Creative partnerships formed at NIDA often continue past graduation, evolving into spectacular collaborative works. For Rachel Kerry (Directing, 2018) and Harrison Sweeney (Musical Theatre, 2017) that partnership has led to Final Queen, a wildly inventive blend of drag, circus, horror and comedy that’s on stage now at Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a successful Australian run. Ahead of the season, we spoke to the co-creators about their inspirations, the evolution of this work and what it means to bring an Australian story to international audiences.
Congratulations on taking Final Queen to Edinburgh Fringe! What inspired you to write and perform a drag-circus-horror-comedy?
Rachel: Thank you! We actually had to do some detective work to figure out where the inspiration for Final Queen came from! We traced it back to late 2023, when Harrison and I were emailing lots of different ideas back and forth, trying to find a fun collision of our artistic interests. Something that initially inspired me was watching videos of his circus performance, where I saw how he invited the audience to imagine a visual world around him.
Harrison: I love that you picked up on that. Using shape, sound, and intention to actively engage the audience’s imagination is a guiding principle in my circus work. Even if it’s not a literal story in my act, there’s always a journey, an intention, an idea. It’s never just “look at these great skills that I can do.” Focusing on narrative and storytelling is key.
Rachel: It’s so clear in your work. And of course I look at it through my own artistic lens, which is usually horror-comedy. A light bulb moment was seeing the level of suspense and thrill in circus, knowing that suspense and thrill are the building blocks of horror. I saw a natural connection to explore.
Where did the idea for your main character Grace Lightning and her outback adventure come from?
Rachel: Early on, I emailed Harrison an idea that was just, “A drag queen goes on a spooky road trip, all the monsters are done with circus tricks.” But before that, Harrison already had Grace Lightning as a drag persona. Actually, what was Grace Lightning’s origin?
Harrison: I mean, the origin story of Grace is that she came about during lockdown, when we had nothing else to do, and so I started doing drag. Grace began as an exploration of gender and to play with drag as I think many queer people do, and queer performers do, of trying on different personas and different characters. Drag was one of the things we did to stay sane during lockdown.
Rachel: Ah, that makes sense. You were also the one that decided on an Outback Adventure.
Harrison: I really wanted it to be an Australian story. I feel like we don’t often celebrate our cultural identity as Australians. There’s this whole thing about cultural cringe in Australia, when we do examine our culture and celebrate our culture, it’s always in a put-down kind of way. You know, really successful things like Kath and Kim, Upper Middle Bogan, The Castle, it’s always from a mocking perspective. And I wanted Final Queen to be something that isn’t putting down Australian culture.
Rachel: Right, because in Final Queen, we’re only making fun of the audience’s preconceived notions about Australia. There’s an animal attack scene where the characters are driving around being chased by a variety of dangerous Australian animals. The joke is how many non-Australians see Australia as a place filled with dangerous animals, and we’re making fun of them for thinking that.
Harrison: Exactly. The number of people in the UK that I meet who are just like, oh, I’d love to go to Australia, but I can’t because of the spiders and the bugs.
Rachel: As if they’re going to be at a coffee shop batting away huntsmen spiders while they’re having a flat white.
Harrison: Yeah, exactly.
How did your creative partnership as co-creators begin?
Rachel: It all started at NIDA! Harrison was in the Diploma of Music Theatre course and I was in the Master of Fine Arts, Directing. I’d been really impressed with his dancing in his end of year showcase and asked him to choreograph and perform in my thesis show, The Show That Smells. It was such a positive, artistically rich experience that we just kept finding ways to work together, on and off, for the next 9 years!
Why did you decide to combine drag, circus, horror and comedy to tell this story?
Harrison: Something I’ve noticed in my work a lot is that I do really love combining different genres and styles. I don’t like to just do the Chicago-style dance number or the trad circus hula hoop. It’s always going to be something that brings different worlds of performance together, seeing where they overlap and exaggerate each other or where they clash and figure out how to do both of them at the same time.
