As we herald in the new year, a dazzling show in Valletta, Rajt Malta Timbaram by Kwijns, offers a fun alternative look back at the history of Malta, asking whether early communities here were actually drag queens.
“Kwijns (pronounced Queens) is a Spazju Kreattiv project initiated in 2021 when finding a drag artist in Malta was difficult,” says artistic director Ray Calleja.
“When the first Kwijns show opened last year, we were delighted with its reception, and so we’re thrilled to offer audiences another lively production, penned yet again by the talented Simon Bartolo.
“Last year, our ‘story’ was a spoof of the RuPaul global phenomenon, about the artists themselves. This year’s drag show is much more than a tale of the personalities within it,” Calleja continues.
The team was initially inspired by Herbert Ganado’s opus Rajt Malta Tinbidel (I saw Malta change), which captures the life and times of the Maltese over the last century. They then decided to go back in time to pre-history, or an imagined period of time – “the pre-hysterical” – before the Phoenicians, the Romans and the Knights.
Extravagant flamboyant costumes are a big part of the show. There are lots of dramatic costume changes, including some on stage, which is all part of the spectacle.The title is a play on words: Rajt Malta Timbaram, which refers to the twists and turns of history and also draws on a phrase in Maltese gay culture “kemm ninbaram”, which refers to being flirty and flamboyant.
Drag is a beautiful art form with glittering costumes, elaborate hair and make-up, to dance in teeteringly high heels, to act, lip-sync and to be funny too. It’s very demanding!- Artistic director Ray Calleja
“Extravagant flamboyant costumes are a big part of the show. There are lots of dramatic costume changes, including some on stage, which is all part of the spectacle,” continues Calleja.
“The narrative comes together through the costumes by Nicole Cuschieri and the set design by Romualdo Moretti.”
The show’s narrative includes specific moments from Malta’s past, but Calleja emphasises jovially that it is absolutely not historically accurate.
“It’s a contemporary eclectic take with historical references stretched to ridiculous extremes. The drag artists get diverted along the historical timeline, and as you’d expect from a drag show, it’s silly, funny and simply great entertainment,” he says.
The show includes three drag queens from last year’s show, Coco Bordell, Olivia Lilith and Miss Sheyonce and two new local drag queens, Ħarxa Spice and Venus Divine.
This year, the show includes a Drag King, Teddi Rockerfelt, performing in a full professional production for the first time. They’re backed up by four fantastic dancers choreographed by Francesco Nicodeme.
There may even be an attempt at Cirque-du-Soleil style acrobatics, hints Calleja.
Coco Bordell and Ħarxa Spice will set the scene in prehistoric costumes inspired by Elizabeth I and Marie Antoinette, two of history’s best-known queens. Having searched for a place to be, they found Malta and decided to stay with happy optimism.
Historical references are stretched to ridiculous extremes.Next up, it’s the Inquisition, a period of oppression and witchcraft: in the Dark Ages, the Kwijns – and a Grand Inquisitor in red robes and outrageous heels – poke fun at religious hypocrisy.
In this cauldron of craziness, watch out for Shakespeare and three witches from Macbeth, the Maltese version! There’s also a throwback to the tossing waters of the Odyssey, and an ongoing ‘battle’ between Maltese and Gozitan goddesses, Calypso and a more unexpected deity drawn from everyday life that’ll make you smile.
This is followed by a Napoleonic episode as Drag King Teddi strides onto the scene thinking he’ll take over. After a love triangle interlude, the Kwijns come to the rescue, marching him off to Destiny Chukunyere’s Je Me Casse, the song that represented Malta in Eurovision 2021.
The performance includes local Eurovision favourites and international modern pop songs, and we’re very excited that two of the tracks – of around 16 in total – have been prerecorded by the Kwijns, so it is their voices you’ll hear although they will be lip-syncing during the shows. (Although it might seem odd for people who aren’t familiar with drag shows, lip-syncing is standard practice in the world of drag, requiring serious artistry.)
Artistic director Ray Calleja.“Drag is a beautiful art form with glittering costumes, elaborate hair and make-up, to dance in teeteringly high heels, to act, lip-sync and to be funny too. It’s very demanding!” Calleja adds.
Fast forward to contemporary times, and whilst the show finishes with a fittingly colourful and larger-than-life finale, there’s a serious point to be made: that it has taken many years for a show like this to be considered mainstream entertainment.
“Drag in Malta used to be a family occasion in the 1980s and 1990s,” he says. “Lots of hotels and venues had regular acts by ‘female impersonators’ inspired by Paul O’Grady’s Lily Savage, and they used to attract large crowds.
“I remember seeing one at Christmas lunch with my grandmother and all the relatives one year,” he recounts. “Drag queens then were seen as oddities, like the human exhibits in The Greatest Showman, rather than as people simply expressing themselves; and, of course, there were no rights for LGBTIQ+ communities back then. Fortunately, the mentality has evolved, and despite its conservative heritage, Malta is a world leader when it comes to gay rights, which is great for the local queer scene: it really enables initiatives by entrepreneurial Maltese drag artists and adds a whole new strand into the island’s cultural landscape.”
Rajt Malta Timbaram by Kwijns continues at Spazju Kreattiv until January 7.