MANCHESTER UNITED

Drag queens have a long history in gay culture. For many performers, drag is more than just dressing up. It’s an art form where the boundaries of gender identity are shattered.  Drag of course has been a hotbed lately thanks to various drag shows going mainstream. One place for me I'd loved to go would be to see and enjoy the Manchester drag scene...one of the hottest bed right now, with some of the most colorful queens and originality I've seen in years. For many who enjoy a boozy night in Manchester’s gay village, a good night can be vastly improved if you’re insulted by a drag queen. But Manchester wasn't always like that. Thanks to the likes of the legendary Foo Foo Lamarr, it started to be a place of creative drag,  for the Manchester’s drag performers who still felt underground, confined to Canal Street and early hours of the morning. Today the very best of Manchester’s drag queens frequent more public platforms – whether walking catwalks for Manchester International Festival to being shortlisted by Ru Paul, as UK ambassadors, like Divina De Campo for the internationally revered show Ru Paul’s Drag Race, or creating a totally wacky drag persona like Juno Birch. While New York pioneered drag culture, Manchester is now becoming the undisputed UK’s epicentre for all the spectacular costumes, gender-warping makeup transformations, outlandish cabaret, lewd lip-sync performance and of course, fabulous shade, lots of shade, and breaking barriers to traditional drag...and I'm here for it. If anyone gets a chance to get to Manchester, these are the queens I recommend you should be looking  to seek out for a show.

A few things you should know about the illustrious Cheddar Gorgeous: Cheddar has a masters degree in anthropology, is a writer, idealist, superhero, alien and occasional unicorn. At the helm of salacious underground club night Cha Cha Boudoir, Cheddar Gorgeous is thoroughly committed to the drag arts – after all, this is a queen who wore platform heels, a corset and a cape to ski in the French Alps. A key member of drag collective Family Gorgeous, Cheddar is a polished and accomplished performance artist helping to redefine traditional ideas of drag.

Anna Phylactic, like the shock, only less tragic   Anna is a worldly drag performer whose piercing eyes and toothy grin have been immortalized in an incredible mural on The Molly House pub alongside other Manchester icons in the LBTQ community (including the late and infamous drag queen Foo Foo Lammar). Another sister from ‘Family Gorgeous’, Anna Phylactic's ‘shock in a frock’ style draws from a multitude of inspirations, from 80s club kids, Leigh Bowery, Elizabethan costume and Alice in Wonderland.

Liquorice Black: lithe as Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jake Skellington, while as pale and sensual as Morticia Addams. The ‘black and white sheep’ of drag Family Gorgeous and good drag sister to Juno Birch, Liquorice Black is permanently set to monochrome, which I adore!!!!!. A seven foot tall gazelle, Liquorice Black wears the hell out of a gown and a fascinator.

Make America Gay Again!’ - a Donna Trump manifesto. While the actual American president continues to cause friction in the West, Manchester’s Donna Trumpuk mixes political undertones with glamorous overtones and specializes in marvelous camp cabaret, hilarious skits and often dresses up like another Donald, the Duck.

Lill! While only a lil' in the drag scene, Lill is a known rebel in Manchester. She loves Courtney Love , Divine and Queen Elizabeth the 1st, so she just loves any bad girls really and with bad taste. Whether cinched in at the waist and stuffed in the bra as Barberella or dressed as a sexy bottle of Fairy Liquid, Lill excels as a chameleon makeup artist.

Te-Te Bang

I'm am sooooo here for this bitch!!! TeTe Bang is a UK female drag queen who never fitted into the box of what a lesbian was 'supposed to be'. The people she had the most common interests with were gay men. So, she didn't fit into the box of what a lesbian was supposed to be, but she wasn't the right gender to be in the club. She felt very lost for a long time, until finally she felt comfortable with herself when she was given a home in the London queer community. She decided to become her own role model and give a voice to those people who are floating around the in-between, to the courageous and inspiring queer women we too quickly chose to forget. Her drag acts are very entertaining.

Oozing with vintage glamour, Miss Blair is a blonde bombshell who knows how to put on a stellar cabaret show, she's been here to New Hope once...and what a show!!! With unrivalled lip-sync ability and an enviable closet full of coiffed wigs, Miss Blair fulfils any 1940's housewife fantasy.

Sometimes a feminine ‘fishy’ queen while other times a raving ‘tranimal’, professional gender bender Violent Blonde is a firm fixture on the Manchester drag scene. Part of the Family Gorgeous, Violent Blonde can be found lip syncing at Cha Cha Boudoir club nights. Creator of the Instagram hashtag #ManchesterQueens, Violet is an all-time favorite in Manchester.

So who is ready to go to Manchester with me and see some amazing queens when this virus is over???