Pollyfilla

Last updated
Pollyfilla
BornAugust 1978 (age 45)
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand
Other namesColin McLean
Occupation(s) Drag queen, entertainment, performing arts
Years activelate 1990s–present
Website MySpace
Bebo

Pollyfilla (aka Colin McLean) (born August 1978 [1] ) is a drag queen originally from Wellington, New Zealand. The drag persona of Colin McLean, Pollyfilla, through the years has become well known not only to Wellington's queer community, but the wider community and New Zealand as a whole, performing regularly at social and community events, attending LGBT rights rallies, entertaining on stage, film and television, as well as being the mainstay for drag entertainment at Wellington's popular gay venue POUND Nightclub and Bar.

Contents

She has also hosted or performed in front of thousands at the New Year's Eve celebration in Civic Square, Wellington. [2] In June 2004, Pollyfilla and Colin McLean were featured at the Out Takes 2004 Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in a production which combined documentary footage with live performance. [3]

Recognition

Described as a "Wellington icon" by mayor Kerry Prendergast in 2005, [4] [5] Pollyfilla performed annually during the Summer City festivities in Wellington and opens many LGBT themed events and exhibitions. For several years she was the mistress of ceremonies at the annual Wellington Gay and Lesbian Fair [6] and was frequently the host of the Miss Drag Wellington: Queen of Queens pageant. [4] Ironically, Pollyfilla has never won the wellington title. In 2006 she starred in "The Life and Times of the Divine Miss P," described as "a sparkly, singing and dancing camp parody" with a color-coded troupe of dancers called The Dazzling Fillettes. [7] The sold-out show was held at the BATS Theatre. [4] Pollyfilla has been honoured many times for her work for the LGBT community and her contributions to Wellington's cultural fabric.

In January 2018, Pollyfilla was inducted in to the Melbourne Drag Awards Hall of Fame.

Currently

McLean moved from Wellington in late 2006 to Melbourne, Australia, where Pollyfilla obtained a starring role in one of Melbourne's leading drag troupes, “New Sensation”. [6] When New Sensation disbanded, Polly took on a starring role in the Xchange Hotel's production of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. Following the closure of this Thursday night production, Polly was offered the "Diva" role at The Commercial Hotel in Yarraville (West Melbourne), currently running Gay themed nights on Thursdays with specially selected guest performers and on Saturday nights with themed production shows. After a successful Christmas production show at the end of 2007, Polly returned with "That 1960s Show", also featuring the talents of Ooh La Roo and Coco LeBon. Early in 2008, Polly brought her one-woman show "Pollywood" across to Melbourne at Chapel Off Chapel. The Autumn season of "Diva Fever" saw Polly co-star with follow drag performer Missy Normous and guest performers. This production saw great success culminating with the finale in late April 2008, adding the first male diva guest to the lineup - Elvis. Polly's production show "Sex and The City" (tying in with the film in June 2008) showed at The Commercial Hotel during winter 2008 with three of Melbourne's top drag performers joining her for the drag event in Melbourne of that year.

Colin McLean

Colin McLean was born in Wellington in August 1978, spending the first five years of his life in Raumati South and then moving with his family to Petone, a suburb of Lower Hutt. He attended Petone College, but dropped out before graduation, and took a job delivering mail at a Wellington law firm, where he worked for two and a half years. During this time, he began to do drag, designing and sewing his own costumes because it was less expensive than buying or renting costumes. [1] McLean is openly gay. [8]

As his designs became more complex, he applied to Wellington Polytechnic, where he was accepted into a two-year Fashion Diploma course. Finding its program inconsistent, he dropped out after one year, then enrolled at a government funded private training establishment (PTE) Bowerman School of Design six months later. He completed this program (although private, courses are taxpayer funded, elementary level) and went on to become a retail assistant for a fancy dress shop before leaving to work as a freelance designer and performer. [1]

As a freelance designer, McLean has designed costumes for such shows as Hone Koukas—Home Fires, Awhi Tapu, and Strata (all produced by Taki Rua Productions), Gravity, The Expert, and others. McLean has appeared in drag on the television shows The Strip and Good Morning and in the films Stickmen and The Irrefutable Truth About Demons . His work as a theatrical costume designer and drag performer has been displayed at the Museum of New Zealand and The Dowse Art Museum. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT community</span> Community and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drag king</span> Mostly female performance artists who dress and behave in masculine way for performance

Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of an individual or group routine. A typical drag show may incorporate dancing, acting, stand-up comedy and singing, either live or lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks. Drag kings often perform as exaggeratedly macho male characters, portray characters such as construction workers and rappers or they will impersonate male celebrities like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Tim McGraw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT stereotypes</span> Stereotypes around LGBTQ people and communities

