Life’s A Drag is the story of Brendan Goudswaard and his drag alter ego Ellie Kat and how Ellie, born out of Goudswaard’s desire to be a performer, takes over and becomes far bigger than ever imagined, leaving Goudswaard in the shadow of his alter ego. 

On the screen of the intimate Bergman Theatre at the Paramount a film runs showing each being interviewed about how their lives have developed.  Interspersed with this is Ellie Kat in person lip-syncing to angst ridden songs of Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and Madonna, flaying her arms about like a demented windmill in the style of so many other poorly trained kiwi drag artistes.  She is however a peg above the rest in her appearance in that she is smartly attired with exceptionally good make-up and well coiffured wigs and there is no denying that she is confident and committed to her performance. 

However the show as a whole is very unsatisfying except for the ending where Ellie Kat strips off her dress, wig, bra and high heels revealing Goudswaard crestfallen and semi naked, the symbolism of this moment saying more than the rest of show put together. 

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Life’s a Drag pretty well lives up to its name. The idea’s okay, if unoriginal: pre-recorded onscreen interviews with Brendan Goudswaard and his drag queen alter ego Ellie Kat reveal that she became so star struck she thought she could go it alone – but of course she can’t.

The interviews, however, are ineptly non-written and badly performed. If banality as an art form is the point, it doesn’t come off. It soon emerges that the real reason for most of the words being said is to contrive the cue for the next song – usually ‘performed’ first by him, on screen, while Ellie Kat live minces and mopes in the foreground, then ‘sung’ by her while he watches on from the screen.

They are miming, of course, to the likes of George Michael and Kylie Minogue and the songs are selected to track their story.

Ms Kat, it has to be said, is gorgeous, with soulful eyes and slinky moves. But despite all the changes of wigs – all blonde – the moves are the same no matter what the song, or that’s how it seems. Just more of the same, song after song. And the sudden endings, where she walks off to do her next change while the next clip plays on screen, are technically clumsy in the extreme.

To explain how he feels when abandoned by her, Brendon sings ‘Mr Cellophane’ (from Chicago) without any of the minimalism essential to making it work. He too has a stock set of gestures and facial expressions that soon pall through repetition.

I think they reconcile but there is no sense of drama, let alone comedy, in that. The sudden segue into the ‘Shut Up’ song (Black Eyed Peas) is quite amusing but it would have been more so if we’d got sucked into some romance first. And the whole territory of self-esteem versus self loathing – the stuff of many gay icon movies – is sitting there waiting to be explored … But no. Not a chance.

Ellie Kat’s finale, when she strips from female to male – to ‘Baby I’m Crazy’ – is effective for being different, although because the make-up stays on, the transition back to Brendon is not complete. Again the chance to look deeper into the ego / alter ego theme is squandered.

Some people may think miming in drag to other people’s songs, tenuously linked by a tame and unconvincing story line, is sufficient to make a show entertaining but I don’t. I was soon bored.
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