今日吃瓜

Every September, Sydney Fringe Festival transforms the city into a giant playground of creativity. And this year, the festival鈥檚 beloved Queer Hub is back 鈥� taking over Qtopia Sydney from 2鈥�27 September with a program that鈥檚 bold, glittering, and unapologetically queer.

And leading the charge is an award-winning show straight out of Los Angeles: Queen Out (Verb), a drag comedy that promises roller skates, drag, and a whole lot of community spirit.

Queen Out (Verb)

At its core, Queen Out (Verb) is a riotous one-hour comedy-variety show from Lorelei and Annie Biotixx, in which drag artists take on oil executives who are trying to bulldoze a beloved queer bar to make way for a fracking drill.聽

Expect singing, roller skating, tap dancing, reality television parodies, video projections and more 鈥� all in the name of celebrating queer resilience and poking fun at the systems trying to shut our spaces down.聽

It鈥檚 a campy, chaotic romp, but with a strong message about the importance of community spaces.

The show 鈥渨as kind of a send off to this venue that had been a real staple in the queer scene here in Los Angeles, including for ourselves as individuals,鈥� Lorelei told Star Observer. 鈥淎nd it blossomed into this really fun project where we were able to lean into each other鈥檚 skill sets as theatre makers.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a one hour dark drag comedy,鈥� said Annie. 鈥淭here鈥檚 roller skating, tap dancing. We try to employ as many of our skill sets as we can, crammed into one show. We play multiple different characters.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 insane, but I think it has heart as well鈥�.

From Hollywood Fringe to Darlinghurst

Queen Out (Verb) first premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. To their surprise, Annie and Lorelei鈥檚 absurd-yet-heartfelt drag comedy picked up the coveted Tour Ready Award, which has brought them to Sydney.

鈥淚 think we were both very surprised,鈥� Annie said. 鈥淚 think there were over 400 productions last year at the Hollywood Fringe. We were beyond thrilled鈥�.

Lorelei added: 鈥淚 think it stood out to people, because I think we were writing from a very organic place. Sometimes I think very complicated stories can make for very universal applications to the audience鈥�.

On stage, Annie and Lorelei have crackling chemistry 鈥� but they actually met while in competition with each other. 鈥淚t was like a 10-week-long competition about hosting, the prize was to host your own show,鈥� Annie recalled.

After the contest, the bar asked them to co-host. 鈥淲e started talking, and we kind of hit it off right away. Realised we both have very similar work ethics, similar training in theatre鈥� so we just kind of started doing that show, and then we wrote this, and we鈥檝e just been kind of keeping [on] going,鈥� Annie said.

For Annie and Lorelei, Queen Out (Verb) is as much about pushing drag into new artistic territory as it is about making people laugh. Lorelei told me, 鈥淲e are theatre artists who use drag as our medium, and I think our goal is to show people what that looks like鈥�.

Annie agreed: 鈥淚 think just on a base level that drag is more than what people see on TV, on Drag Race, or what maybe they see at a bar. Drag as an art form is so expansive. So I think I would love for people to walk away thinking, 鈥榦h wow, I didn鈥檛 know that that was drag!鈥�.鈥�

When asked to sum the show up in three words, Annie chose 鈥渆nergetic, fabulous, madcap,鈥� while Lorelei landed on 鈥渁bsurd, thought-provoking, bold鈥�.

Why Qtopia is the perfect fit for Queen Out (Verb)

Both Annie and Lorelei say they are thrilled to be presenting their show in Darlinghurst鈥檚 Qtopia Sydney, which itself is a repurposed site with deep queer history.聽

Lorelei explained: 鈥淲e learned a little bit about the history of Qtopia. We thought it was very fitting for our piece, specifically as it鈥檚 a piece that specifically deals with community space; creating space and the destruction of space.鈥�

Why Queer Hub matters

Queen Out (Verb) is just one highlight of the Queer Hub program at Sydney Fringe Festival, which runs from 2鈥�27 September at Qtopia Sydney.聽

With 28 shows across two spaces, the Queer Hub is a joyful mix of drag, cabaret, theatre, and comedy 鈥� all speaking directly to queer identity, joy, and community.

Other standout acts include:

• Let鈥檚 Unpack That 鈥� featuring comedians Kate Wilkins and Nick Harriott with brand new music by Montaigne.
• Piss Be With You 鈥� Cleo Rapture鈥檚 immersive one-woman sapphic splash-tacular.
• Confessions of a Drama Queen 鈥� Songbird Siren鈥檚 wild ride through the highs, lows, and absurdities of life as a performer.

Sydney Fringe Festival鈥檚 Queer Hub runs 2鈥�27 September at Qtopia Sydney. .