The course is now sold out, with half the places taken up by girls. It includes sessions on creating a persona, makeup, performance and the history of drag artists going back to the Stonewall riots. The youth theatre, supported by the community platform Big Burns Supper, offers summer courses in comedy, dance and costume design as well as the drag school for those aged 11 to 18. Both grew up in the town, are trainee producers at the theatre and want to create opportunities for young people living in rural areas like the south of Scotland. Gender is a performance, after all.”ĭoidge, 23, has devised the five-day course along with King Dalby, 22, as part of Dumfries Youth Theatre’s summer programme. It’s an exploration of – especially for young people at the upper end of high school, when your life is just beginning and you’re thinking about who want to be.
“Drag isn’t limited to men dressed as women … and this course opens it out to anyone who wants to try it. “Y ou can use drag to explore anything you want to,” says Natalie Doidge, the organiser of what is thought to be Scotland’s first “drag school” for teenagers, which opens its doors later this month after facing down controversy.