Jake Mace
Drag King Dad is inviting us to chuck the gender binary aside for a queer reparenting extravaganza, fusing clown, drag and cabaret. Dad Jokes, currently playing at Camden People’s Theatre and soon to transfer to Brighton Fringe, is described as a a love-letter to the queer community and parents who perhaps don’t ‘get it’, but really try. We caught up with Dad for a pixelated pint, to explore groan-worthy jokes and everything in between.
Catch Dad Jokes at Camden People’s Theatre until May 3rd at 7:15pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office. Headed to Brighton Fringe? Catch Dad Jokes from May 20th to 22nd at Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Pip from 7pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Brighton Fringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Bertie! Your upcoming show Dad Jokes follows Dad on a coming-of-middle-age story about one regular dad’s attempt to understand his queer child. Tell us about that journey and what the audience can expect.
Bertie: The journey that dad goes on, if we’re speaking about the forms of the show, is a non-linear/mosaic style. I’m interested in making work that exists outside or adjacent to classic narrative structures. I like to create a playground for me as the performer to muck around in. The emotional journey that Dad goes on pivots on his child coming out to him as queer and as trans, and the reckoning that it takes for him to come to terms with it, to grieve it, to process what he needs and to become the loving father that he wants to be.
I made the character Dad because I really wanted to create something that would be respite for queer and trans people, so that when they come to the theatre, they don’t have to watch something that plays out various traumatic experiences, but instead asks: what could this look like? What could masculinity look like? What could fatherhood look like? What happens if we make a show that is a celebration of the possibility of those things? That’s what feels really exciting to me as a theatre-maker, to stage questions and ideas about what we want the world to look like.
What can the audience expect? I hope for a really lovely and heart-warming time, one where they feel held, one where they feel celebrated, one where they laugh. There will be cabaret and clown and drag, of course – and if you’re lucky, a visit from Mummy.
Jake: The piece is described as a love letter to the queer community and parents who perhaps don’t ‘get it’, but really try to. Tell us about what inspired you to put this story together now, and what you found out along the way.
Bertie: Picture me in 2022, I was looking at the drag scene, and what I really wanted to see was a celebratory performance of masculinity in all its wholesome, cosy, paternal glory. There were plenty of gorgeous daddies on the scene, enough father figures, but there wasn’t anyone being a Dad. I really felt inspired by my community in the ways we create our own families, our chosen families, and the unconditional love and support that we show each other in these alternative family structures.
I also felt really inspired by people who don’t understand, who maybe don’t have the language, or who maybe don’t really understand my identity, but who unequivocally want to show their love. I have loved ones who say my old name, who get pronouns wrong, but there’s a real and pure intention to support, to try to understand and to ask curious questions. I wanted to capture that feeling and put it on stage for those people who haven’t had those experiences.
What did I find out along the way? My observation is that when we come into conflict with people, it’s usually ~ not about us ~ it’s about that person’s projections. If someone is uncomfortable with my gender presentation, that’s about how they feel about their gender, or the rules they feel like they have to follow, or didn’t want to follow, or how the discomfort they feel in their body or their gender or their sexuality, or whatever it is. That’s the perceived threat that trans and gender non-conforming people pose – the possibility of living a more connected, more authentic life, or your own terms.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Bertie: If Bertolt Brecht said that theatre should not be the mirror held up to society, but the hammer with which to smash it – then what I want to do with Dad Jokes is also hold up a mirror. But then the mirror grows warm, soft arms and gives you a really big, really needed hug. What I want to reflect back to the world is a softness and a hopeful possibility of what the world could look like.
I want the audience to walk away feeling loved, understood and held for a moment. I want the audience to take away queer reimaginings of family, masculinity and fatherhood, and feel that these things are within the realms of possibility when approached from a place of love and commitment to understanding each other. Lots of art does a good job of The Fight, this is the place to Rest.
Jake: Tell us about how the show has ended up being performed at Camden People’s Theatre and about your relationships with the other creatives involved.
Bertie: I’m really chuffed to be performing at Camden People’s Theatre, it’s a place I’ve loved for a really long time and I’ve always wanted to put on a show here. I think they are incredible for all the work they do to support emerging artists through their schemes and who they programme. I was delighted when Rio confirmed me for the Spring 2025 season.
I’m very lucky to have had many talented friends and peers support Dad Jokes, which is often a one-person-band. It was born at FemFest Brighton in 2022, which was set up by Maddie Ross – this show wouldn’t exist without her. I’m grateful to her for programming Dad Jokes, offering dramaturgy and also being an incredible producer for its short run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.
Annie North is another long term collaborator who I worked with in Clap Back Club, Annie also supported with early dramaturgical encouragement. More recently, it’s been lucky enough to have the dramaturgical eyes of artists such as Riss Obolensky, Rosa Garland and Liv Ello who are incredible friends and peers of mine who again helped me revamp the show.
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?
Bertie: If my show was a beverage, it would be a cup of tea, but it wouldn’t be just any cup of tea. It would be the tea that your mum brings you when you have to get up early for school – and it’s the most perfect cup of tea you’ve ever had. It tastes exactly how you like it. Like nostalgia, like home. It’s early, your mum opens the curtains and the sun streams in and she places the mug in your hands. Good morning.
A reminder – you can catch Dad Jokes at Camden People’s Theatre until May 3rd at 7:15pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office. Headed to Brighton Fringe? Catch Dad Jokes from May 20th to 22nd at Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Pip from 7pm (60mins). Tickets are available through the Brighton Fringe Online Box Office.
Elisabeth Flett
