I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Velma Celli: A Brief History of Drag as I walked into the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse. The staging was rather barren and unassuming, consisting only of a stool, a glass of water on a table, and a keyboard to its right. However, immediately the space was filled with the energy of the charismatic Velma Celli, whose sparkly dress was interesting enough to be a set design by itself.
The production began with Celli’s introducing themself through song. They took this as their opportunity to claim the entire theatre space as their own, by going out into the audience and singing to people directly. This included, but was not limited to, sitting next to men as they sang to them with a camp form of love, getting people to finish singing their song into the microphone and noticing the “lesbians in the back” who knew all the words to their song and were therefore referenced throughout the show. I was even lucky enough to be sung to directly. This interaction primed the audience to be welcomed into the performance, which was littered with call and response and invitations to sing along.
The title of the show, A Brief History of Drag, made me think that Celli would then proceed to tell us how the art form of drag had come to be. Surprisingly, the show was not that, and I’d say I left the show with little expansion on my factual knowledge of drag’s history – but for the performance Celli put on, I have no complaints about this. Instead, the show was an incredibly personal look into drag, where Celli used their own history as a drag performer to tell their story in a way to celebrate all of the people who have made drag what it is.
From a ballad of ‘It’s a Sin’, where Celli took a moment to discuss the impact of AIDS on queer culture and the drag scene to a collection of impersonations of women whose music has been loved by the queer community and drag performers, the performance was the perfect blend of remembrance and celebration – Celli was an expert in adjusting the emotional tone of the audience in this regard.
Towards the end of the show, two elderly men sat at the front of the audience (one of which Celli had put on designated “crotch watch” and told him to make her aware if she was accidentally flashing) made it known that they had been together for 50 years. This showed exactly what the atmosphere at Celli’s show was like – an unapologetic celebratory space where the audience felt just as involved as the performer. Celli turned a minimalistic space into one of glamour and flamboyance with absolutely excellent execution. The only bad part of this experience was the fact that we then had to leave the theatre and go back into the real world without Celli’s voice and camp performance style to follow us.
Rating: ★★★★★
Velma Celli: A Brief History of Drag is played at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse on April 4th, & is touring the U.K.
