Get ready to spill the tea (and maybe a mimosa!) with the fabulous Zoe Promiscuous and Stealia Jobs. We sat down with these stunning queens to chat about Norwich Theatre’s Pride musical drag brunch, their wild journeys into the world of drag, and why there might be singing a song from Wicked at the brunch!
Please tell us a little bit about yourselves.
Zoe: I’m a drag performer in Norwich. I’ve been doing drag for about 10 years now. I’m one of the old ladies in the city, and I’ve been exploring different ways to do drag throughout my career. Whether it’s lip syncing, live singing, or the performances I put on, I’ve been trying to find new ways to express myself. So, I’ve done a lot of brunch shows. I’ve done a lot of cabaret.
I’ve also written my own stuff that I’ve taken to the Edinburgh Fringe, things like that. So yeah, just using drag to explore different avenues of performance.
Stealia: And my name is Stealia Jobs. I’m also a drag queen. It’s my full-time job. I’ve been doing drag for over five years. So, I’m half Zoe’s age in both career and looks. I started during lockdown and began performing a year or so later; I’ve been all over the place since then. I’ve done several shows in East Anglia and further afield. I’m going to be performing in Poland, which is my country of birth, in August, which is amazing. I never thought that was going to happen.
How did you both get into drag initially?
Zoe: I think I was, I’ve always grown up as a creative person. When I used to get grounded, I’d have my crayons taken away, and my brothers would be sent to the PlayStation.
I used to live in Tenerife as a holiday rep. We used to sell a trip that included a drag show with dinner. And I went and watched it, and remember that being my first drag show, and being like, I could do this.
So, when I left that job, I came back and just started. I looked horrible for a really long time, but I threw myself headfirst into it and learned all the skills I could. I went overseas again and started properly in Gran Canaria where I took in things and took in different performances and built a repertoire, built who the character of Zoe is.
Stealia: Yeah, I’m almost similar minus all of the wonderful travelling and the living abroad. So, I was always a musical theatre kid. I was always in the performing arts, doing all the drama clubs and everything.
And over time, it felt like a strangely natural progression to being a drag artist. I found that whenever I did performance and musicals and stuff on stage, I was never given the roles that I wanted, because the roles I wanted were for female actors. And I was always drawn to the big flamboyant characters, the gender bending roles.
I thought, how can I put all of these performance elements and other stuff that I was interested in, like costume, makeup, all of that stuff, how could I put that together to potentially work towards a career in it?
What is the drag scene like here in Norwich?
Stealia: It’s very, it’s vast. It’s very diverse. It tends to happen every September when there’s new students, there’s new performers emerging. And it feels like Norwich is very, very rich in drag.
Zoe: We’ve got, as opposed to like other places, because other places would have a set style of what drag is. So, you go to Birmingham, and its very camp, and it’s very like old lady queens doing a similar thing. You go to London, and it’s all about people with human hair, wigs, lip syncing. But when you come to Norwich, we’ve got everything here, whether it’s drag kings, drag queens, drag things, or all different styles of performance art.
It’s very experimental, which we don’t have everywhere. Yeah, and I don’t think that Norwich gets the recognition it deserves for the queer drag side of stuff because a lot of us have to travel out to perform as much.
And when you’re creating your act and your drag and your character, what inspires you?
Zoe: I’ve got a bit of process. For a lot of the things I do, it’s kind of based on an extension of me. And I like to tell a lot of stories through drag.
And I use that to tell my own story. So, the show I took to the Edinburgh Fringe was a story about my life. And I do a lot of things that are political. I’ll do performances that can get a message to an audience member, but in a digestible way. So that can sometimes be quite powerful, but it can also be quite fun. But it’s like using that drag as like, to really get a message across.
And in terms of the looks that I wear for it, I will sometimes do something that’s quite stripped back, if it’s quite a powerful piece or quite over the top.
Stealia: I would say the same thing. It’s like, it all comes from the environment that we’re in. So sometimes you listen to a song, and you think of something stupid that you could do with it, or you can, like, you know, chop it and change it and make it really entertaining.
I think music is the biggest influence, whether that’s on your performance, your look or how you are. There’s also all the performers who came before us that you can watch and take inspiration from, adapting their parts to make them your own.
And how does your character form? Is your character you, or is that something that, as soon as you put your makeup on, you’ve transformed into someone else?
Zoe: It’s different for everybody. For myself, it’s an extension of me. Before, I would have thought it was a character. I was very 1920s showgirl kind of thing, whereas now I’ve grown a moustache and I’ve kind of used androgyny. It’s kind of become an over-exaggerated version of who I am inside. But for some people, it is a complete character, and they have a complete character switch.
Stealia: When I first started, I almost wanted to make sure that the drag and the real life were separate. But I think over time, as you do it more and you learn more from other performers, from yourself, from the audience, you sort of find a sweet spot where the two blend together.
You’re hosting our drag brunch this year at Norwich Theatre Royal and our restaurant, Prelude. What should we expect if we want to come along?
Zoe: Chaos. It’s the start of our day, and we’re in drag until 3am the next morning. So, we’re going to be in drag from 10 till 3, so we’re at that top energy level for the start of the day. And we would have been up since about 7, getting ready. So, we come into that brunch with absolute chaos in our veins.
But it’s a fun way to start the day, I think.
Stealia: Yeah, it is. It’s really lovely. Well, you get food, you get drink, and you get drag. Yeah. So, you get the Holy Trinity.
Zoe: The Holy Trinity, yeah. And it’s a musical-themed event, and we’re huge musical theatre nerds. So, there are a lot of musicals involved.
Talking about musicals, what is your favourite musical, if you had to pick?
Zoe: That’s a horrible question. I’ve got to pick one. Well, I am obsessed with Wicked, but I was obsessed before the movie. I do like Wicked, but I also like Rent. I love the music in Rent. I love the staging of it. Yeah, I think Rent and Wicked.
Stealia: Yeah, for me, Cabaret and Mamma Mia because it’s classic.
They are all good choices. Will we have little bits of that in the drag brunch?
Zoe: You’ll have bits of all four of us. Yeah. 100%.
And if you were having brunch with us, what’s your favourite item?
What would you order off the menu?
Zoe: Cocktails. Liquid breakfast. Mimosas. Yeah, we’re in corsets. We’re not having breakfast.
Stealia: Yeah, what a brilliant way to start a 16-hour day. Anything with eggs. I love eggs.
