Before you read further...STOP...watch the video. Seriously, WATCH THE VIDEO.
Done? Well, you just got introduced to drag kings. And the one who shimmies and shakes like Shammi is Puja Sarup, award-winning actor/director who studied clowning in Florence in Italy. Puja is touted as one of the funniest and talented performers of this gen. She had earlier won the best actress META award for her perfomance in Rajat Kapoor's Hamlet The Clown Prince. And if there's just one show that you have time for during this week, then go watch TAPE aka The Gentlemen's Club (There's an interesting reason why it is called Tape. Keep reading) performed by Puja Sarup, Sheena Khalid, Rachel D'souza, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Mukti Mohan. It is a wonderful comedy of surreal worlds and make-believe identitites.
Before we go into the details of TAPE..., lemme tell you a wee-bit more about drag kings.
Drag queens -- male performers who dress up as women -- are literally dime a dozen around the world. But one doesn't hear much about drag kings, though they have been around for much longer than we think. These are female performers who don the masculine drag to give gender stereotypes a piece of their intelligent mind. Nine out of ten times they take the male gender stereotypes to the laundry and back during the course of the performance which include dancing, singing, stand-up comedy and so on...
The first popular male impersonator was American Annie Hindle who used to perform in New York in 1860. In 1886 she married her dresser, Annie Ryan. Vesta Tilley, a British music hall performer was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a drag king. During World War I, Tilley teamed up with her husband who wrote patriotic songs for her to perform as "Tommy," to recruit people to join the military. This effort got both of them knighted. (Source: Huffpost) While we are at it let's get this one straight --- Drag kings are not transgenders (though, transgenders and others from the LGBT community are known to perform as drag kings). They are just...mind blowing performers.
Now, coming to TAPE aka The Gentlemen's Club...it is set in the thriving underground club scene in Mumbai. It follows the lives of various drag kings who perform in the city. The main act is that of Rocky aka Shammsher. Rocky pays homage to Shammi Kapoor and that golden era of Hindi cinema. Joined by a motley crew of women who revel in drag performance this cabaret like show takes the audience into a grimy secret world that gives you the license to be whoever you want. Using dance, music and projection, the show weaves an exciting and provocative tale of women and their celebration of masculinity.
The 70-minute show is devised by by Puja Sarup, Sheena Khalid, Rachel D’souza and Vikram Phukan. It has been winning audiences over in Mumbai and is being brought to Bangalore by Sandbox Collective -- a Bangalore-based arts collective that has, over a period of two and half years, curated, created and produced 300 shows and festivals. Their aim: to make the arts an integral part of our lives. And rightly so!
PS: It is imperative that Drag Kings look like men. And one of the singular impediment to this task is...well...their breasts. So Drag Kings usually tape their breasts to make it look as flat-chested as a man....hence the name of the show...TAPE aka The Gentleman's Club
EVENT INFO:
TAPE aka The Gentlemen's Club
26th May 2016 | 8.30
The Humming Tree
28th May 2016 | 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm
Ranga Shankara
29th May 2016 | 7 pm
Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan
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