LGBT stereotypes are stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers and mass media, or, more generally, through a lack of firsthand familiarity, resulting in an increased reliance on generalizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female queen (drag)</span> Subtype of drag queen

A female queen, diva queen, or hyper queen is a drag queen who is a woman. These performers are generally indistinguishable from the more common male drag queens in artistic style and techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT in New Zealand</span>

New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The LGBT-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GayNZ.com</span> LGBT community website for New Zealand

GayNZ.com is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community website for New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Hill (performer)</span> American comedian

Murray Hill is a New York City comedian and drag king entertainer. He is the entertainer persona of Busby Murray Gallagher, although this persona is maintained even in private settings. Murray Hill is the self-proclaimed "hardest-working middle-aged man in show business".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Sachet</span> American drag actor, singer, community activist and writer

Donna Sachet is an American drag actor, singer, community activist, and writer based in San Francisco.

Pollo Del Mar or Pollo DelMar born as Paul E. Pratt, and alternately known as The Notorious P.D.M. or The Glamazon is a San Francisco-based American drag queen performer, professional wrestling personality, comic, emcee, journalist, activist, philanthropist and singer. Within the Imperial Council of San Francisco, she is the 53rd Empress of San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Queer Archives</span> LGBT archive in Australia

The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) is a community-based non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex LGBTI Australians. It is located in Melbourne. The Archives was established as an initiative of the 4th National Homosexual Conference, Sydney, August 1978, drawing on the previous work of founding President Graham Carbery. Since its establishment the collection has grown to over 200,000 items, constituting the largest and most significant collection of material relating to LGBT Australians and the largest collection of LGBT material in Australia, and the most prominent research centre for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex history in Australia.

We're Funny That Way began as an annual charity comedy festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1996. Launched in 1996 by Maggie Cassella, the festival featured stand-up and sketch comedy shows by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender comedians. It ran until 2012 when it took a five-year hiatus, returning in 2017. The festival has grown to a broader performance festival and now includes musicians, story-tellers, burlesque artists, plays, drag performances, generally following the genres associated with live cabaret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmen Rupe</span> New Zealand drag performer (1936–2011)

Carmen Rupe, was a New Zealand drag performer, brothel keeper, anti-discrimination activist, would-be politician and HIV/AIDS activist. Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first drag queen to reach celebrity status. She was a trans woman.

BeBe Sweetbriar is an American drag singer, actor, community activist, and host based in San Francisco, California. She has released two dance records, Save Me and Free to Be Me. BeBe is also host of multiple parties, such as Porno, a quarterly dance party and Play Trivia with BeBe at Harveys, San Francisco. She hosts a weekly webTV talk show, It′s Everything, on the Talk Stream Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture in Portland, Oregon</span>

LGBT culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.

Edward Tarletski, is a Belarusian drag performer, recording artist, entertainer, journalist, gay activist, and costume designer, living in Stockholm, Sweden. He was born in Minsk, Belarus on 5 February 1969. Edward Tarletski graduated as a photographer and a journalist in European Humanities University (Minsk) in 1996. Since 2000, he has been a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milk (drag queen)</span> American drag queen and figure skater

Milk is the stage name of Daniel P. Donigan, an American drag performer who came to attention on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, and the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.

Tony Midnite was a female impersonator, costume designer, activist, and book reviewer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 GayNZ.com. (2004-03)."At a Glance: Colin McLean. a.k.a. Miss Pollyfilla." Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  2. ↑ Wellington City Council. (2004-12-31). "The Big Night Out – It’s Definitely on Tonight!!!" Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Wellington, NZ: Wellington City Council. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  3. ↑ Out Takes 2004. (2004). "Along Came Pollyfilla." Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine Out Takes 2004 Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  4. 1 2 3 Scoop Independent News. (2006-04-11). "So you think you can drag?" scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  5. ↑ Biggie Ltd. (2005-11-12). "The Fetish Ball 8 - "Fantasyland!" Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine biggie.co.nz. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  6. 1 2 Scoop Independent News. (2007-02-23). "The 22nd Annual Gay And Lesbian Fair is here!" scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  7. ↑ Stuart, Jaimee. (2006-04-24). "The Life and Times of the Divine Miss P" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (review). Salient (Victoria University, Wellington, NZ). Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  8. ↑ Ruth, Nichol (3 June 2004), "How We Met", The Dominion Post; Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, retrieved 2008-03-29
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.