer Extravaganza. Credit – Misha Warren
2022 marked a year of Finn and Ibk working together as a producing duo, and for a brief time our team grew with other freelancers joining to help produce and promote our work. Not to forget our amazing volunteers who helped everything run smoothly at our events and Doncaster Pride. Martha has now stepped back from their role as Assistant Producer, but will work with us on a more ad hoc basis in future. A huge thank you for all their contributions to Andro and Eve.
7. Gender Awareness Training
Our second year of delivering this bespoke session saw us training over 250 people throughout the UK and giving them the tools and confidence to better serve trans and gender expansive clients and audiences. We also recruited a brilliant team of freelance trainers who will be very busy in 2023 with more training sessions. Please get in touch if your team could benefit from this professional development opportunity. You can book for our open session the 1 February here.
8. Festival of Debate – The Transgender Issue with Shon Faye
In May our artistic director Finn hosted a Q&A as part of the Festival of Debate in Sheffield with renowned writer and author Shon Faye about her first book, The Transgender Issue. To see a crowd of gender diverse people and allies centre and listen to the very real issues affecting trans people today, and make space for trans joy, was a really wonderful highlight.
9. Queer Delight
Following an open call in the summer, we commissioned filmmaker Alexis Maxwell to make a short digital film. The resulting animated poem, Queer Delight is a pure joy to watch, and the audio described version was beautifully enriched by Adedamola Bajomo.
10. Our Community
We were so happy to welcome so many new faces to Andro and Eve events, with folk working with our Safer Spaces policy, and generally being so warm and friendly to everyone. It was also super heartwarming to have plenty familiar faces return to our audiences and to witness the joy of being together once more.
So thats our year in a snapshot – there’s plenty more we could mention, truly, its been a wild year, but we hope you’ve enjoyed taking a moment to reflect on whats been achieved and the fact that 6 years after our first event, we’re still here, still queer and making space to celebrate queer culture.
If you want to make sure you’re first to hear whats in store for 2023, then make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter. The whims of social media platforms have been very much highlighted this year, so it’s more important than ever that we have other ways to stay connected!
Wishing you a peaceful and warm end to 2022 x
Feeling Fabulous Workshop with Ghetto Fabulous. 2022. Credit – Emma Bentley – Fox
And why are our General Entry tickets sometimes £20?
We’re here today to tackle the tricky question of money. Not in a ‘here’s a spreadsheet, please enjoy’ kind of way (we know that’s a niche joy), more as a way to be transparent on what it really costs to produce the scale of live events we do, and where that money goes.
It won’t have escaped you that there’s a state inflicted poverty war being waged, and so it could be argued we should be offering all our events for free. Problem with that is, we’d not survive long in a capitalist society, and competition for funding gets more fierce every year, so we need to earn income.
We are a not for profit social enterprise, which means any profits we make, go back into supporting the aims of our organisation, namely to create spaces where queer culture is celebrated, and our community has space to connect with one another. We believe in being transparent about our need to be sustainable aka, we’re in this for the long run.
So lets break this down.
You might be here as a community member trying to work out why our ticket prices seem high compared to other queer cultural offerings in South Yorkshire, or you might be working in the culture sector and here to magpie. Its all good. Read on for the inside goss. . .
Jason Andrew voguing at A Reyt Queer Do at Cast, Doncaster 2019.
Our smaller events, like A Reyt Queer Do, cost around £3000 – 4000. That’s just the bare bones. Half of this is on artist and crew fees and their expenses like travel. When we say ‘crew’ we also mean the freelancers who support with production and marketing. A huge amount of time and effort goes into producing our events in a way that is caring and accessible for the team we work with and our community. That prep work needs investment. As does good access. We are committed to ensuring our events are accessible, and we pay people fairly for their skills. Think BSL interpretation, captioning and all the time we put into communicating so that our community knows what access provisions are in place.
What that £3k does not cover are our overheads. Things like insurance, IT, staff wages (we’ve currently got one part time employee) and the associated costs of running a business, like taxes, professional fees and website maintenance. Fun eh?
It’s also important to note we don’t have a venue. So while that helps keeps overheads down, it does mean we spend more on hiring quality venues that are accessible. Some venues have been incredibly supportive in offering us free hire or discounted rates, but at the scale we work, venue and tech is still a significant cost, and Sheffield is not blessed with as many live performance venues as other large cities, so we have to be flexible on the spaces we use.
