1.87°C Paul T. Davies reviews The Real Black Swann: Confessions of America’s First Black Drag Queen, staged at the Headgate Theatre.
As the reputation of the Colchester Fringe Festival grows, it now attracts many international artists. Los Angeles-based Actor / Writer Les Kurkendall-Barrett brings his solo show about a drag queen guaranteed never to be heard of by its audience. The show is based on the life of William Dorsey Swann. William Dorsey Swann was a former slave who organized underground drag balls in Washington DC, in the late 1800’s. In 1896, he was arrested for both having a drag ball and being in drag. He went to prison for this for 10 months under suspicion of “Keeping A Disorderly House” which is another name for running a brothel, which he was not doing. He asked President Grover Cleveland for a pardon, and this made him the earliest American to fight for the rights of the LGBTQ community. As a black, queer performer, Kurkendell-Barrett uses his personal experience of racism in the US to connect with and explore Swann’s story.
It’s a remarkable story, and the two worlds encounter when Kurkendell-Barrett has to undergo surgery and “meets” Swann under anaesthetic. To protect himself, Kurkendell-Barrett always encased himself in his Great Pink Glinda the Good Witch Bubble, retreating into the Oz character’s protective shell when stopped by the police, paying fines instead of challenging the police, as he says, a black man’s word will never be believed against a white police officer. Reminding us of racist atrocities such as the George Floyd murder, Swann bursts the bubble and tells his story, where he never felt inferior and always stood up for himself. An activist is then born.
The strengths of the show are in the exquisite, personal storytelling, a change of tone is effective to portray Swann, and the personal is, of course, the political. Some US States are attempting to replace the word “slavery” with “helpers” in the history books, making this show urgently relevant and important. History as it should be: compelling, educative and revelatory, this is an important piece.
