Post-Drag Show Bares its Heart at CAVA
Review by Daniel Greenways
Written by and Starring: Gilbert Drapeau
Director: Olivier Laroche
Galerie CAVA (venue 37)
(Real) Runtime: 75 minutes
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars
Gilbert Drapeau’s show The Queen’s Last Night is perhaps one of the most personal exposés of this year’s Fringe. Drapeau, a social worker turned drag artist and comedian, has worn many masks since he took to the stage in 1997. However, the one he wears in this play is unique, and may take audiences by surprise. You see, The Queen’s Last Night is what one might creatively call post-drag. What does this mean? Isn’t it a drag show? Well, yes, but also no. In some ways, it signals a new beginning in Drapeau’s work, as he tries to break out of this mold.
The first reason we could use the word ‘post’ is literal. The play takes place after a drag show. This is the main plot element in the story. We meet Drapeau’s famous persona Lady T as she performs a rockstar entrance, lip-syncing to Tami Neilson’s rockabilly soul hit “You Were Mine.” Lady T then enters the main part of the stage – her dressing room – and announces to the audience that the show is over.
In reality, the real show has just begun.
Over the next hour, Drapeau slips off the character of Lady T piece by piece. First the hair, then the dress, then the makeup, until the last hint of her voice is like a quiet echo that faintly rings in between Drapeau’s stories. In this light, the play is really a deconstructed drag show; a play about the human being behind the character.
What we get is a remarkably sober array of stories about Drapeau’s own coming-of-age before drag and theatre. When asked later about what inspired the play, Drapeau said “my friends would make fun of my dating stories,” so he decided to put them together on stage. This is exactly what we get, but the product is surprisingly dark. The stories focus almost entirely on the sexual misadventures of someone who sees themselves as an outsider in the gay dating scene. From his childhood, through many fraught one-night-stands, Drapeau weaves a kind of tragic, heart-rending tapestry out of his sex life; a queer outsider bildungsroman told in large brush strokes. The effect is disarming. The stories are extremely personal, and none are particularly light, including subjects as dark as AIDS and rape. The most common theme is the word ‘unseen,’ which is how Drapeau chose to translate the French ‘deuxième’ (second). This second-place standpoint is the lens he gives the audience, hoping we will finally understand how lonely one can be when they are not seen by the world around them.
However, as much as Drapeau’s play demands from audiences, it gives a great deal in return. It is remarkably compassionate, especially when he turns to the crowd. Seeing the play up close, it was a touching and provocative confessional, with a great deal of honesty and heartache etched across Drapeau’s face throughout. His comic side was also present, and some of the most natural moments in the play were little ad-lib quips he would throw in as he felt the need.
The third and final way that The Queen’s Last Night was post-drag came to our attention (fittingly) after the show was over. Drapeau exited through the audience, past the little tin-light clipped to CAVA’s espresso machine, and made his grand exit… only to return a few moments later for a 15 minute Q&A session. This was perhaps the most amazing part of the evening, and felt almost fitting, as though Drapeau’s reverse metamorphosis was finally complete. In fact, there is something intentional about this. As he answered questions about the play and its title, he became emotional as he admitted that this may be his last drag performance for some time, and might mark the end of Lady T as his stage persona. His reason for this was quite interesting, noting that the world of drag had changed quite a bit since he began years ago. Drag has become a kind of industry and genre all of its own, which can be a double-edged sword. To him, true drag is a kind of rebel art that “confronts and perverts norms,” not one that conforms to them.
Agree or disagree with this sentiment, it clearly came from a place of love for this art-form, and an even more fundamental need to express himself honestly and without any limits. In effect, this is what The Queen’s Last Night basically did. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are interested in this kind of experiment, or want to see something really raw, or if you share his frustration about the dating world, you will find a very heartfelt and moving voice in this play.
The other thing worth mentioning is that Drapeau conceived the play in English, then developed it in French, then translated it manually back into English. I believe it is the only French-language play at this year’s Fringe, and deserves to be supported on these grounds alone. It plays in English on 21 August, and in French on the 22nd.
