My Soho Times’ editor-in-chief, Kai Lutterodt aka The Soho Girl, unfolds A Day in the Life of London’s Leading Drag King Artist Adam All.
How do you usually start your day?
I wasn’t really a morning person, working late nights will do that for you, but in the lockdown we got two kittens. They tend to kick off the day pretty promptly at 6am most mornings. So before I can do anything I’m normally feeding the cats.
But my wife and I like a morning so we grab it with both hands: coffee, a healthy breakfast – usually hot rice or hash browns – and a longish walk give us a decent kick start. After that we like to get organised, catch up on admin, make a schedule if necessary, plan ahead. Might squeeze in some more focussed exercise and a nice hot bath.
Tell us about your afternoon? Sit-down lunch or coffee on the go?
Lunch is vital. I love a lunch. I might go out if it’s nice, maybe tie it in with picking up makeup supplies or costume additions, but for sure I have to have a good lunch. We both enjoy cooking so we might push it out and have something inventive, if you don’t have the evening meal this is the best replacement. Afternoons usually begin with intense rehearsal, recapping, tightening up, warming up bodies and voices, stepping through routines. If there are meetings or interviews these need to be done by 4pm latest so I can get focussed.
By evening, how long does it take you to get ready? Do you have a ritual for putting on ‘your drag king face?’
By 4pm I’m ready to get into face, and I like to settle down, get some music on, maybe I’ll have a glass of wine and take my time. I’ll start with my hair: wash, blow dry, style and spray. Then it’s my face: foundation, contour and spray to fix. Then my body: strapping or tape, if I need to paint my chest, now’s the time, it’ll need multiple fixing spray layers to stop it rubbing off en route, in the heatwave it was almost impossible to get to gigs in one piece! Then it’s the eyebrows, which take considerable focus. I’ll leave the facial hair for the dressing room at the venue. This process is vital for getting into character and pulling up energy levels ready for a performance. I’ll need to pack my suitcase, make sure I’ve got everything, double check my music is sent and I have backups and then check my route again to be sure there are no last minute travel hiccups. Sometimes I’m picked up in a car, that makes things a lot simpler (and much more decadent, darling!) Depending on the time of the show/s I’m normally out the door around 6 and not home again before midnight.
“I want to see Kings achieving as much as Queens. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do and right now my energy is focussed on making that happen.”
Adam All
Your fave shows so far?
I’ve done some really great gigs over the years; my TedX performance at the Piccadilly Theatre was a mile-stone for me because I got to talk to a much broader audience about the importance of Drag Kings and my journey into performance as a non-binary person. I always love a Pride, big and small, they mean a lot to me but last year the main stage at World Pride in Copenhagen had a fantastic atmosphere. I felt like an absolute rock star! But the best gig for me has to be our very own BOiBOX Drag King Cabaret. This September we celebrated nine years, that’s 124 all Drag King shows, showcasing 173 individual Kings at our last count. When I started out, that kind of presence in the cabaret world for Kings was literally unthinkable, it’s truly amazing to see how far we’ve come.
What’s your connection to Soho?
Soho has always been calling, ever since I came out at 14. As soon as I was old enough I took myself to Candy Bar, an iconic lesbian bar; it even had it’s own TV series, although long gone now, it was a mecca for queer women. It was one of the first places I took a residency in London, first with karaoke and then we launched BOiBOX there and we’ve kept ourselves in Soho, one way or another ever since, despite multiple venue closures and event evolutions. Soho has changed a great deal over these past 10 years or so, we’ve managed to change with the times but it’s not been easy.
Why Drag? And why a Drag King?
I feel now, although I would have adamantly denied it when I was young, that I’ve always been drawn to the stage. But as a very obviously queer, visibly androgenous person there never seemed to be a role for me or a light under which I could shine. Until I found Drag Kings. I say I found them but in reality there were none in the town I grew up in, nor in the surrounding towns and cities: Southampton, Portsmouth, Andover, Bournemouth, none as far as the eye could see. Somehow I felt that I could help change that, I could inspire the change I wanted to see. That’s been my quest all along and I’m still going.
I really believe that Drag Kings have a lot to say, that performing, dismantling, reclaiming gender as performance says a lot about the world we live in, the systems in which we’re all restricted to. I think it’s high time we talked about masculinity both for its negative and positive traits, especially masculinity belonging to non-men. That’s part of what Drag Kings do; fight the patriarchy and bring about positive change. I love my job!
How do you end your night? What time do you get to bed?
Normally I would roll in around 12/1am ish, sometimes later. I’ll stop and take my face off, maybe a small night-cap if I’m feeling it. I’ll try not to get the cats excited though, they like to show off a bit when I get in, zoomies and treat demands dominate the slow down routine. Then I might nod off to a nature documentary – doesn’t David Attenborough have the most relaxing voice?
Spread the love – name drop some other Drag Kings we should check out and why?
You should definitely check out my brother-at-arms, LoUis CYfer who is returning to the West End for the sequel of Death Drop the ‘Dragatha Christie’ musical very soon; he’s a supreme talent. Sigi Moonlight is another must see, he’s super creative and hilarious, he’s also working with The Bitten Peach, a pan-Asian queer performance collective who are smashing it all over town. Up in Scotland the Kings are rising; you should check out Dorian T. Fisk who’s not only super talented himself but is also putting on great workshops and platforms for upcoming Kings too. My first ever Drag Son Romeo De La Cruz is a super-king, and over lockdown he began a project called Through Melan-Eyes, showcasing talent from QTPOC across the performance world. Also if you haven’t had the pleasure already, grab yourself a helping of Oedipussi Rex, Drag Barbarian – their totally unique style of Drag is buckets of fun and full of impressive surprises. But honestly there are hundreds of spectacular Kings out there, many of whom are dedicated to raising platforms for all of us, so once you get started there’s no turning back.
What’s next for you as a Drag King?
Onwards and upwards, I’ve got lots of plans and none of them involve slowing down. I want to see Kings achieving as much as Queens, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do and I know my energy is focussed on making that happen.
Anything else to add?…
Being a self-employed, full time performance artist in London is no walk in the park, and being a Drag King in what is predominantly a Queens world is even harder. There are late nights spent desperately stitching poppers onto shirts, ironing suits, building props, hours if not days pouring over lyrics and scripts, dodgy late night trains, cramped changing rooms, faulty tech and painful costumes. There are shows when you know you’ve got ’em by the balls, and others where you can’t cut through the noise, times when you feel you could headline but end up the filler, but in the end it’s a dream life if you can only make it work. Each new door I kick down makes me feel like we’re getting somewhere. Even though the road is long and it often feels like it’s not worth the blood sweat and tears, when I look back I can see we’ve come further than I’d ever imagined. There are no limits.
For Adam All & BOiBOX Drag King Cabaret upcoming show dates visit: www.adamall.co.uk | @adamall_drag
Written by Kai Lutterodt @the.soho.girl | Photography by Emma Bailey
Check out the latest issue of My Soho Times magazine!
This article was originally published in the Autumn ’22 issue of My Soho Times magazine. CLICK HERE to read it online, or CLICK HERE to buy your print copy!
Share your thoughts in the comment box below!
Written by Kai Lutterodt | IG: @the.soho.girl
Read More From the Autumn issue of My Soho Times
Get social – follow and tag us! @mysohotimes #MySohoTimes
Sign up to receive the latest issue of our magazine – straight to your inbox!
Plus, we’ll share the latest news, events, and discounts from our partners in and around Soho in a MONTHLY newsletter… Ready to join the club?
MY SOHO TIMES 