Scotsman – Tuesday, 23 August

BRIEF ENCOUNTER
Justin is Kiki, Bradford is Christine.
Question: Do clothes make the… ?


THE SCENE: The shoe department at Harvey Nichols, and then the Fourth Floor bar.

THE CAST: Bradford Louryk plays Christine Jorgensen, America’s first transsexual; Justin Bond is better known as the outrageous Kiki of cabaret duo Kiki & Herb. The two meet up to try on designer heels and compare notes on dressing up as women.

BRADFORD LOURYK: We know each other a little bit from New York.

JUSTIN BOND: From the streets.

BL: Hustling.

JB: I haven’t hustled in the streets of New York for years!

BL: We met when you were doing Kiki & Herb: There’s a Stranger in the Manger - I was doing Greek Tragedy a couple of blocks away – playing women, of course – and I went to see your show about ten times.

JB: Really – ten times?

BL: I thought it was extraordinary!

JB: Thank you. Well I enjoyed your show very much. It’s entertaining and stylish and very informative.

BL: It’s funny, I didn’t even know who Christine was until I found the record which constitutes her interview, and I’ve just been stunned by her poise and charm and eloquence. My show is a lip-synched recreation of an interview that she gave in 1958. I think the audiences in Edinburgh were expecting a lot of glitter and sequins, but it’s really a very understated, simple, and I hope elegant evening, where you get to hear the authentic voice of this historical figure.

JB: The things that she discusses about gender 50 years ago – she was so smart and bright.

BL: And so ahead of her time.

JB: Ahead of our time. What she said shouldn’t even seem so relevant today, but it is.

BL: One of the things Christine says in the play is, “One isn’t born to wear clothes; clothes are a habit one accumulates.” And I think that’s very true.

JB: I just dress to my mood. People always say to me, “Why are you dressing like a woman?” if I wear a skirt or whatever. But it doesn’t have anything to do with being a man or a woman, it just has to do with how glamorous I feel that day. I don’t think clothes are gender-specific. I think the whole thing is very boring, but unfortunately…

BL: The argument about who wears what and why?

JB: [nods] And people feeling the need to comment on it. I mean, if you think someone looks good it’s fine to tell them, but if you’re freaked out by it just shut up, cos if you’re freaked out it means you’re a freak!

BL: Do you get a lot of funny looks?

JB: I’ve been hooted, jeered at and stared at my entire life.

BL: Even now, in London?

JB: Sure. But I went to this Radical Faerie camp in Tennessee, which is like freak-central, and I was wearing a silver gown and a lavender wrap, with my hair pulled back in a tiara, and no-one turned a head. And I started crying because it was the first time in my life that I’d had the luxury of invisibility.

BL: Right. Well, who wants to be invisible anyway, frankly?

JB: It’s nice at times. It’s nice that people are attracted to you because they’re attracted to you, but if I wanted to be invisible I wouldn’t be in this city.

BL: Exactly. I don’t think either of us would be doing the kind of work we do if we didn’t want some level of visibility. Certainly we wouldn’t be sitting in Harvey Nichols, fighting over Gucci Shearling boots if we didn’t want…

JB: I would never fight over Gucci Shearling boots.

BL: No, you don’t wear fur.

JB: I wear fur but not new fur – not fresh kill. I wear vintage fur… I can almost justify that.

BL: Well, I have a circa 1925 vintage monkey fur coat in a closet at home, which I think would be perfect Kiki.

JB: I accept, thank you. I’ve been wearing my dress in the show for 12 years – you should smell it, it’s awful!

BL: Which one is it?

JB: The red sequined one.

BL: With 30 pounds of birdseed?

JB: Yes – in the breasts. Kiki’s signature style.

BL: Kiki’s sort of like a fantastic car ride, isn’t she?

JB: Yes, like a human car crash.

BL: For better, for worse.

JB: Kiki’s based on a lot of different people. [Pauses dramatically] And she’s ruined my life.

BL: How so?

JB: Oh, I’m just sick of playing the part, I guess. I’m so exhausted.

BL: Me too. Edinburgh is kicking my butt.

JB: I’ve been very good, limiting my drink and drug binges to once a night. When I’m finished here my American lover is taking me to Venice on holiday.

BL: Well, I’m supposed to go back to New York and start another run in the city – so no rest for the wicked.

JB: Wicked being the operative word.

Kiki & Herb are at the Pleasance until 28 August; Christine Jorgensen Reveals is at Assembly @ George Street until 29 August.

Interview by Ayesha Christie