Interviewed and written by LuLu Kehase
As Red Velvet brings her open-stage style cabaret to the city of Manchester, I caught up with the talented, charismatic queer burlesque artist and performer to talk about the show, her creative exploration, and her influences.
Living in Indiana, America, for a year abroad, Red spent most of her time in a gay bar, formed friendships with drag artists, and saw the welcoming attitude towards performing in the queer space. During this time, she describes being inspired by the drag artists, not just by their incredible stage presence but also in terms of their professionalism:
‘They taught me there are certain skills that you need to have… you need to be able to make a good outfit, do your makeup professionally’.
Yet, from chatting with her, it seems that she is most inspired by performers who prioritise the audience having a good time:
‘I’m not the most flexible person; I’m not the most formally trained person, but I do know how to make an audience connect with me and have fun’.
Red has moved back to Manchester and is currently in her last year of university. Although she loves living in this creative city where there is so much inspiration to draw from, she describes the move as a ‘double-edged sword’ as she knows how nerve-wracking it is to break into this space and is working to inspire new performers to be their ‘authentic, funny, sexy self’ in her cabaret, ‘A Housewarming with Red Velvet’.
‘Sometimes with performance, it feels like you have to be really polished and perfect before anyone will pay attention to you, so I just wanted to give a space to people who want to try something; it might fail, it might not work. I want them to realise how much talent they already have and want them to feel like the audience is ready to welcome them. I want them to have fun. It always comes back to having fun.’
Our chat concluded with us discussing the importance of the queer performance space:
‘It’s almost subconscious in a way; I don’t think I would ever do anything that wasn’t queer-focused because that’s who I am and that’s who my friends are. If you’re in a queer space, as I would see it, the freedom to come in and be like I don’t have to answer any questions […] In a way that is therapy for all of us’
We are currently living in a world in which the human rights, well-being, and bodily autonomy of transgender people are being disregarded. During her time in the States, Red revealed that seeing trans performers on stage having fun and being accepted by the audience highlighted the necessity of the queer space because:
‘What is the point of having your freedom if you don’t have space to enjoy it in’.
‘A Housewarming with Red Velvet’ will take place on the 3rd of December at the GRUB MCR, with applications closing on the 31st of October.
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