Review: Confessions of a Drag Queen
Posted in: Performance
By Tony Richardson - 27th November 2009
http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/22/article_8231.phpThursday 26 November 2009 at BATS Theatre, Wellington
The publicity for Confessions of Drag Queen cautions the performance "may contain traces of nuts"... not only is this a pun on creator/producer Ricky Beirao's Brazilian nut heritage, and what RuPaul describes as "your candy" but it's a triple entendre too. After seeing the show last night, I'm convinced Beirao's got some big balls to take a drag performance beyond the usual lip-syncing-look-at-me drag schlock and begin investigating what could turn into an engaging work to our community.
For 80 minutes Confessions time-travels through Ricky Beirao's 22 years. This story begins in Brazil, but rather than incorporating clichés like Carmen Miranda and Carnaval, Beirao takes us to the not-glam world of a non-English speaking queer kid at some Hutt Valley high school.
