We always thought that we were pretty unshockable at Queerguru, but now we are not so sure. Just a few days we were raving about Sir Ian McKellen on the Stephen Colbert TV Show, reciting the rich language of William Shakespeare to confront American cruelty toward immigrants in 2026 (see HERE).  Now the words of the Bard appear in our inbox again with news of an all-drag hard-hitting, fierce, and gritty take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in its original text.  The production is being mounted by TuckShop, the UK’s only specialist production company devoted to all things drag…… and kudos to them for handpicking an all star cast with Ginger Johnson as Macbeth, and  Kyran Thrax as Lady Macbeth.

On reflection, however, the concept may not be that much different from Shakespearean times when all roles on stage were played by men and boys, due to social and legal restrictions barring women from performing. Despite this, Shakespeare created an extraordinary array of complex, witty, passionate, and psychologically rich female characters, many of whom drive the narrative and emotional core of his plays. His portrayal of women, though shaped by Elizabethan gender expectations, often pushed against contemporary norms in subtle and subversive ways.

CATEGORY IS: MACBETH reimagines one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedies in a city where being gay is an act of rebellion and drag is a form of survival. Starring a cast of ferocious drag performers, this is an all-new Macbeth born under strobe lights and police sirens, where prophecy comes whispered over eyeliner mirrors and power is seized in heels sharp enough to kill.

In a world where masculinity is policed, queerness is criminalised… the price of visibility is everything. Riots rage outside. Inside, the music of 80’s Britain – Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Pet Shop Boys – pulses through the night. Paranoia spirals, loyalty fractures, and desire curdles into violence. Wigs slip. Crowns are stolen, and blood is impossible to wash out under club lighting. 

Lady Macbeth in Macbeth embodies ambition and challenges the idea of female passivity. She invokes the spirits to: “Unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty.” 

Dark, defiant, and drenched in 80s synth, CATEGORY IS: MACBETH is a fabulous tragedy about power, persecution, and what it means to survive.

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