Jake Mace
We first met Welsh Mother-Daughter Drag Duo Polly & Esther when we were intoduced to them as part of Big Gay Afterparty at EdFringe last year. Now the pair have headed down under to present a high camp chaotic drag cabaret show at Adelaide Fringe. We managed to catch up with them both for a pixelated pint to talk all about chosen family, adolescence, and… villainous low fat yoghurt based probiotic gut health brands?
You can catch Polly & Esther at The Lark at Gluttony – Rymill Park as part of Adelaide Fringe until Sunday 23rd March at 10pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Adelaide Fringe Box Office.
Jake: Hi Polly and Esther – you’re billing your Adelaide Fringe show as a cast of an iconic Welsh Mother and Daughter duo. Two questions in one, I guess – is it rude for me to ask who’s Mother and who’s Daughter? And secondly, tell me how you both feel about bringing a bit of Welsh Drag Magic to the Land Down Under.
Polly: Well, I guess you could say…technically, even though I am barely an adult myself, if we’re going to put a label on it, when you consider our origins, even though it does age me considerably, I –
Esther: Polly’s mother, I’m daughter.
Polly: Yes. Thanks Esther…but, the mother daughter label is not one that we’re strict with. I have been doing drag longer, and I gave Esther a helping hand when she first wanted to start doing drag, and that’s when we realised there was a connection there, as performers and artists.
Esther: We wanted to build on that! So the mother daughter thing is only really because it’s a little homage to how we started out; we like to see each other as each other’s chosen family. Something we explore a lot more in the show!
Jake: The show is a triple threat of drag, musical theatre, and cabaret exploring chosen family and adolescence with a light touch. Tell us about your process of mixing all those elements together into one show.
Polly: We’re both from a musical theatre background; we did the same amateur theatre back in our teens, but surprisingly never met.
Esther: Yeah, we were in rival companies at the same venue in South Wales. Always knew of each other but our paths never crossed!
Polly: So we wanted this show to pay homage to our MT roots, but also capture the live singing and cabaret performance style of British drag, which is a part of both of our everyday lives now.
Esther: And adolescence is a part of the plot: riffing on the idea of chosen family, as well as having a camp old time singing some absolute queer bangers, we wanted to tell a meaningful story too. We’ve co-written the show with our amazing Director Nerida Bradley, who comes from a devising background, so she was really useful in guiding the show’s mix of genres and themes into what we hope is a successful finished product!
Jake: And how exactly does low fat probiotic yoghurt fit into all of this?
Esther: That’d be a bit of a spoiler I think…
Polly: I guess all we need to say is that during a deep dive of dramaturgical ideas we discovered the pink pound, probiotics and exploitation of LGBTQ+ people go surprisingly hand in hand. So we couldn’t let it go.
Jake: Tell us about your relationship to ‘Fringe’ as a whole – where might we have seen you performing before? How are you feeling ahead of bringing the show to a new festival?
Esther: Our first glimmer of Fringe as a duo was doing a work in progress show in Brighton Fringe, which was a brand new festival for both of us.
Polly: And then Edinburgh, last year, where we ran for the whole month; I’d never been to Scotland before, let alone Edinburgh Fringe so it was pretty full on, but such a great experience!
Esther: It was a joy to navigate it together; 2024 was my third Fringe in a row, but my first in Drag. So we were able to help each other out immensely. As for Adelaide, we’re both virgins!
Polly: But I did live in Australia for a year; so my experience of Down Under has played a part in editing the show for the crowds here.
Esther: Thank god we’re in this together!
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Polly: Well I’m a sober sister, so I’d have to vote for something non-alcoholic…
Esther: Maybe something milky?
Polly: Orange and pink are the colours we wear in the show…
Esther: Like…a virgin orange and passionfruit martini?
Polly: With a Welsh flag in it?
Esther: Perfect! And if you’re feeling boozy, add a shot of Welsh gin!
Polly: Thanks for pushing me off the wagon babe.
Esther: Ya welcome.
You can catch Polly & Esther at The Lark at Gluttony – Rymill Park as part of Adelaide Fringe until Sunday 23rd March at 10pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Adelaide Fringe Box Office.
Image Credit: Kirsten McTernan
