The Boulet Brothers on their weirdest celeb encounter and the curse of having no eyebrows
Exclusive: The Boulet Brothers' Dragula creators spill all in Attitude's Tea Time feature
By Dale Fox
The Boulet Brothers — Dracmorda and Swanthula — are the queens of darkness you never knew you needed. Now in its fifth series, their drag competition show The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula has become renowned for showcasing a side of the art form usually reserved for the fringes of the queer underworld. Think death and gore, rather than death-drops and glitter.
Competing for the title of World’s Next Drag Supermonster, Dragula’s diverse cast of performers includes drag kings and queens from across the world — including Manchester’s own Anna Phylactic. Here, in Attitude’s Tea Time feature, the real-life couple discuss the story behind their aesthetic, the importance of eyebrows, and why classic British sitcoms are prime ground for drag inspiration.
What’s your favourite scary movie?
Dracmorda: Hellraiser — we both love classics.
Swanthula: For me, it’s Halloween.
And non-scary movie?
D: Do they make those?
S: My go-to in times of comfort or when I’ve taken psychic damage is Death Becomes Her. It makes me feel good.
What’s your favourite thing about the UK?
D: I love the dark aesthetic — it’s darker and stormier than the US.
S: And the people. Everyone is so earnest and genuine.
And least favourite?
D: The whole hot and cold taps thing. I don’t understand what you’re meant to do.
Who are your dream dinner guests?
D: Vampira, Bela Lugosi and Divine.
S: And Molly Sugden and Patricia Routledge — Mrs Slocombe and Hyacinth Bouquet are great drag inspirations of mine.
What’s the worst thing about doing drag?
S: I’ve only had eyebrows for about two weeks in the last three years. We like to keep our private lives separate but not having eyebrows kind of connects one to the other.
D: Yeah, people come up to us when we’re out of drag in all kinds of random places, like furniture stores. I never expect it —and I hate it!
What’s your most memorable celeb encounter?
D: We met Kathleen Turner at a convention, and she asked us to come to her booth to take a photo with her. Her assistant was like, “That’ll be $50.” We were like, “Er, we’ll come back.”
The Boulet Brothers on…
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula
D: It showcases queer artists in an authentic way. There are other shows that highlight drag, and they tend to clean it up and polish it up and neutralise it to where it’s acceptable by mass audiences. It’s important that the people we showcase on our show have real problems that real people can relate to.
S: It’s super punk; it’s irreverent; it’s subversive. It showcases queer art in a genuine way that shows the warts and all of being an artist struggling in the world.
Their look
S: We have a ton of shared interests and they’re based on horror and fantasy and comic books — high-fantasy sorceresses and evil and darkness. We’ve always been attracted to those things.
D: We both have a history in creating fantasy worlds, and theatre and performance. We were able to take all of our skills and dump them into creating these iconic figures. It’s sort of us living our ultimate fantasy.
The Podium: The Boulet Brothers rank their biggest drag icons
1 Divine
D: He broke all the rules of drag and influenced its direction in a major way.
S: As a young queer person, seeing him just blew me away.
2 Evil Queen
S: The aristocracy, the sorceress powers, her treachery, the fashion. Amazing.
D: And the fact that she could turn into an old evil hag.
3 Vampira
D: She was the original horror host dark beauty.
S: She’s the blueprint of where we see ourselves in the future.
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula is available to stream on Shudder.
This feature was taken from issue 356 of Attitude magazine, available on the brand new Attitude app, or in print by subscribing or picking up a copy from your local newsagent.
