Words: Rebecca Moore

4 stars 

Australia’s lilac queen of drag shares her personal journey through therapy, self-realization, and personal ongoing struggles in a highly empathetic and engaging drag show, held at the Greenside venue, George Street. 

She expertly combines piano with singing and audience engagement, initiating them into a lavender haze of therapy talk, fragrance, confessional performance, and self-acceptance. You can visibly see the smiles on audience members’ faces as they encounter the soft-spoken and well-sung vocals of the wonderful Jacqui. She sits elegantly throughout the performance under a giant lilac wig and a stunning sequined dress that emanates the self-love and celebration she worked so hard to find; it doesn’t come in arrogance, masking, or extroversion but in humble self-acceptance, which was a surprising antidote to the usual extroversion of a drag show. This gave a human realism to her performance that made it easy for audience members to relax into their own human vulnerability and share in a non-hierarchical experience of live theater. 

Jacqui’s voice and musicality shone through, and she brought in pop vocals to sing along too, with the audience eagerly participating with nostalgic joy. Staying true to the drag show form, she still bought all the spice and sass of a true drag queen, full of sexual innuendos and playfully humbling the audience. Jacqui is an experienced performer that can effortlessly hold the space and improvise at will. 

Overall this was a wonderful moment of peace, a calm and comical relief from an otherwise overtly loud festival. A great performance that was over all too quickly, Jacqui successfully bought us into her world and gave us the therapy we are all looking for.

Your Inner Diva is Showing: Self-Love in Sequins!
Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street
17:20
7-29 Aug