“A Napoleon Dynamite Magic Mike” – Meet Drag King Daisy Doris May
“I like to describe [our shows] like a ‘Napoleon Dynamite Magic Mike’ – weird but wonderful and a little bit sexy,” says Daisy Doris May, founder and creative director of UK-based drag king troupe Häus of Dons.
I first met Daisy over two years ago, after watching their first gig at iconic nightlife venue The Box in London’s Soho. It’s like a full-circle moment as we find ourselves back here two years later, gearing up for Daisy’s solo stand-up show: How To Flirt: The TED xxx Talk. “If you’d told me a few years ago that we’d be doing a show here, I would have laughed in your face and never believed you,” she says. Like many other people, I’d been to lots of drag queen shows before, but no kings, so I didn’t know what to expect. What unfolded was one of the most hilarious nights of my life: a show full of cabaret blurred with theatre, stand-up comedy and acrobatics; a spectacle from start to finish, with every audience member in the palm of the performers’ hands.
Nestled in the backstage dressing room at The Box, you’re surrounded by the essence of performers who’ve graced the stage before Daisy. Polaroids line the walls, accompanied by feathered hats and high-heeled glitzy shoes, creating a museum of memories for those who live and breathe performing – just like Daisy Doris May and the rest of the Häus of Dons crew.
“I’ve always loved creating characters,” says May while expertly painting on the goatee beard of their drag king character Steve Porters. “Steve is actually based on the boys I grew up with in Guildford.” Anyone else living in the UK at a similar time will likely have known a version of Steve: a young man who’s learning the ropes with women, gets it wrong sometimes, but deep down he’s a softie and an absolute Mummy’s boy. “If you meet Steve, you’ll see that he’s actually quite tender and insecure – he’s just trying to fit in,” May explains.
May is a storyteller with an imagination to create characters that resonate with audiences. The inspiration for Hans – their ‘German club kid’ persona – came while May was queueing to get into a supermarket during the pandemic. “I just thought, ‘This is really jokes, this is like a club queue scene,’” she says, laughing. “Hans was born to keep myself entertained, and maybe my closest friends at the time.” For May, embodying a character is like being transported into someone else’s world, “I find it electric, the adrenaline rush I get is nuts,” she says. “When you are out there and people are just wanting you to thrive on stage, it is the best feeling ever.”
Alongside their own passion for performing, May is fiercely dedicated to elevating drag king performances to the same level as drag queens, which led to the inception of Häus of Dons. The troupe boasts a diverse lineup of performers, each offering a wholly unique act. “Just like gender is a completely fluid spectrum, so is drag,” says May. There’s Frank the Drag King, who performs incredible flying acrobatics, Louis Cyfer the self-proclaimed ‘Westend Wanker’ and Mr Wesley Dykes, a cabaret hip-hop virtuoso, alongside others including Duncan Disorderly – Steve Porter’s DJing cousin. “Kings are so political and punk,” says May. “They are limitless.”
You can expect something different from every Häus of Dons show: with performers on rotation, May curates a high-tempo experience that will leave audience members belly laughing and eager for more. “I thought, ‘Let’s create a space where we don’t just platform [drag] kings, but we see how the kings interact with each other.’ It’s a hybrid of theatre and cabaret.”
May’s Häus of Dons horizons expanded after being introduced to ‘drag thing’ artists such as Wet Mess and Rhys’s Pieces – who don’t prescribe to being specifically drag ‘kings’ or ‘queens’. It pushed May to rethink the concept of being solely for kings: “It helped me realise I’m maybe limiting myself by saying we only represent drag kings, so it’s become a platform for all queer artists,” she says. May and the entire crew will continue to take their audiences on the most extraordinary journeys – for them, “This is only just the beginning.”
Find out more about Häus Of Dons and upcoming shows here
Daisy Doris May’s 5 Drag & Cabaret Artists To Know...
1. Frankie Sinatra – “My drag uncle and one of the pioneers of the drag king movement in the UK, also runs [London cabaret night] KINGS OF CLUBS.”
2. The Drag Syndrome collective – “A drag family like no other.”
3. Dr Wang Newton – “One of my favourite New York drag kings.”
4. Cocoa Butter Club cabaret collective – “Founder Sadie Sinner and producer Cassie Leon are constant inspirations and mentors. What they have built is like nothing else out there.”
5. Kings Of Kenya drag collective – “Curated by @majic.dyke – never seen live, but just obsessed from afar.”
Go Backstage With: Daisy Doris May...
Pia Brynteson is Content Editor at Service95
