Drag Race UK SE3: Meet Victoria Scone, the first cis woman to compete in show’s herstory
"Me being here is political but you can just have fun with it," says Scone from Cardiff
Pictures: Instagram/@Victoriascone/BBC
The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK SE3 has been unveiled… and it includes the first cis woman in the UK show’s history.
In 2019, Drag Race Thailand‘s Felicia Heals became the first-ever cis woman to compete on the franchise.
Victoria Scone – whose pronouns are she/her both in and out of drag – will compete alongside returning queen Veronica Green when the show returns this September.
With over half the queens this year hailing from London, Scone will be repping the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Here, the rising star – who says she’s been doing drag for three years – talks the Cardiff drag scene, the AFAB (‘assigned female at birth’) tag, and why she deserves to win Drag Race UK SE3…
Tell us about yourself…
My name is Victoria Scone and I am a camp, Cardiff, cabaret, disco diva, with a lot of spunk…
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How long have you lived in Cardiff?
I am a Pompey girl originally but I moved to Cardiff, which was where I fully established my drag career. So Victoria is very much a Cardiff girl.
What’s a typical Victoria Scone show like?
If you come to a Victoria Scone show, you’re going to get all of the divas. A bit of Barbra, a bit of Donna Summer. My drag is high campery, utter nonsense. I am not portraying a real woman. Victoria is a caricature of a woman!
Who or what inspires you?
I am very much inspired by traditional drag, pantomime, and the older Welsh queens. People like Ceri Dupree have really inspired me. I like to mix my traditional drag with fashion and blur the lines of panto, fashion and costume.
This is British drag, darling. @victoriascone is gonna ‘av’ ya for dinner. #DragRaceUK pic.twitter.com/Pb8vboVqag
— RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (@dragraceukbbc) August 18, 2021
How does it feel to be the first cis-female on the show?
It feels right! I definitely didn’t invent the art of drag for women. I am not the first and I certainly won’t be the last. But I feel very capable and proud to have made it through the application process and be the first on Drag Race UK. Me being here is political but you can just have fun with it. That’s why I started. I just wanted to entertain people and that’s what we’re going to do! Drag can just be fun!
Would you call yourself an AFAB Queen?
I would call myself a Drag Queen, Drag Artist, Extraordinaire. I understand it’s helpful to use AFAB, which stands for Assigned Female At Birth, when we are specifically speaking about the fact that I do not own certain cis-male drag queen genitalia. But we don’t describe cis-male Drag Queens as AMAB Queens, so as a handy tip, I’d just call us all Drag Queens or Drag Artists, and if you must know, I identify as a Tony Award!
What are your strengths?
I sing, I dance. I’m quick witted and I’m creative. I’m everything a Drag Queen should be. I embody a lot of traditional British drag. I am the whole entertainment package. I have been performing since I was a child. I was thrust into dance school from the age of three by my mother. She was a ballerina and was on The Benny Hill Show. It wasn’t easy at first, but fell in love with entertainment, it was a kind of Stockholm Syndrome for me. I fell in love with my oppressor. That is theatre for me. I live and breathe it. I need to do it to survive.
What is the drag scene like in Cardiff?
It’s quite traditional, but I’m very proud to have been welcomed in and to have broadened the diversity of the Cardiff scene. The older Drag Queens took me under their wing, showed me the way and made me who I am today. You might think that the older scene might turn me away or be sniffy about my drag, but I have turned them! Once they actually see me perform, they realise that we’re all doing the same thing. We’re all dressing up, we’re all putting on a show. I’m putting on a character, the same as a cis-male Drag Queen. We are ALL putting on a character to entertain!
Why drag?
I think I have always been a drag queen, but I just hadn’t found the right outlet. Drag was a natural progression for me. The theatre introduced me to pantomime, which is such a big part of British culture. I’ve been in pantomimes from a very young age – that was where I first fell in love with drag. I didn’t look up to Cinderella, I looked up to Widow Twankey. That was my goal: to be Widow Twankey.
Why should you win RuPaul’s Drag Race UK?
I should win RuPaul’s Drag Race UK because it’s so important, not just for me, but for marginalised minority groups in the queer scene to see themselves reflected on TV. We can absolutely have a seat at this table. I didn’t build the table (despite being very butch and very good at DIY) but I deserve a space at it. Everyone deserves a space. I wanted to do Drag Race to prove that I can win it. I’m not a fragile, little flower darling. I can have them all for supper!
Interview provided by the BBC.
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