The Kingdom Come with Shesus and the Sisters at Abbeydale Picture House. 2019
So now we come to our larger events like The Kingdom Come, our drag king cabaret. Here, we spend more. Whereas A Reyt Queer Do is for an average audience size of 140 – 170, The Kingdom Come is designed for 300+ people to enjoy. Bigger event, bigger budget. So we’re looking at around £5 – £6k. Again half of this is on artist and crew fees. But even with a sell out, we are not breaking even, because the costs of access, overheads and staff time are not covered by our ticket sales.
Sigi Moonlight at The Kingdom Come. 2018
So WHY DO YOU BOTHER we hear you scream at your screen? That’s where funding comes in. When we embarked on this queer culture journey, we quickly worked out that to make this sustainable, our core team would need paying. Can’t pay rent on the feel good factor eh? We know enough of our DIY queer scene herstory to realise burn out is a real and present danger.
It should also be pointed out that in the drag and cabaret scene it is not uncommon for performers to be paid way under the industry rate, or not paid at all. We believe fiercely in the value of drag and cabaret as an art form that pushes boundaries and gives voice to those otherwise marginalised, and its also *the most * entertaining too. The artists making it deserve to be paid fairly! (Don’t get us wrong, DIY scenes run by a committed team and serious amounts of volunteered time are wonderful and have produced some amazing culture, but that has become increasingly challenging in this neoliberal climate we live in).
So in order to support staff wages, and freelancers, we apply for grant funding and generate income through other means, like our merch, commissions and bookable training and workshops which includes our Gender Awareness Training and Gender Exploration Workshop. This supports the rest of our programme delivery. But without the grant funding, we could not produce the programmes of creative activity like the live performance events and workshops that we do.
Through the pandemic we continued to offer creative activities online.
So why is it still sometimes £20 for a General Entry ticket if you’ve got grant funding?
With Arts Council, we have to have at least 30% match funding for a programme of activity. So if a programme costs £30,000, we need to demonstrate we have got £9k of other income. That could be in the form of other grant funding, commission fees or ticket sales. So ticket sales still make up a vital part of our income stream.
We also believe in the quality and uniqueness of our work. Compared to larger subsidised theatre, or the commercial drag sector, our tickets are still competitively priced. We are also unique in offering a clear and consistent Sliding Scale Ticket pricing system in place to support those on lower incomes to attend our events. We got this idea from Leeds Queer Film Fest and SQIFF, and this system has been in place for our events since 2017. It also enables us to give free tickets for refugees and people seeking asylum. Currently we do this though our friends at Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield.
Solidarity Tickets were our own invention, and they are a way for those who can afford to, to ‘pay it forward’ and contribute directly to our ticket fund. This is ring-fenced money that directly supports the provision of cheaper and free tickets at our events. If you can afford to, we very much encourage you to buy one of these tickets.
It’s also worth noting, that we have been successful in getting funding to support free programmes of activity, like Joyful Noise zine in 2021, and there’ll always be parts of our creative programmes of workshops and events that are free for people to access, like the current Feeling Fabulous follow on workshops this July.
Our Feeling Fabulous Workshops in June 2022 with Ghetto Fabulous – Image Emma Bentley Fox
Our current programme is our most ambitious to date, and A Reyt Queer Extravaganza at The Leadmill, is our biggest ever event, with 20+ artists performing, (compared to 5 – 7 at our usual cabaret events). We have also been working in partnership with Ghetto Fabulous to produce and programme this event, which has needed proper time and investment. So our budget is reflective of the scale and ambition.
We’re here to demonstrate the value of queer culture to our LGBTQ+ community and beyond, and implement best practice when it comes to accessibility and equity in our working models. We know this is the harder way, but the payoff in terms of wellbeing for our community and those we work with, is worth the investment.
So next time someone says ‘why are Andro and Eve’s tickets £X’, feel free to signpost them to this blog. We here, we’re queer, and making space for long term investment in our community. See you at the Extravganza on 30 July!
House of Blaque will be performing at A Reyt Queer Extravaganza on 30 July
On the 12th June we produced our first live cabaret event in 2.5 years at Sidney and Matilda with our 6th Reyt Queer Do. The night was full of great music, cake and stunning looks from both the acts and audience.
A Reyt Queer Do #6 at Sidney and Matilda. Supported using funding from Arts Council England.
Hosted by Sadie Sinner, with performances by cabaret star RhyssPieces and a host of Yorkshire talent including drag queen Ditzy O Darlin, poet Audrey Violet, singer Jordan Meriel, singer songwriter, Laura Hegarty and drag king Raymond Petty, the venue was filled with queer cheer. The audience did not disappoint, as they also brought the energy with singing, dancing and general enthusiasm.
