Interview - Luna Lestrange
Luna Lestrange, welcome to Spill the Tea my love! To start, how did you get into drag?
It’s a pleasure! Thank you for having me! I got into drag what feels like many moons ago, believe it or not through originally being a special effects makeup artist and scare actor. I used to have a character known as ‘Selma Reaper’ an old witchy woman, she was a cow! But camp as can be, that I used to play for scare events. It didn’t even cross my mind that this was drag until many years later. I guess that gave me an initial taster, then RPDR came into the mainstream and my friend Rachel and I began to blend the FX and scare side of me into Drag to create the creature you have before you today! It’s crazy looking back at my initial visions of my drag, it’s like looking at a different person, I’ve completely evolved!
Your Drag name is giving us Harry Potter vibes, any connection?
The name came through my love of two characters from the films, Luna Lovegood & Bellatrix Lestrange. I think it blends my personality together nicely, Luna being an eclectic airhead that loves everyone and everything, while Lestrange is a very dark, twisted and really quite nasty woman. I am pleased to say my inspirations derived from the actresses that brought to life these characters, rather than the author of the series (due to her behaviour she has become the one who shall not be named!). If it wasn’t for Evanna Lynch and Helena Bonham Carter, who knows what direction I’d have gone in!
“I don’t like to box myself in, don’t think I’m ‘classic’, ‘Drag-Race’ or ‘Dragula’. I like to think I do a bit of everything.”
Did you have any rejected names and if so, what were they?
Oh my god! SO. In the very, very early days, before I could barely even paint my face, I was still in the mindset of ‘you’ve gotta have a British classic drag name’ and initially I had the idea of Amy Wineshed. But I quickly moved away from this idea, I thought it was pretty distasteful, and I adore Amy Winehouse and would hate to portray her name in a negative light.
How would you describe your Drag style?
This is always a question I struggle to answer. I don’t like to box myself in, don’t think I’m ‘classic’, ‘Drag-Race’ or ‘Dragula’. I like to think I do a bit of everything. I’ll bring along a camp old time when hosting a show, but the minute it’s my turn to step up on stage, you’ll never know what you’ll get. I adore emotive performance, burlesque, and complex numbers with a storyline. I guess I just love to put on a SHOW. Everything has to tie together for me, the look, makeup, costumes, music, all of it. I very much tell my own stories and use performance as an emotional outlet. That’s one thing I’ve loved about digital drag, I have control of absolutely everything that I wouldn’t have on stage. I guess you could describe me as a storyteller, I think that’s the closest way I could describe my style in one word.
What emoji describes your Drag?
🔮 – Gotta be the crystal ball. Not only does it immediately show I’m mysterious, dark and spooky, but I think it’s a nice way of showing you’ll never know what you’re gonna get. The mysteries of the crystal ball always bring along surprises in readings, so why not apply that to myself also?!
What is your go to lip sync song?
Gosh those who’d seen me perform regularly over the past few years would instantly assume it to be a P!nk track due to a year of almost exclusively doing tribute numbers, if I had to pick a favourite it’d be her cover of Chris Issak’s ‘Wicked Game’. Honestly, if I can avoid it, I won’t do the same song twice, at least not in the same way. I love ‘Close Your Eyes’ by Kim Petras, I’ve done that a number of times in different ways and it’s a fun go-to for me in a ‘mainstream’ space. When I have the opportunity to really go in; and produce my best work, I find ‘In This Moment’ have an absolutely incredible arsenal of tracks that I love to pick from. Everything about their music has an exceptionally high vibrational energy to it that really connects to my soul. It’d be criminal for me to pick a favourite of theirs as each song resonates with me so differently, so I’d have to recommend their entire library!
When on stage what do you love most about it?
There is nothing I love more than being on stage, completely covered in crystals, and performing. All of it. Like I mentioned, it’s how I express a lot of my personal stories, so I feel every single word and emotion as if it’s happening once again and express that energy out into the crowd to bring them into that world with me. I’m like Medusa once I get under those lights, if you do happen to catch my gaze, you may just turn to stone if you stare for too long. There’s nothing quite like the emotional energy exchange you can have with audience members; it really is quite magical.
