OUTinPerth asked Amanda Monroe from ‘The Priscilla Experience’ ten questions that will give us an insight into what her show will entail.
Tell me about the most exciting outfit for ‘The Priscilla Experience’? Oh the most exciting outfit? Goodness gracious. This is one of the first drag shows where we take off our clothes, so there will be a long awaited strip scene and I think that’s the most exiting costume because you keep wondering what’s next!
Who is the biggest diva out of the girls? That would have to be the biggest one – Jessica. She’s probably the most demanding for attention, mainly because she’s just the largest, the largest talent. We like to say ‘a thousand pounds of dynamite’.
How have you found packing your drag to travel? It’s been a nightmare! We always skate the edge of the luggage limits and we’ve learned to live on what we sit on the plane in and a toothbrush, and all the rest is drag.
So you’ve had some interesting encounters at customs? There’s nothing quite like carrying on luggage that is pulled apart by Heathrow customs, which hold up one of your undergarments trying to work out if it’s a terrorist device. It’s terrifying! But not a terrorist device.
Which song should audiences most look forward to? When we do our shows there isn’t really a favourite sound, there’s a couple of classic songs but we tend to throw obscure sounds in there. People who have a musical theatre background will recognise the slaughter! I don’t know if you’re average person will actually recognise some of the obscure songs.
Describe The Priscilla Experience in three words? Too much fun!
How did Joan Rivers see your show? It’s the funniest story! We met her whilst we were doing our show in Edinburgh in a bar then we went to go and do our show at the West End, and as we were going into our dress rehearsal she was coming out. She said ‘oh my god you look so butch out of drag’. Then we went across to New York and were performing in New York and our publicist was also the publicist for Joan Rivers and invited us to her opening night; we went along and she saw us in the audience and asked us to come back after the show ‘stick around you two’. We went to her dressing room and apologised for stalking her and she said ‘well, you’d better stalk us in Australia, we’d like you to open for us!’ it was a delight. A true delight.
Where has been your favourite place to perform? Edinburgh is the most exciting place, Edinburgh fringe has 2000 acts and it’s like living in a Harry Potter novel. The crowds are so up for anything there, people are just walking up the street to try out a show and that’s a lovely thing about Perth is people can just grab a ticket and try something else and see if they like it.
Do you think Australian drag has a style of its own? I think it does. In America RuPaul personifies it. English drag is that Grand Dame Theatre model which has turned into a whole of bad singers doing karaoke and being foul mouthed towards the audience. Australian drag is a little bit self knowing and tends to be satirical. It is referred to as the bastard art that doesn’t really have a parent, it just sprung up. Australia in a way has led the push into drag, in terms of where it sits as long as people can hang on to that self-mockery, then we will go from strength to strength. There’s nothing more boring than a boy in a dress pretending to be Britney Spears, you know? People think that drag is just putting on a dress and miming songs, it’s a lot more.
The Fringe Festival this year is really heavy in drag content, how have you found competing with so many other drag shows? I wasn’t aware there was a lot of other drag shows! What it does is it shows the yearning for people to step out into true theatre and to get away from that concept of men throwing on a dress and miming a song in a gay club.
The Priscilla Experience will be showing at Fringeworld from Feb 13-17. Grab your tickets from the Fringeworld website or the Fringeworld box office.
Nadine Walker