Our raffle was back too, with 1st place winning a hamper of queer goodies and treats, and 2nd place winning a gift box from Beer Central. The proceedings went towards the Pay It Forward ticket fund, enabling us to provide those on low incomes and refugees with free or discounted tickets at future events.
RhyssPieces works the crowd at Sidney and Matilda
We would like to say a huge thank you to the crew and volunteers who helped us to run this event. Thank you to those who bought tickets to support the acts, and to those who bought raffle tickets. A huge thanks to all the performers for showcasing their talent, and to Sidney and Matilda for hosting us.
We’re even more geared up for A Reyt Queer Extravaganza, our collaboration with Ghetto Fabulous, supported by Barnsley Civic in July now!
Here are some more photos all taken by Sophie Okonkwo of our acts and audience….
Party Pals is a scheme designed to help solo partygoers meet new pals
We’ve listened to our community feedback (thank you to everyone who completed our most recent community survey) and have a new scheme designed to help make our in person events more accessible!
We realise that sometimes, you want to attend an event, but for whatever reason, you’re flying solo but you’d rather have some pals to meet! Thats where our new scheme Party Pals comes in!
Make some new pals via our Party Pals scheme!
You can get involved by simply completing our Access Form and asking to be part of the Party Pals scheme. Then you’ll need to arrive fairly soon after doors open on the night of the event, and we’ll invite you to join our dedicated Party Pals space so you have the chance to meet other folks. Our friendly volunteers will be on hand to make introductions.
Our newest event A Reyt Queer Do 6 will be our first roll out of this idea, so if you grab tickets for the event, you can complete the access form and get involved! We hope its the start of more connection for our community through our events.
Last week you may have seen the news that Theatre Deli Sheffield have been served notice to leave by their landlord. As Andro and Eve’s key partner organisation, this news also has a big impact on us. We wanted to provide some clarity on where we’re at.
Theatre Deli’s business model is based on ‘meanwhile use’ of buildings, meaning they get to occupy buildings for cheaper rates than commercial lets, but usually with a 30 day notice period to vacate. That’s why they will be gone from their current building on Eyre street by the start of January.
Although Theatre Deli plan to find new premises, this could take some time.
Use of Theatre Deli Sheffield formed part of our plans to come back to larger scale live events in 2022 (hello Reyt Queer Do!) so without use of their wonderful, accessible space, we are currently shifting those plans and seeing what alternatives there are. In the last 18 months we’ve loved delivering a whole range of online activity including workshops, panel events and craft socials, along with our zines, Joyful Noise and Centre, but we are also determined to be able to have a larger scale in person offer in the next year.
Online drag king workshops. July 2020
Sheffield has a long standing problem with provision of accessible, centrally located venues for culture and community activity. If many of the organisations, artists and festivals lose access to Theatre Deli Sheffield owing to those issues, even for a period of 6 months, this has a huge impact on the cultural landscape of the city.
Theatre Deli Sheffield has made its name by supporting emerging artists, platforming marginalised voices, and making space for communities not otherwise served in the city. We very much hope that new space is found for this treasured venue.
A Reyt Queer Do, Theatre Deli Sheffield. 2019
For us, they’ve been champions of the work of Andro and Eve since 2017, becoming our partner venue in 2018. We are indebted to the support of the whole team at Deli for making Andro and Eve feel so welcome, and supported. Support that included free venue hire, space for meetings, reviewing funding applications and morale boosting when times got tough.
We very much hope we can continue this partnership, and that Deli find a suitable venue to carve out space for many communities and artists in Sheffield. However, if there is one thing this pandemic has taught us, it is that we need to be flexible and adapt. So we’re currently reviewing other options for larger events in 2022 in order that we can return with a bang! This means extra work, so timescales will move. It means Andro & Eve needs more time to rejig funding applications.
Sveto Slava, Reyt Queer Do. Nov 20219
So why are we sharing this? Because we need your support. We are not out of this pandemic. Our business model of producing events and creative opportunities is still precarious, and while we have managed to curate and produce a whole range of activity throughout the last 18 months, we don’t have the resources of a more established organisation.
