Theatre for the Offended: “Safety”—Sashay Away

Abstract

Theatre maker and drag performer Jay Whitehead writes as Didi d’Edada to discuss the rise of the safe space in the context of drag and theatre performance. Within a contemporary context, drag has always been a powerful tool for social change and political statement. Drag queens have often been at the forefront of change and protest in the queer community, both on and off stage. Drag is irreverent, mocking, political, and a danger to the status quo and requiring it to adhere to a cultural desire for ‘safety’ threatens to dismantle its enormous power and potential to raise important questions about where we are at as a society and to provoke necessary action. Drag and theatre must remain ‘dangerous’ if they are to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.