Hello! Sailor… Drag King Sammy Silver serves sass, sex and surrealness! Graham Robson caught up with them to find out what they’ve been up to during lockdown, some recommendations of the best queer quarantine cabaret, and plans for the future…
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am Drag King Sammy Silver, a queer trans masculine bear cub and have been doing drag for about five years now and have performed all over the UK as well as internationally. My drag is very comedy focused, I always aim to make people laugh and have a good time and if I can sneak in a political message whilst them making them laugh then that’s a double whammy. I also run a queer cabaret night in Brighton called Hello! Sailor…
What have you been up to?
During lockdown I have been making lots of comedy videos that I have been uploading to my YouTube channel as well as short little skits I’ve put up on TikTok, all of which has received a lot of praise, despite the fact my videos are very ridiculous and rarely make sense but people seem to enjoy them. I also have been doing some online drag story time with my wonderful colleagues from Fantabulosa. Fantabulosa is a family friendly drag show, where we tell queer positive children’s stories through the wonderful medium of drag. We toured this show last summer and we were going to tour it again this year but sadly due to circumstances, a lot of those shows have been cancelled so we have gone online and we have had an overwhelming amount of love and positivity for it.
I also have got back into my love of drawing cartoons and writing fiction and I’m even working on a queer comic book, I have no idea whether it will ever see the light of day and I actually share the finished product to people, but I am really enjoying creating it and it certainly is a nice bit of down time and escapism from all the rubbish going on in the world.
Future plans?
As of right now, I want to keep making more videos and hopefully do some more stuff with Fantabulosa. I am also looking into possibly doing an online show of Hello! Sailor.
Brighton & Hove Pride thoughts?
Brighton & Hove Pride has always been a bit of a funny one for me. I can’t say I’m huge fan of how commercial it is now and I am not the best with big crowds, however I did feel sad when I heard it was cancelled. Despite my initial feelings, I always end up going to Pride because I do suffer from serious FOMO, and it is a chance for me to see queers who I have not seen in a while, I get to support fellow drag artists performing and there is always quite a lot of small, alternative events going on that day that I believe cohere with the true spirit of Pride, which I always like to attend. So, yes, I am upset it is cancelled and Brighton & Hove is certainly going to take a hit from it.
Do you think the scene will bounce back bigger and better?
One can only hope. There has been a lot of love around in the queer community during lockdown but sadly I have also noticed a lot of ignorance. A lot of us are struggling right now because of financial issues and being unable to be with our community, so I hope lockdown will make us realise what really matters and help us grow a bit more compassionate and kind to one another. I think we absolutely can bounce back from this but it is going to have to be a team effort, and we must focus more on lifting one another up rather than bringing each other down.
What do you miss the most?
I do miss going to shows, putting on shows, going to bars, meeting up with people, hugging them, laughing with them – I generally miss being social. I used to pop down to my local bar sometimes just to have a solo drink too. However, it has been lovely to see so many online drag shows happening and if you are in need of some great queer quarantine online cabaret check out BOi BOX, Bar Wotever, Sleep Paraylsis, Bitter Sour, God Save The Kings just to name a few.
Plans when all this is over?
Put on a Hello Sailor cabaret show in a venue that will hopefully be open. Go to as many queer cabaret shows and events as I can, go out dancing until the early hours of the morning and then finish the night off with a greasy kebab, then wake up the next morning regretting I had that kebab and go to the gym and then hastily run to the toilets after about three minutes on the treadmill to throw up… Yeah I keep it classy, but no joke that is probably what I’ll be doing.
Words of wisdom to help keep us going?
Whether you are being super busy with loads of projects and side hustles, or whether you’re just chilling on the sofa catching up on your favourite shows snuggling your cat, do not be hard on yourself, do what makes you feel good and take one day at a time. However dark and grim times may seem right now, we will eventually get through this… and let’s throw massive queer street party when lock down is over.
You must be logged in to post a comment.