LIFE LESSONS

Working-class radical drag-performance artist

Radical drag artist Lavinia Co- op

Vin Fox was born in Hackney in 1951. As a young man he left teachertraining college because he found it too homophobic and trained to be a dancer only for a knee injury

to abruptly end that career. But in 1976 Vin found his true calling during a London performance by the Hot Peaches, a US radical drag group, and created his drag persona Lavinia Co- op. He added Co- op to the name because Lavinia was too posh and he wanted the character to stay rooted to his working- class

background. Along with Bette Bourne, he formed the six- person group the Bloolips. From the late 1970s through to the late 1980s they performed musical comedy across the UK, Europe and America. Lavinia appears in How to Catch a Krampus at London’s Pleasance Theatre until 23

December. pleasance. co. uk

MY DRAG IS JUST SILLY, IT’S JUST COSTUME, IT DOESN’T MEAN IT IS MASCULINE OR FEMININE. IT’S JUST A PIECE OF CLOTH

I didn’t expect to become a performer. I have worked at it and learned a lot and you always have to come to it naive and keep it new, living in the moment

Doing street performances, sometimes you are out on a limb. In nightclubs it’s a bit safer, and in cabaret it needs to be short and tight, but when I am doing theatre, I can really hone my skills

OVER THE YEARS, I’VE DEVELOPED LAVINIA. SHE CAN BE ANYTHING FROM HORRIBLE AND NASTY TO SO SWEET BUTTER WOULDN’T MELT IN HER MOUTH. WHEN I PUT THE MAKEUP ON AND GET IN DRAG, IT DOES GIVE ME A MASK

As you get older you have fewer friends and there is less chance to meet up with people. That creates isolation. What community you have, you need to keep creating, you have to keep going

I’VE KIND OF GIVEN UP TRYING TO FIND A PARTNER AND THE COMPLICATIONS OF A RELATIONSHIP. I’M NOT AS HORNY AS I USED TO BE!

We have such a romantic idea of partnering, whereas we don’t have that conjugal love approach for a life partner

I CANNOT BELIEVE THE MAYHEM WE ARE IN, THINGS LIKE TECHNOLOGY. EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT THEIR PHONES, IT’S LIKE THE BOOK FAHRENHEIT 451 IN WHICH EVERYONE WAS PACIFIED BY TELEVISION

I loved working with the Bloolips, putting on shows. Being in a group, sharing homes, working, eating and travelling together. Yes, you could get “van fever ” and it could get to be too much. But I grew up in a family of seven so I like people around me

THE AIDS EPIDEMIC WAS HORRENDOUS. WE WERE GOING BACK AND FORTH TO AMERICA AT THE HEIGHT OF IT AND WHEN WE WERE THERE SOMEONE MIGHT SAY: “I KNOW 50 PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIED.” THE PARANOIA, THE ABSOLUTE ISOLATION AND SEPARATION FROM THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY WAS HORRIBLE. IT’S TAKEN US YEARS TO RECOVER FROM THAT

What keeps me coming back to the stage is not a desired to be loved, but the skill of working the stage, the craft