♪ [light]
Vivian:Drag to me is living the fantasy.
Sometimes I want to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
And then sometimes I want to look like a swamp monster.
♪ ♪
Drag has taught me that I can be all of the characters.
♪ ♪
My name is Vivian Vanderpuss and I'm from Victoria, B.C.
♪ ♪
My transition into doing drag
was like a very slow transition.
It started with my love for like vintage clothing
and then my love for vintage women's clothing.
It was me sitting on my bed
with the fur coat on and the clip on earrings and you know
talking about my ex-husband Donovan, which I don't have.
I grew up in a small town
in southern Ontario called Kingsville.
A lot of my growing up consisted of
running around in the backyard,
just making up games with my little brother.
I'm a wizard and you're a warrior and like
that was my childhood, it was a lot of make believe.
I moved to Victoria pretty well on a whim.
I'd never been out to the west coast.
All I knew is that I just -- it was time to move.
My friend suggested Victoria and I was like sounds good.
I kind of liked the vibe of like that big small town
and I didn't know it but Victoria is exactly that.
The Mary Dale showdown was my first real big drag show here.
I just saw the diversity and I saw like the incredible talent
and I just knew that like that is what I wanted to do.
I studied photography in college
and I've painted all my life.
So drag was kind of like a culmination of
everything that I was interested in.
It's kind of just understanding light and faces and posing and
how that all comes together is drag.
And it's kind of crazy how many facets drag is.
Like you are the photographer, you are the painter,
you are the designer and the wig stylist...
like you're the DJ.
I've learnt a lot about myself through performing.
Where my drag started as being inspired by,
you know, people that I used to know or my family or
you know, people that I imagine
would live in my neighbourhood,
and then became characters about me
and characters that I found in myself.
I get as much out of the building process
and the creating process
and the coming together of the character
as I do from the stage.
The stage is kind of like the showroom and
you know, my house is the workshop.
♪ ♪
The Vanderpuss in Vivian Vanderpuss came from
the idea of like a boujie divorcee kind of
Vanderpump kind of thing,
combined with my adoration of cats.
My drag persona started more with a female character
and then as I've progressed and explored
makeup and costumes and all of that
it's really expanded to more of a fluid character.
When I come up with a character it always stems from something.
So sometimes it's a song.
Sometimes it's a article of clothing,
it's a piece of jewellery.
I've really enjoyed sharing my drag through social media
because I can really effectively
communicate characters, I can show their backstory.
Twisted tendrils clawed their way up
through the stained Earth,
reaching for the Countess as she floated through her garden.
The townsfolk never did like her horticultural interests.
Something about the stench of rotting flesh.
"Lefty Lucy" she hummed to herself
as she turned the rusted knob.
Soon the thick life of villagers below
began to surge to the veins of her flowers.
Oh how she loved gardening.
♪ ♪
Drag has opened up things for me emotionally
that I didn't know that was there.
Growing up queer, and it's probably less now,
but I think you have a certain level of
self-doubt and loneliness
that's kind of unique to the queer experience.
Everyone growing up feels like they're
you know, they're the only one
with like that particular pattern of like
unibrow or like you know what I mean?
Like everyone feels like they're the weirdo.
But when you're queer, there's something extra.
There's an analyzing of everything that you do
because you're hiding and you're keeping a secret
that... that not everyone has to do.
Not everyone has to keep secrets when they're a kid,
when they're super young.
I was very fortunate because when I finally came out,
my family was very loving
and very supportive and I'm so blessed.
It's like 95 per cent of it for me was that
little voice in my head that said no one's going to like you.
And like if you tell them this story
because that's very much the narrative that we're given.
But for me when I was able to unload that burden,
I found that life was so much better.
♪ ♪
Victoria has a wealth of all ages shows.
Of any of the audiences that
make a difference when you're performing to them,
it's a younger audience.
I'm doing Florence and the Machine's
cover of "Stand By Me".
And when I hear it,
it gives me the emotional response that I'm not alone
and I want that for the audience.
Because I think as a performer that's performing to youth
it's in some way my responsibility to
pass that message on.
♪ whenever you're in trouble won't you stand
by me ♪
♪ oh stand
by me ♪
♪ oh stand now ♪
♪ stand by me, stand by me ♪
♪ [ends] [cheers and applause]
I want people in the audience,
when they hear Vivian Vanderpuss,
I want it to be like a welling.
It's like a movie that you've seen from your childhood.
I want that. That's Vivian Vanderpuss.
[applause]