The critically acclaimed drag cabaret Drag-Súgur will be celebrating it’s two years anniversary with a anniversary roast tonight and a show on November 24th – at Gaukurinn, where else? Atli Freyr Demantur is the new event manager for the group and he told us all about what to expect on this special night.
“Many exceptional acts have been born in these two years,” says Atli. “And in stead of doing a theme show for our anniversary we decided to make it a kind of “Best off” show from these years, but of course there will be new acts as well, mixed with the acts that audiences have love the most in our shows. Most important for us is though to come together and celebrate this milestone by having fun and being together.”
Will the show be in the same spirit as previous shows then?
“What will be different in this show is that it will be held on two different occasions. Wednesday November 22nd there will also be a “Anniversary Roast” at Gaukurinn, where the emphasis is on stand up acts and I can assure you that these people hold nothing sacred and will be quite ruthless in their roasting!”
“… in stead of doing a theme show for our anniversary we decided to make it a kind of “Best off” show from these years, but of course there will be new acts as well.”
When they were starting out the Drag-Súgur group was mostly about showing drag acts but they have developed in all kinds of directions; acting in music videos, doing shows with other artists and even offering to drive voters to the elections polls in recent elections for Parliament, have they not become more of an Arts collective group than a drag group by now?
“From the start the idea behind Drag-Súgur was that it should be more than “just” a drag show,” Atli says. “We wanted to be more like a Queer Cabaret with emphasis on drag. In our mind Drag-Súgur has been an Art collective from the start. We cover a really broad spectrum and the individuals in the group are extremely different, do different acts, have a different sense of humour etc. We have put on shows once or twice a month for those two years and there are new artists joining us all the
time.”
How many members are in the group now and do you still have fun all the time?
“Now there are 30 members in the group and 20 of them are active drag performers so you see that we have come a long way since we started. And, yes, we are spreading, so to speak, by performing in videos, performing on Iceland Airwaves and showing our acts on all kinds of other events that are nor organised by us. And, yes, we definitely have loads of fun within the group.”
“In our mind Drag-Súgur has been an Art collective from the start.”
You are relatively new as the event manager of the group, what does that entail for you and were are you planning on taking the group in the future?
“We are experiencing a kind of watershed with the group and there are many – and great – changes taking place,” Atli explains. “We elected a new board last August and as a part of that I was chosen to be event manager. I’m really excited about this job and this is of course a hugely thrilling and demanding task. Our plan is to work really hard in taking Drag-Súgur to the next level and revolutionise the cultural life in Iceland. The future is bright and I’m looking forward to see where the next two years will take us.”
The anniversary show at Gaukurinn starts at 9 o’clock on November 24 and the house will be open from 8 o’clock.
Photos: Inga Sör