From the moment I was brought into the rehearsal room I saw the true camaraderie within this cast. The banter and jokes between the performers were consistent for a cast that lived together in a converted shipping container for two weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe. Even out of their costumes and dressed down for rehearsal, the exuberant characters they play in this show shone through. So as I talked to cast members over music that commanded them to ‘strike a pose’ and ‘serve’ – serve they certainly did!

The love of this show is more emphasised by the fact that the producers and director are not outsiders to the show – they are also performing

The Fringe was a great experience for this cast. Apart from living in close quarters which allowed for some bonding, it has given them the opportunity to share their talents with the wider world. As Helena (who plays Tobias in the show, a parody of a Public school boy) commented, “when you’re doing drag it can bring up really emotional things: you get strangers coming up to you afterwards and telling you that you’re all so beautiful, and they wish they had done that when they were younger.” The experience of the Fringe seems to have only made this cast stronger, and more interested in their drag.

While I was there they were rehearsing their final dance number. Without spoiling too much (because you really have to see the shapes being thrown there) there was clearly a lot of love in this dance. By this I don’t mean that it was sultry (although it was something along those lines); no, I mean that there was an immense amount of care put into this production. It was clear who each person was as they danced and posed, even in a group dance like the one that I was watching, there was a wonderful amount of craft in the characters on stage. The love of this show is more emphasised by the fact the producers and director are not outsiders to the show – they are also performing.

This show is simultaneously coherent and incoherent, and that’s part of the joy of it. Drag shows are by their nature a variety show, and there is no exception here. From the aforementioned public school boy (who performs spoken word), to more ‘traditional’ drag performances like lip sinking and I even heard mention of a lollipop lady routine, this show has a lot going on. Yet, you could imagine that a show with such wide intentions might become a bit disjointed, but I think the love put into this show prevents that. Each performer has crafted their character, and all that they do on stage.

This is the first dragtime show of the term and they aim to expand more over the rest of the year. Dragtime had its first show in 2016 and since then has made quite the mark on Cambridge drag. Helena stated that the reason she became involved in drag in Cambridge was because of watching Dragtime in her first year. This seems to be the way they are trying to get others involved. When I asked them about the perceived barriers to people getting involved in Drag, producer James (who is also Maria Von Snatch in the show) stated that they hope by having people come to the show they will see that there are all different types of makeup and costume, some more minimal than others. Director Nik mentioned that due to some bad drag experiences, he hopes that in Dragtime they are able to help others who are less confident with their make-up out.

There is something special happening in Dragtime, that we aren’t seeing enough of in the wider world of drag. They are open to anyone who wants to perform drag of any form, and they are not afraid of the weirdness that might bring – as Helena pointed out they even had an opera singing Christmas tree at the fringe (who has now unfortunately graduated). Drag is something that messes with the conceptions of gender and pokes fun at them. They are open to any form of drag, as James commented, “we are taking away those barriers that some people are so keen to keep in.” In this show they have genders playing other genders, one gender playing the same gender, and people of no gender playing people with no gender.

If you want to see something that is, to borrow from the lexicon of the youth of today, a bit ‘extra’ then this may be the show for you. They sort of subvert everything – even having a three-piece string quartet. It is bound to be weird, wonderful, funny and definitely enjoyable, so make some time for it this week.