MARY MAC.
All hail the new Mary Queen of Scots – one who can serve looks, deliver fierce choreo, and belt out a live vocal spectacle.
All hail the new Mary Queen of Scots – one who can serve looks, deliver fierce choreo, and belt out a live vocal spectacle.
British drag queen Mary Mac is the standout star in bars and clubs up and down the UK. A regular at the Two Brewers, our glamorous host at Gay Times Honours 2018, and having performed on the main stage at almost every leading Pride celebration in the country, we’re confident in saying she is as legendary (and loved) as they come this year.
But which famous queer faces helped shape her now illustrious drag character? Would she be up for competing on a British version of RuPaul’s Drag Race? And did she have a cracking time heading up Gay Times Honours? Well, we might be a bit bias on that last one ....
Was life as an internationally successful drag queen always the goal?
Never in a million years would I have seen my life taking this utterly fabulous and crazy road, even as an eight year old boy dressed as Goldilocks with three stuffed bears tied to me for my primary school Halloween disco. My mother has a lot to answer for! I guess the signs may have been there for others and I always knew I wanted to be a performer, but I wouldn’t have guessed drag would become my living.
Talk us through how the name Mary Mac became legendary?
I still have quite a while to go to become legendary but I’m certainly working hard at it, one long-ass medley at a time. I love my job and the crazy places it takes me to, giving me stories to tell everyone who comes to the show. I never really concern myself about fame or ‘being somebody’. If people still come to the shows every week and enjoy them and my act continues to grow then my haggis is happy.
Where do your biggest drag inspirations come from?
As a child I remember watching Lily Savage a lot on TV and my mum had one of her live shows on VHS which I used to watch a lot. Most of the jokes went over my head but the concept fascinated me and the character of Lily was so fully fleshed out and real you couldn’t help but love her. Nowadays, I try and watch as many queens as I can wherever I am because everyone has their own take or angle that they come from, whether it’s amazing one-woman comedy shows like Bianca Del Rio or Myra DuBois to full out production shows like Funny Girls in Blackpool.
You’re a busy gal, werking it up and down the UK with your live shows. Talk us through what’s coming up next for you...
For my next project, I’m actually about to take a mini break from ‘the scene’ to appear in the pantomime Dick Whittington in Royal Leamington Spa. It’s a break from the scene but not a break at all really as it’s a demanding 12 shows a week schedule with some as early as 10:15am! I love it though and it brings back amazing memories of my childhood watching and performing panto in Glasgow. 2019 is as busy and packed full of gigs as this year has been with me travelling all over the UK again, which I love. I will also be performing at Pride events across the country and internationally which is always amazing! And you’re also a regular at the Two Brewers. Live drag shows in the UK are (finally) getting their moment...
I think the audience is getting bigger and more varied which can only be a good thing for the art of drag overall. Everyone has their own wants from a show but, in my opinion, if you are a queen who can keep an audience focused and entertained for 45 minutes, you’re worthy of every penny you get. Lots of people can sing or dance or tell a joke but creating an act is the difficult part, making people invest and believe in what you’re doing, but once they do it’s totally worth it. There are some incredible queens doing live shows all over the UK and people need to get out and see it. You don’t know what you’re missing out on!
How do you think the popularity of shows like Drag Race are adding to the mainstream appeal of drag?
Drag Race is a phenomenon that has brought lots of attention to drag from people from every walk of life which is great, but has also made some audience members believe they are experts after watching a few seasons which can be highly frustrating but also hilarious especially on Twitter. The show is a little slice of the drag world but enough to make people curious about what else is out there, on their doorsteps, wherever that may be. In my opinion, it may have also helped other TV producers see the appeal of drag again. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen queens on primetime TV in the UK, but more and more it’s happening and I’m all for it. Frankly, I’d quite like to be on The Chase and if Drag
Race has helped make that happen then long may it live!
And the wider approach is helping to hopefully support LGBTQ venues, too...
Yes, I think so as there are tons of events and post show parties now happening with Drag Race queens in venues up and down the country bringing more people through the doors and showing off the local queens who are often supporting or hosting these shows. London, especially, has seen so many LGBTQ venues close down and we can’t afford to lose any more so any event that brings new customers to our cabaret venues is more than welcome.
If we finally get a UK version of Drag Race, how would you like you to see it differ from the US edition?
Wouldn’t it be amazing? It would have to be quite a different show because we have a massively diverse scene in the UK but also a tiny one too in terms of who knows who, which could lead to some amazing drama. Can you imagine UK Untucked? I’m not sure how I’d cope if I had to lip sync against some of the incredible lip sync performers we’ve got like Cheryl Hole, but I’d give it a good old try. We’d have some incredible UK judges. I’m seeing Michelle Visage snapping her fingers next to Julie Walters cooling herself with a shade fan!
What’s life like for Mary Mac away from the spotlight. We hear you’re not even a UK resident anymore. Something we said?
No, no not at all. My body just craved the sunshine after being deprived of it most of my childhood in Scotland. I spend most of my week at home in Lanzarote with my husband Brett and our dog Apple, trying to relax and enjoy the weather but usually doing lots of admin work and travel plans while Brett works his fingers to the bone creating all my looks. He’d have to be secretly packed in my luggage if I ever was on Drag Race. I can’t sew a button on let alone a frock!
What was the bi est challenge for you as a drag performer when first starting out?
Learning to talk, which sounds crazy now I know because you can’t shut me up. My first lot of shows I would come on say my name and then sing the audience to death for forty five minutes. However, after working with queens who’d been around a lot longer than me like Bette Rinse – who was without me knowing it at the time my drag mother – I started to realise I had to talk about anything really and try and make it funny because just singing wasn’t going to last.
How has Instagram affected the art of drag? It feels like you have queens who rely on their visuals, and then others who are performers... Instagram is three things; fitness models, drag queens and dogs. Well, mine is anyway. I find myself getting stuck in loops of watching these incredible makeup tutorials and people beating their faces for days which is truly a skill and I wish I had more of it. But then I also adore watching clips from all over the world of queens literally tearing up clubs with their performances. There are of course crossovers who can do it all – paint for the gods and sell an incredible performance – but I blocked them all ages ago.
And of course we have to discuss your starring role as the host of Gay Times Honours 2018. Did you have fun?
Gay Times Honours was a whirlwind day that I wish I could do all over again because I was surrounded by truly wonderful inspirational people who were all there to support each other and celebrate the LGBTQ community. As a queen, it’s important for me to be educated and have an opinion on matters that are affecting our community, so to be able to be a small part of this incredible event was a real honour for me.
What was it like being part of an awards ceremony that honours the community, and not just famous faces?
It was humbling and inspiring to hear the honourees talk about their lives and their work in every category from media to politics. It was a real privilege to share the stage with all of them as they were recognised for the incredible work they do and made me want to do more in whatever way I can. And if their stories do that to me, hopefully they will to others and we can all continue to grow and support each other within our community.