BY JUDY HARRISON
Priscilla Poppycocks is one of the most recognized drag queens in the Queen City, as is her creator Dominick Varney, who has performed in or directed more than 50 productions at Penobscot Theatre Company.
“She is Maine’s answer to Dame Edna (a creation of Australian performer Barry Humphries) with a dash of Julia Child,” Varney said of his drag persona.
Priscilla was born during the pandemic, but has built a life since then hosting trivia and bingo events at Bangor bars. In celebration of Pride Month, she will host a LGBTQ+ trivia night on June 18 at 6 p.m. at the Stage Door, next door to the Bangor Opera House. Varney also will be starring in the theater’s “Little Shop of Horrors” from June 13-July 14.
“I want to spread fun and joy with drag,” Varney said. “We need that more than ever right now.”
Varney’s drag moniker is an homage to his paternal grandmother, Priscilla, and his mother’s British heritage.
“My mom often referred to senseless talk as ‘poppycock,’” he said. “I heard it all the time growing up.”
His son calls Varney “Pop,” so Priscilla Poppycocks checked off several important boxes.
The first time the actor performed as a woman was in 2013 for PTC’s musical “Cinderella: A Retelling of an Old Tale.” Varney and two other men played the evil stepmother and stepsisters.
When the pandemic came along and performing arts venues were shuttered, the Bangor theater was looking for a way to stay connected with its audience and Varney wanted to keep performing. The live show “Dishin’ in Drag,” broadcast via Facebook and starring Priscilla Poppycocks, was created. She was bold, brassy, blousy, and bawdy. The drag queen also knew everybody who was anybody in the Greater Bangor theater scene and interviewed them.
As the pandemic continued, Varney, like many people, reflected on his life and work. He started writing an autobiographical show with music for Priscilla that became “Livin’ for Drag.” The story includes Varney’s move from England to Winterport, Maine as a child, and how he was bullied for being different. Using humor, he explains, as Priscilla, how he came to accept and love who he was — a gay man.
Varney has said everything in the script is 95 percent true, from his Little League coach father cutting him from the team, to a Christmas Eve breakup, to finding love, losing a parent, and suddenly becoming a father.
“The show really resonated with more people than I ever thought it would.”
Men dressing as women is not a modern trend, but television shows such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on MTV have put drag performances in the mainstream compared to previous centuries. In many countries, including England, women were prohibited from performing on stage so men played female roles. William Shakepeare had been dead more than 60 years when women played the female parts in his plays. In Japan, Kabuki theater also was performed with men portraying women.
But America’s first known drag queen was the former slave William Dorsey Swann, who was arrested in 1888 in Washington, D.C., where he hosted drag balls and declared himself queen of drag. He also stood up to police who raided his parties and was known to have relationships with other men.
Vaudeville acts in the 19th century featured men dressed as women and early variety shows on television featured comics, such as Milton Berle, performing women characters. During the late 20th and 21st centuries drag became associated with gay culture.
Historian Kathleen Casey, the author of a history of drag in vaudeville, said in an article for Smithsonian magazine, that drag is about the performer’s point of view about the work and audiences’ understanding of it.
That intersection is where Priscilla Poppycocks was born and continues to grow.
For even more drag fun this month, the troupe Delicious Drag Queen Divas will perform after the Bangor Pride festival wraps up on Saturday, June 22. Enjoy the Delicious Drag Divas Pride Party starting at 6 p.m. at Benjamin’s Pub, 123 Franklin St. in Bangor.