So if you can spare funds, we’re asking you to donate. You can do so via the button above. Or buy some of our queer merch! Those donations and sales will help cover our overheads (IT, insurance, licenses, wages, etc) while we apply for more funding to make 2022 a year packed full of joyful queer events. It takes a huge amount of energy to plan, prepare and submit those funding bids, but they are the most effective way to ensure we can return to live events and provide meaningful opportunities for artists and our wonderful community to celebrate queer culture.
As always, any support given is gratefully received and makes a real and vital difference. Because of you, we’re still here, still queer, still making space. And we’re determined to continue. We hope you enjoy the photos of past events at Theatre Deli Sheffield below!
Big love
Finn
The crowd at Reyt Queer Do 5, at Theatre Deli Sheffield. November 2019
We are sorry to say we will not be returning to host live, in – person events until Spring 2021 at the earliest. We have taken this decision in light of the ongoing situation with COVID-19 and the need to plan ahead as best we can.
As a queer – led social enterprise, which means we put people before profit, and care of the most vulnerable and marginalised at our heart, we cannot see a scenario in which we can bring properly safe and inclusive events to our community until next year. We know many of you, like us, are struggling with anxiety about returning to any sort of normal, and we recognise that we need to adapt.
We have spoken at length with our partner venues about the measures in place to maintain social distancing, and keep audiences and workers safe. Sadly, the capacities allowed in venues would in no way enable us to cover the costs of producing the events we have become known for. We also have the health and wellbeing of our artists, staff team and volunteers to consider. A Reyt Queer Do and The Kingdom Come are meant to be joyous and cosy events. We would rather wait and bring these events back when it feels much safer to do so. Right now, we couldn’t in good faith, host live events indoors when so many people are still shielding, or taking extra precautions to protect those around them.
The crowd at A Reyt Queer Do 3, no social distancing needed back in 2019.
Under lockdown we are proud to have continued to support queer artists, delivering a range of creative activity and developing talent in the North of England. It’s been been wonderful to see new and familiar faces at our online workshops. We will be applying for more funding to continue to adapt our offer during these challenging times.
We know this has been a tough time for so many. We plan both to continue to offer online and remote activity, and take time to develop the organisation. We may start hosting in person workshops in Spring 2021, but we also realise there are many unknowns.
We’ve got plenty plans in the pipeline and will share those with you as soon as we can. If you’d like to support our work you can do so by donating via our website. Your support ensures we can continue to support LGBTQ+ artists in these difficult times.
Our new zine, CENTRE, will be launching in October, so make sure you’ve signed up to our newsletter to be the first to get your hands on a copy and hear about a special online event to mark the occasion.
We can’t wait to return with a bang when it is safe to do so. Till then, we hope you can join us online soon.
‘I struggled to find a community that would really support me in my drag journey’
For years, I’ve been interested in becoming a drag king – partly because of my theatre degree and fascination with gender as performance – but I’ve struggled to find a community that would really support me in my drag journey. So, when I saw a poster advertising Andro and Eve’s Drag King Workshop in November 2019, I simply knew I had to sign up for it.
Drag king Louis Cyfer teaches some drag makeup skills
Before the big weekend, I was buzzing with anticipation, but there was also a fraction of performance anxiety, as the practical workshops, especially comedy and character development, sounded challenging. On the second day of skills workshops, brilliantly facilitated by Katherine and Natalie, I found myself literally crawling on the floor whilst performing my first ever comedy improvisation that made my audience laugh. This wasn’t just confidence-boosting, it really made me realise I could “do” things, if only I was brave enough to take the plunge.
Exploring gender as performance
The talent within our group is incredible. Some are charismatic performers, there are actors, singers, musicians and dancers, but everyone is warm and supportive. Our little community thrives on WhatsApp and some of us have met up at local events, such as Andro and Eve’s own Reyt Queer Do. The friendships forged at the workshop are proving an invaluable source of positive energy and inspiration during these strange times. I admit I can’t wait until I see the other Kings again on the other side of lockdown.
Katherine Warman, Andro & Eve creative producer leads a session in gender as performance.
Developing Tristan – my drag king alter-ego – brings me a lot of joy. He still hasn’t quite found himself but he started his own life on social media and I’m looking at developing more comedy material, especially bad poetry. I’m truly grateful to Andro and Eve for giving me the tools to this wonderful, creative outlet and helping me find my place within the queer arts community.
Maria.
Keep in touch
Sign up to our newsletter to keep up-to-date with our latest news, events and offers.
Donate
Your donation will be used to help us continue to support queer artists and culture. You can also donate through ko‑fi.com/androandeve
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNo, reject allPrivacy policy