Rachel: That’s something where our artistic values intersect. And I think it’s also fun for the audience. That’s what’s great about a genre mashup: You’re subverting an audience’s expectations and you’re showing that there are new and different ways to create art. One of the reasons why I love horror-comedy is that you have these two really different genres that somehow unite in delightful ways. Horror and comedy can both make an audience laugh and scream. That’s really fun as an artist to work with.
How do you balance these different genres and still leave room for character?
Harrison: It didn’t ever feel like a balancing act because the characters I play are so intrinsic to the genres depicted. The three main drag queen characters, for example, are heavily inspired by horror character tropes. But at the same time, the first scene is set at a drag show. Before we even get into horror elements, we see the three queens and their different personalities from the minute they appear on stage. Yes, I’m changing wigs and doing different voices, but I took time to discover how each one has a different worldview, how each of them would approach doing a drag number. Leaning into the different genres helped inform the characters, and bring them to life.
Rachel: I will quote something that I learned at NIDA that Harrison hears me say all the time, which is “play the truth of the story.” It’s not about playing funny or scary. Yes, the characters are in a horror circus comedy drag world, but when Harrison plays the truth of the scenario, it’s just good storytelling.
This is the fourth iteration of this show. How has Final Queen evolved through its previous festival seasons?
Harrison: A lot of it has been refined, a couple of scenes reworked across the different festivals. I would say, as ever, it has been guided by the audience reaction. Y’know, getting in front of audiences has allowed myself to get comfortable with the performance, find out which ideas will read, and which jokes will land, even if there’s something I’m not sure about. Things that feel really good in the rehearsal room sometimes don’t land with an audience the way you expect them too, and some things can surprise you! For example, there was a “chicken dipper stripper” line that was always kind of a placeholder, always one of those jokes where you’re like, oh, we’ve got to rewrite that. But it always gets a laugh.
Rachel: I love the chicken dipper stripper line. So dumb.
Harrison: It’s so dumb and it works.
Rachel: Developing new work is such an organic process and it’s important to have audience feedback. They’ll be the guiding light in terms of whether you’re on the right path. And, I mean, it’s a comedy. You kind of need the jokes to land. And similarly with horror, if there’s a jump scare, you need to see them jump.
Harrison: One of my favorite moments is when the slasher says, “I know you’re alone in that attic.” And the audience goes, “Oooooooh.” When I can hear that reaction, I know it’s working.
What does bringing an Australian work to Edinburgh Fringe mean to you?
Rachel: I’m an American, so I’ll abstain from this question, haha.
Harrison: I think it’s basically what I was saying when we were talking about why setting it in the Outback is important. It’s not just about being an Australian artist performing overseas, but telling a story that kind of could only happen in Australia. I mean, yes, the characters could do a road trip anywhere in the world, but it’s specifically here are Australian things that are both good and bad, be it spiders, drop bears, or Kylie Minogue. Depicting that in a way that doesn’t make Australia the butt of the joke. And because it’s a story that is unique to an Australian setting, it’ll bring an Australian story to the diverse audiences found in Edinburgh.
What has been your favourite part about performing/writing this show?
Harrison: I think, without being too naff, working with Rachel and getting to collaborate again on a project. I think the joy in theater and performing and creating is the collaboration. When you have those moments of, “Oh! And what if we did this? Yes, and then this could happen! And yes, then this could happen!” And also learning a lot about horror, and the opportunity to perform in a new style.
Rachel: I feel the same way, I learned so much about drag through working with you on this show. I mean, I binged the first, what, 8 seasons of Drag Race? I didn’t know who Alaska or Trixie or Katya was before this project. And of course, working with you. It doesn’t matter if it’s horror, or comedy, or circus, or whatever. When you have a collaborator who you have to consistently make work with over a period of time, it’s a really artistically satisfying experience.
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