A Drag Is Born
Physical transformation might be the ultimate in ‘show, don’t tell’. The power of speech is replaced with the universality of body language. The transition between the inner and outer self is dialogically framed to arrive at a shared understanding with the audience. This is powerfully projected by writer and performer Edu Díaz as he transforms from an everyday bloke into the queen of the carnival.
A Drag Is Born starts with deliberate uncertainty. The show has begun but by whom? The audience look to themselves: who is in charge here? Eventually, after some non-verbal encouragement from the audience, an unassuming figure cut by this version of Díaz takes to the floor. It soon becomes clear that each nod, each smile, each gesture from each member of the audience will act as the driver of the show. Díaz feeds on it like wholesome food: layer by layer pealed away to reveal the core, the true self. But every step forward is accompanied by a hesitant half-step backwards. Too far? Too fast? Too flamboyant? This doubt, when manifested, is an accelerator of inwardly directed energy where Díaz is no longer looking at you but listening to his own omnipresent inner doubt, amplified. Years of people talking behind his back. Years of cold stares within his peripheral vision. Years of retreating into what society deems an acceptable version but which clearly suffocates him in its very ordinariness. This doubt is entirely rational. Díaz suffered a homophobic attack and A Drag Is Born is his response: a beautiful antidote to the current wave of intolerance that is rising across Scotland and the wider UK. Forget what you have seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Park your thoughts on lip-synching. Check your response to peer pressure. Find your true self.
It is testament to Díaz’s performance skills that he is able to take a topic with a certain atomic weight and present it as if it were the lightest of meringues…all delicately delivered with a questioning smile. Finally, Díaz picks up a box filled with energy. Inside is transformation: a struggle which never ends.
A Drag Is Born continues its run at Playground 2 at ZOO until 24th August.