Are you a budding drag talent?

Alyssa’s Search for a Star returns Sunday, November 4. The drag contest had its first instalment this July and after an incredible sell-out debut, the Bristol-based queen is back with a fresh set of performers ready to impress audiences with a dazzling array of skills.

Alyssas Search for a Star invites first-time drag performers to an exciting competition

Alyssa van Delle and her team are currently looking for new performers to join the bill and be in with a chance of establishing themselves in the growing Bristol drag circuit. The winner of the night’s contest will also claim a slot at March 2019’s Category Is… cabaret show at Old Market Assembly.

The contest is open to drag queens and kings who sing, dance, tell jokes, do acrobatics – anything that promises to entertain the crowds.

Alyssa sat down with Bristol24/7 to give her top tips to any would-be competitors.

Don’t focus on the face, focus on the act

“Face is important but not as important as the show you’re going to deliver,” Alyssa says. Drag is not just painting your face it’s about entertaining. “I try to model myself on being like Cilla Black. She was a born entertainer and always focused on the audiences she was in front of,” Alyssa adds.

Choose a name carefully

Alyssa chose her first name because of Alyssa Edwards (who, for those that don’t know, is an American drag superstar with her own Netflix show called Dancing Queen). “I’ve been lucky enough to work with, and get to know, Ms Edwards. And I’m glad I chose my name because I admire her a lot,” Alyssa adds. “But the van Delle bit? That was a mistake! When I started out my name was Sandra from Stockwood. I wasn’t the Italian character I perform now.”

Think about how to be memorable

Before she was performing as Alyssa van Delle, she performed as Sandra from Stockwood. “Sandra shopped in Asda, Bedminster, was married to a man called Barry and used to go for drinks in beer gardens with her kids chained to the table legs,” Alyssa recalls. “It is important to think outside the box”, Alyssa says, “and looking back, Sandra wasn’t me.”

Don’t do something because you’ve seen someone else do it, she says – the most important thing is to find a drag only you can do.

“If you’re political – do something political,” she adds. “I saw Cherry Liquor do a Margaret Thatcher-inspired rendition of Milkshake by Kelis. That was really original.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXD3WAwj0y_/?hl=en&taken-by=thecherryliquor

Find a niche

“I was brought up in the Sicilian culture – I want to embody my nonnas and my aunties because they’re a hoot. I took the best of them and I put it into an Italian character. And now, I’m doing Dolce & Gabbana’s after party. It’s crazy.” Alyssa got some helpful advice at a competition in London when she says, she was just a pastiche of other references. “You have to do something you really understand because you have to improvise on stage and you can only do that if you really get the person you’re depicting.”

Don’t underestimate the time and money it takes

“Drag can be done cheaply,” Alyssa nods, “but you need to be clever, artistic and have lots of time on your hands to make it work.” Learn to stone and embellish outfits by hand to save on tailor’s fees.

But can you get things from a charity shop? “You can, but I wouldn’t advise it. Alyssa doesn’t have the waistline in the right place for that and so needs to have things constructed properly.”

Prepare for the good and the bad

Alyssa says her worst ever gig was at OMG Bar. “After that night, they never wanted me back. It was during the freak bout of snowstorms in March. The taxi driver dropped me at Temple Meads and left me to run to Frogmore Street. When I arrived, there was a crowd of two and no atmosphere.” Alyssa also warns that it is important to learn to read an audience. “I can make very different jokes to a crowd in Swansea to a crowd in Bristol. If you want to work, it is important to work out what your audience’s limits are,” Alyssa says.

With those tips in mind, get applying to Alyssa’s Search for a Star by emailing: categoryisbristol@gmail.com.

Tickets are £3 on the door and all proceeds will be donated to Brigstowe Charity – a vital Bristol-based charity that supports people with HIV.

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