There’s a certain kind of Drag on the UK that doesn’t involve death drops and pole dancing. Instead, it falls within the pantomime, vaudeville theatre and cabaret tradition: think singing the songs from A Chorus Line, rather than lip syncing to Lady Gaga.
Lee Cooper ‘s warm and low-key film offers the exemplar of this tradition, one Maisie Trollette, whose real name was David Raven. Raven, who started out in a double act , continued to perform into his eighties, when most would have ditched the sequins and lashes and retired. Not Maisie.
Essentially a puling back of the velvet curtain to show the real life of a “Drag artiste” – never queen- Cooper follows Raven and best friends Miss Jason and Dave Lynn as he performs in Brighton, meets the world’s oldest drag queen Darcelle XV (Walter Cole) and potters around his flat.
It’s the flipside to the seemingly effortless onstage glamour, which shows the frustration of enduring old age’s aches and pains, while keeping a career going after fifty years, thanks to the support of a loving and supportive queer community.
The scenes with Cole contrast the very different approaches the two take to their respective forms of Drag: Raven simply slaps on the slap; whereas Cole wears glittering tape eyebrows and is more polished, almost regal in his look.There is a certain rivalry, but it’s (mostly) good natured.
Cooper never soft-soaps the trials of this ageing performer, creating an intimate and touching portrait of an indefatigable man with a lot of heart and humour – even when his wigs are packed upside down.
Sadly, we lost Raven last month, so this film has an added poignancy now, and remains a beautiful chronicle of old school Drag and its well deserved place in the spotlight. Raven was a true pioneer and will forever be “the queen of Brighton” .
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