What is the worst thing about being a Drag Queen?
As much as I enjoy some of the aspects of it, the sheer amount of prep work that goes into everything. All for a performance that lasts a few minutes. Without a doubt it’s all worth it, but getting together looks, hair, makeup ideas, props, number creation, technical aspects, it all takes such a long time, and something I feel gets massively overlooked in all performers work. That’s one little beef I have with the ‘fans’ that’ll tell performers, ‘you were shit cause you didn’t do a death drop’ – you ask any performer how much prep time they put into their work and try and discredit their work ethic based on a singular dance move, it sits so badly with me, but luckily for me most are too frightened to dare try it! 😋
You just announced (your) Luna’s Drag Macabre is coming back! But for anyone who doesn’t know what is it?
Oh my love, that it is! I’m so excited. Luna’s Drag Macabre is a digital drag competition different to anything you’ve seen before inspired by the classic ‘Elvira’s Movie Macabre’. It’s allowing performers to showcase and celebrate the work they’re presenting in this new digital age of drag. This season’s theme is ‘Inner Demons’. I chose the theme purely for the fact mental health needs to be spoken about, especially in the current climate. It’s such an important conversation to have, I’ll be sharing some of my demons too that I’ve until now been too anxious to share. It’s completely free to watch on YouTube, and while some of the stories this season maybe hard hitting, it’s really good fun, and the work that’s produced by contestants is honestly mind-blowing!
How did you go about creating this when we all must stay at home?
It’s extremely difficult creating such a feat from our own homes. There’s lots of back and forth between everyone, zoom calls, and editing magic involved. Not one of us see each other physically during production, but through post-production we’re able to create a cohesive look. It’s certainly a challenge to not have just a pair of hands to help operate filming equipment, but that gives me hope for a time when we can have a crew! Creating the pilot episode gave me an idea of what to expect, so naturally I turned up the volume even more!
What will be different about this year to last?
It’s a whole new game this year! We’ve gone from 5contestants – to 16! Last year was a singular episode, to test some ideas. We’ve grown it further to be a full length, multi-episode series now. A slightly different format this year too, which I don’t wanna give away just yet. We’ve got Nanny Vicky & Crystal Paul back, as well as some extra special guest judges. There’s gonna be surprises and bumps along the road, who knows what other spirits will come creeping back from the past! More prizes at stake, you’ll get to know the contestants more, last year really was the baby, and Inner Demons is that baby all grown up! I can’t wait for everyone to see it! Halloween is coming early this year!
When we interviewed Victoria Carriage she gave you a shout out! What is your relationship like with this Queen?
Well, well, well, what can I say about my Vicky C? She’s one of my oldest drag friends, we’ve experienced so much of each other’s evolution, and where one of us has been, the other is usually in tow! Vicky is the one queen I could turn up to a gig with nothing prepared, and still be able to smash out a brilliant show. It’s one of those relationships that when we host together, we can go as hard as we like digging at each other, yet still walk off the stage, knowing it was all for show, sparking up a ciggie and laughing at our shit banter! I don’t think you often find relationships like that on stage, but not just on stage, we have just as much fun out of the sequins and makeup. I can’t wait till everything opens up again and we can go have a pint of larger and a fag in a beer garden!
Luna Lestrange with Victoria Carriage
What Queen deserves your shout out?
Miss Terri Boxx, the winner of the pilot episode of Luna’s Drag Macabre. Their work is fabulous, I was head over heels in love with the Alien look they created, and all of their work is so incredible. I highly suggest you check them out! The minute I’ve got the opportunity to meet and see them perform in person, I’m there.
Any last shout outs?
My entire cast of the pilot episode – Bailey Bubbles, HarriHooker Green, Misty Fye and Yvy DeLuca. They all produced exceptional work and deserve all the support. My dear Paul Aleksandr who is the genius behind the Crystal Paul character. I’ll be here all day if I don’t stop, but honestly, look out for the alt drag in local communities, there is a mammoth number of incredible artists out there that deserve more support!
