If life's a drag, watch these queens
By Gabrielle Ang
If you’re looking for a new way to spice up your Saturday nights, show this RIOT some love as GABRIELLE ANG did.
MAKE IT RAIN! Drag performer Anna Stacia during a performance of Fabulous by Ashley Tisdale at the RIOT Drag Show in 2019. Photo by Gabrielle Ang.
If you’re looking for some filthy Saturday night entertainment, perhaps the RIOT Drag Show, hosted by local drag phenomenon Becca D’Bus, would be just the thing for you.
But what is RIOT? It’s witty, potty-mouthed and raunchy. It’s a monthly drag cabaret powered by energetic lip-syncs, a diverse line-up of drag performers and generous dollops of dirty humour.
If you’re looking to treat yourself to two hours of Singapore’s finest drag, seats are available at $35 each, and standing tickets at $25. If you’re lucky, you could score early bird tickets at $50 for two seats, or $15 for a single standing ticket.
Situated in the heart of Cuscaden Road at Orchard’s Hard Rock Cafe, RIOT turns the family restaurant into a roaring, glitzy shindig at 10pm. But book your tickets early, for this riot waits for no one!
However be warned, though, for it is what its name suggests. RIOT is not for the faint of heart or those who are easily offended.
In the words of drag queen HiaoHiao, 26, also known as April: “Singapore drag just has this flavour.” And RIOT certainly delivers. But who is Becca D’Bus and what makes her motley crew of queens so popular that they have sold out almost every single show?
FROM THE BACK OF THE BUS TO CENTRESTAGE: Host of the RIOT! Drag Show, Becca D’Bus, in 2020. Photo by Gabrielle Ang.
Firstly, whenever Becca, 42, saunters onto the stage, she is unmistakable. Six feet tall, with bold green lips, humongous flowers in her hair and eyes painted in rainbow-coloured oil slicks, Becca is Singapore’s poster girl for freakish, loud and unapologetic glamour.
“If you were expecting to see beautiful, gorgeous drag queens, well… the standard of beauty just goes down here,” Becca quips, to the sound of raucous laughter. “So, feel free to order more drinks! The more you drink… the prettier we look.”
The performers that enter the stage do not disappoint either. Dancers like Vanda Miss Joaquim and Zee, whose timely drops, splits and pirouettes on top of their charisma and showmanship have earned them wild applause from the crowd. On top of that, they are gorgeous as well-painted to perfection and dressed to the nines, they could have easily passed off as extremely glamorous women.
Others, like Mona Kee Kee and Becca herself opted for more comedic lip-syncs, with the latter lip-syncing to Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl with two packets of cheezels stuck onto her bare chest. It was truly an amusing sight to behold, and I couldn’t hold in my laughter, and neither could the rest of the audience.
“That was my favourite RIOT performance ever,” says Ashley Wong, 17, a polytechnic student who attends RIOT monthly. “It was very ingenious of Becca to do that. I’m not usually into drag, I can’t really differentiate between various queens and their performances, so having something to remember her by was awesome.”
Unlike other drag shows in Singapore, which mostly take place in gay bars at night, RIOT fully dedicates itself to making every show about its performers.
“In RIOT, Becca gives a space where a queen can have the full creative freedom to do their own show,” says HiaoHiao. “In club settings, drag performances are very short, since the DJ needs to blend the queens’ lip sync numbers into the main mix of the night. They’re usually done to hype up the crowd.”
By giving creative freedom to performers, RIOT enabled queens like Iliya Izzudin, 23, to direct their own segments with little to no restrictions on their creativity.
When it comes to Iliya’s alter-ego, Femme Fatale, the plucky drag queen lives up to her name. Known for performing dramatic lip syncs, every performance by Femme is marked by her “murder” of a male show partner to symbolise the character’s liberation from an abusive lover, or for the sake of comedy.
LADY DANGER: Femme Fatale in a March 2020 performance of Peacock by Katy Perry.
Photo by Gabrielle Ang.
“A reason why I do my performances in this specific manner is to imprint myself on the audience,” Iliya says. “That’s how I want people to remember me. There are many queens here who are very pretty, dancey queens. It’s hard to stand out from them in terms of beauty and dance. Instead, I use my background in theatre and storytelling to my advantage. Once you see these numbers, you just know that they’re from Femme Fatale.”
If you’re planning to go anytime soon, remember to partake enthusiastically; don’t be part of the audience that “would just sit and clap and eat when it’s done,” as Illiya describes.
On basic etiquette, HiaoHiao says: “Don’t touch the hair, ask if you want photos, give way to the queens in clubs and in toilets. Be nice, and give them plenty of drinks and cigarettes.”
Get your tickets on www.riotdragshow.com while stocks last!