How to Become A Drag Queen
Author: Jay Macrae Simpson
Onstage, Jay is rising drag star, Binjuice. Offstage, they inspire young people as a life-changing tutor.
What could you learn about yourself as a Yipiyap tutor?
How to become a drag queen
I still remember the first drag show I ever attended. I was in my second year of university and moved into my flat. After spending the prior two years in recurring lockdowns, I was in desperate need of new social experiences - which came to me in the form of a ticket to Birmingham Pride in 2021.
I immediately fell in love with drag art then and only dreamt of standing on that stage one day and performing drag! Fast forward to the present, and I’ve had the privilege to travel across the country and perform in cities like Nottingham, Birmingham, and Norwich. I am gearing up for more performances this year!
My drag queen experience
Coming to my drag experience, something that really surprised me was the immense learning curve I had to go through as a beginner drag artist.
I always knew teaching myself how to do makeup and dance on stage with absolutely no experience would be a challenge but little did I know writing jokes, designing outfits, creating props, and (most randomly) audio editing was also part of my job. I’ve thought of giving up several times just because this art seemed so incredibly daunting. Thinking about those days now, I can’t help but laugh.
I often think pursuing drag as a hobby is fun because it's more like having eleven different hobbies that centre around a particular theme.
In a sense, it's a whole lot like tutoring; you don't just need knowledge in your subject, you need to be able to create resources, balance the engagement and behaviour of your students, and a litany of other individual skills that all centre around teaching.
How tutoring built my confidence on stage
As such, when I first started tutoring, I felt a similar sense of dread that I experienced during performing drag. But this time I had a different sense of support. Not to say that the world of drag isn't supportive, but the support you receive is often limited entirely to how you can improve particular skill sets.
But while tutoring with Yipiyap, I learned that the best thing I could do is to understand that I was still learning within my role and, as long as I nurtured growth, I would keep moving forward.
I then realised my anxiety and lack of confidence stemmed from an unrealistic expectation I set upon myself i.e; to be perfect in everything I do. This is an unattainable standard that leads to nothing but eventually throwing up hands and saying 'I quit!'
Jay will be performing as Binjuice at the Nottingham Drag Pageant on the 30th June 2023.
Tickets are available online. You can follow Jay on Instagram at @the_binjuice.
