Feast Festival is in full flight and there is plenty to see and do to celebrate Adelaide’s LGBTQIA+ Arts and Cultural Festival from 1-22 November.

One such exciting offering on the Feast menu is Drag Kings and Things at It’s a King Thing, playing one night only, on 14 November at 6.30pm at The Wakefield Hotel.

Showcasing some of the best Kings and Things from Adelaide and afar, the show is a celebration of a growing – but historically underrepresented – corner of the drag world.

Creating much needed (and wanted!) space for performers and audiences to explore masculinity, gender expression and drag in all its forms, It’s a King Thing includes local and once-local established, awarded and celebrated drag kings and things like Dorian Courtisan, Loveit Murray and Dragon Yutahell.

Also on stage will be 17 local aspiring and emerging performers who have been selected to participate in a pay-what-you-can workshop prior to the event and then invited to step into the spotlight themselves.

After the show, the festivities will continue long into the evening with a dance party led by DJ Scott Balls, bringing together drag bros, siblings, friends and newcomers on the dance floor.

Whether you’re a seasoned performer, drag-curious, or simply looking for an unforgettable night out, It’s a King Thing welcomes everyone to don a moustache, embrace their inner king or gender ambiguous thing and celebrate the underground world of drag.

Sound fun? Of course it does! Get your tickets here!

Drag Kings have long been part of queer performance culture, with the modern king movement being traced back to the 1990s and early 2000s, when thriving butch, lesbian and gender-diverse communities created dedicated spaces for performers to explore masculinity, identity and self-expression.

Then a global shift happened, which left us with a shortage of Lesbian bars and spaces through which the art of drag could form and develop. Add to that the explosion of drag queens in mainstream television, and Kings have all but been written out of the drag scene.

However, Drag Kings and gender-expansive drag artists are experiencing a resurgence, with growing recognition on the world stage, reality TV show program King of Drag, Season 2, and an expanding community taking off in Australia.

Through It’s a King Thing, producers Pip Stachio, Bruno Salsicce and Scott Balls aim to spread some of the magic of the thriving Naarm scene in Adelaide, while uplifting the existing community in our city.

It’s a King Thing
Saturday 14 November
6:30pm- late
The Wakefield Hotel
76 Wakefield Street, Adelaide
Tickets available here