Photo: supplied
Hugo Grrrl keeps rather busy. He’s a fulltime drag artist - not just performing, but MCing, producing, writing and providing opportunities for the next generation of performers.
The alias of George Fowler, Hugo Grrrl’s events are also notoriously inventive - and sparkly - working in all manner of social spaces.
This fortnight Hugo Grrrl gets risque. On Friday 2 August at Pōneke’s Ivy Bar and Cabaret, and next Thursday 8 August at Tāmaki’s Phoenix Cabaret, he’s hosting Nasty, a “deliciously distasteful queer strip show”.
Then, 21 to 22 August it’s back to Pōneke for Floridivas, as part of the culinary festival Wellington On a Plate; a drag show complete with a four course meal at iconic Cuba Street eatery Floriditas.
Over the next four Sunday afternoons in Tāmaki Makaurau, 4 to 18 August, he is hosting workshops to help budding drag performers get their drag journeys started.
Photo: supplied
Fowler has had quite the journey himself. Way back in 2017 Hugo Grrrl became national champion of the King of all Kings NZ drag king pageant. Then, in 2018 he had a life changing experience: winning season one of NZ’s drag race House of Drag, making him the first drag king ever to both feature in and win a televised reality competition.
Among his many awards: the 2020 Playmarket New Zealand Plays for the Young Award for The Glitter Garden, billed as the world’s first drag musical for kids.
The multi-talented Hugo Grrrl joins Culture 101’s Mark Amery to shout out to some of his favourite artists and cultural spaces.
They include Tāmaki Makaurau Queer-only club night Sapphic sounds, Basement Theatre and pop artist Jason Parker, for whom George Fowler transforms into Hugo Grrrl in the video for the song ‘This is My Year’.
