Features / Drag
How to prove yourself as a female drag queen
“I’ve just always had that flamboyant, kind of exhibitionist side of myself as well as having this side of myself that’s a lot more reserved,” begins Sid in BBC3’s Saved By Drag.
It’s the more reserved side of the Bristol performance artist that meets for a coffee in Friska in the Harbourside on a recent Thursday morning.
Sid, who grew up in Bristol and has recently returned after graduating from university in London, performs full time as drag queen Delirium.
is needed now More than ever
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx1u086JjD1/
Last year Sid featured on the BBC3 series Sex Map of Britain, telling viewers her life journey and how she got involved in the drag scene. Today, she chats about her drag experience and aims for the future.
“I did it as a one-off about three years ago, but I’ve only seriously performed since last year,” she says. “I was living in London and was the photographer at Not Another Drag Competition, but one night my friends got me drunk and I actually entered myself.
“Then I took part in Drag Idol (the UK’s biggest drag talent competition) and got through to the semi-finals. I moved back to Bristol and started putting everything into it.”
Sid uses drag to work through traumatic past experiences and admits that she was “completely different before drag”, saying: “I was not confident at all but, slowly, I learnt not to be scared.”
For many drag queens, performance is an opportunity to work through anxieties and experiment with identities.
As a female performing as a drag queen, Sid is in the minority, with most prominent drag queens being cisgender men.
“I think female drag queens get a bad rap, we have to try a lot harder to be seen as legit,” Sid explains.
However, she is quick to highlight the inclusivity and friendliness of Bristol’s queer scene: “We help each other out. There’s great people out there.”
The city has a thriving scene, including drag kings Brizzle Boiz, regular LGBTQ+ nights at the Old Market Assembly and drag queen brunches.
Sid recently started Slaughterhaus with other local drag performers. Running an alternative drag night each month at the Queenshillling, she hopes that more female drag queens will apply for the evening’s open mic session.
“I want to use my platform to help baby queens,” she says. “So many cis white males apply to Slaughterhaus’ open mic. The problem is other people don’t feel like they have permission to come forward, but there are really really great people out there.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxhG8EsH99r/
Sid hopes to continue making work that she is proud of and channel further intersectionality into her performance.
Delirium’s act will also have darker elements inspired by Sid’s traumatic domestic abuse experience: “I performed it in London and people really connected with it. People were crying. I was really proud to have created work that people connected with.”
Through Delirium, Sid has been able to grow in confidence, improve her skills as a performer and work through trauma. She assures, however, that it’s not having fun is still just as important.
“I mean, one of my favourite acts is one where I have all these massive, inflatable penises! My gran blocked me on Facebook – she hates it.”
But Sid isn’t performing as Delirium for other people. She is doing it for her own happiness. “Through drag, I proved something to myself. As Delirium, I’m making work that I’m truly proud of.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvbmaOAB7ux/
Main photo by Shelby Alexander
Read more: Here come the boiz
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
