William ~ From Drag Race to Death Drop
After slaying success and rave reviews at Garrick Theatre in London’s West End, the smash hit sell-out sensation Death Drop is sashaying across the UK on tour this autumn, coming to The Lowry in Salford Quays from 12th – 16th October.
Starring drag queens from the iconic RuPaul’s Drag Race – Willam (season 4) and Ra’Jah O’hara (season 6) and Drag Race UK Vinegar Strokes (Season 1) who reprises her original West End role, together with Holly Stars and a full cast of drag performers – this rampant, raucous, ridiculous romp of murder mystery serves up all the drama, comedy, twists and turns you’ll ever need!
Described by Attitude as a “killer show” and ”rollicking good fun” by The Guardian, written by Holly Stars, this “dazzling and delightfully camp comedy”, presented by TuckShop and Trafalgar Theatre Productions and Carter Dixon McGill Productions, is “jam-packed with hilarious one liners” and guaranteed to provide laugh-out-loud comedy that we all need right now. This show is like nothing you’ve seen on tour in the UK ever before!
Willam said: “I had so much fun in the West End, I’m now excited to be touring the UK in Death Drop, a spectacular drag musical murder mystery. No spoilers please (I DID IT).”
Vinegar Strokes said: “Absolutely thrilled to be back on Tuck Island and touring the UK in this killer production. Whoever wants to buy me a drink, make it a double Redrum.”
Holly Stars said: “I’m so excited that Death Drop is going on tour with this all-star cast! The show was such a hit in London, I can’t wait to show the rest of the UK why Death Drop was such a killer success.”
TuckShop Creative Director and Producer Christopher D. Clegg said: “I am beyond thrilled that we get to take the smash hit murder-mystery comedy Death Drop on tour! Coming to some of my favourite cities with some of the best drag talent the World has to offers will be so fun, and I can’t wait for everyone to see what we have in store. This cast is so funny, so fabulous, and so fierce that to not take it around the country would be a crime!”
SETTING THE SCENE:
It’s 1991 and a gaggle of guests gather on Tuck Island for a soirée like no other. The tension rises as the outrageous guests reveal their suspicious and sordid pasts, and one by one they sashay away, until at the last, nerve-shredding, side-splitting moment the surviving guests find out who-dunnit!
INTERVIEW: We had the pleasure to speak to Willam about the show!
Actor, drag queen, singer-songwriter, reality television personality, author, and YouTuber (born Willam Belli in June 30, 1982), Willam came to prominence as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2012, but was disqualified in the “Frenemies” challenge. In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her ninth on their list of “the most powerful drag queens in America”, a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.
Before appearing on Drag Race, 39 year old Willam worked as an actor, most notably playing the recurring role of transgender woman Cherry Peck in Ryan Murphy’s medical drama Nip/Tuck. She has continued to perform in a variety of films, television series and web series, often in drag.
Since 2012, she has recorded three albums of comedy music, mostly consisting of parodies of popular songs. Her second album, Shartistry in Motion, debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. Between 2012 and 2014, she recorded several songs as part of the group DWV (alongside drag queens Vicky Vox and Detox), including the parodies “Chow Down” and “Boy Is a Bottom”, whose music videos were viral successes. Following the breakup of DWV, she formed another drag supergroup, the AAA Girls, with Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck. On August 14, 2013, Belli was featured, along with fellow drag queens, in Lady Gaga’s lyric video for her single “Applause”.
In 2018, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born. For her performance on the dark comedy web series EastSiders, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.
1. Tell me why people should grab a ticket?
It’s a great show everybody leaves smiling and happy, like nobody ever says like “oh I hate laughter and I hate music” y’know it’s filled with like jokes and songs and drag queens and drag kings and drag usually makes people happy and entertained. I think that it is an amazing show too, it did really well in the west-end, it was one of the first shows to re-open back this summer and Everybody liked it!
2. Are you excited to be coming to Manchester?
I love Manchester it is probably my favourite city in Britain. There are always news things to discover, I performed at Manchester Pride a few years ago and there’s a huge drag community and Drag Race fanbase and it’s famous for its gay district.
4. What is different is this stage compared to others?
Erm… There is less broken glass and like spilled cocktails on stages and nobody is trying to throw pound notes at me or fivers. It is more telling the story, it’s a great script Holly-stars is also in the show is hilarious and I don’t have to do much except show up, put a wig on and be funny. The shows that I do alone rely on me to create and atmosphere for the night and everything and be the drum major in the front like leading the charge for a good time. I am part of a good time I don’t need to lead the charge.
5. Clearly you are talented, but have you struggled with any in particular?
Not really, I have done 16 shows or something before coming to Manchester. I think they hired me because they know I can do it, I already did it.
6. What is it like to work with Jesse Jones?
He is a great director, ya’know sees our drive and our passion for the show and he is flexible with us because he knows we’re good at what we do and we put in a lot of effort and he respects that and doesn’t nick pick us.
Website: www.deathdropplay.com
Twitter: @deathdropplay
