Fabulous & fractious

The Lavender Tube on drag queens & death cleans

by Victoria A. Brownworth

W ith the GOP passing antiLGBTQ laws every week and taking a stronger stand against queer and trans people existing than against sedition, watching drag feels like a revolutionary act. So watch we shall!

Drag Me to Dinner

Hulu’s “Drag Me to Dinner” is hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka. It’s a drag show, cooking show, home improvement show, Real Housewives-ish show and generally entertaining as it promises “Culinary Costumed Chaos.”

“Drag Me to Dinner” also includes the last filmed appearance by the late, great San Francisco legend Heklina, who passed suddenly in London last month.

Another local queen, Peaches Christ, makes an appearance. Judges include Bianca Del Rio, David Burtka, Neil Patrick Harris and Haneefah Wood. The presenter is New York City comedian and drag king entertainer Murray Hill. The show debuts on Hulu May 31.

RuPaul’s Drag Race

All Stars (Season 8)

Season 8 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race

All Stars” promises lots and lots of queenly drama. The series continues with RuPaul as host and judge, with Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and Ts Madison returning on the judging panel. Other fun drop-ins include JoJo Siwa,

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Zooey Deschanel, Idina Menzel and “Saturday Night Live” alums Ego Nwodim and Bowen Yang.

According to Paramount+, the season will feature a new twist to the show’s format. In addition to competing for a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame, a parallel competition for the title of Queen of the Fame Games will take place. Over the course of the season, viewers of the show will vote on unused runway looks from the eliminated contestants and the queen with the fan-favorite outfit will win a $50,000 prize. Look forward to catfights on the catwalk!

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

“The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” is that show you didn’t know you needed. Based on Margareta Magnusson’s bestselling book, this transformation series (yes, that’s a thing now; we all need transformation) is narrated by Amy Poehler. People are given a chance to organize their homes, lives and relationships before it’s too late. “Listen up: everyone is going to die!” Poehler tells us. Now what?

An organizer, Ella, a designer, Johan, and a psychologist, Katrina –known as the Death Cleaners – head to America from Sweden to help eight people in Kansas City face their mor- tality, speak honestly about death and confront all that has been collecting dust for years. It’s sort of like Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” meets Ikea. The concept is that transforming one’s home will lead to transforming one’s inner self.

It’s powerful stuff, but with an air of lightness. As one of the lucky declutter-ees says, “I knew you were going to declutter my house, I didn’t think you were going to declutter my soul.”

In one episode, The Death Cleaners aid Sue, an artist who helped build a lesbiansafe section of Kansas City in the 1980s, who hasn’t been able to clean her “organized heaps” of art since the love of her life died of COVID-19. In another, The Death Cleaners help Suzi, a sassy 75-year-old woman surrounded by phallic souvenirs from her travels and a lifetime of photos from her years as a singing waitress, let go of the past. In another episode there’s a drag show and there’s quite a lot of queerness throughout.

Speaking as someone recently bereaved by the death of a spouse, I think everyone can benefit from the lessons of this show.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton

Everybody loves a period piece and everyone loves a thriller. BritBox’s “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” is both. A servant and former slave are accused of murdering a plantation owner and his wife. Moving from Jamaican sugar fields to the fetid streets of Georgian London, exploring one woman’s haunted fight to tell her story, BAFTAwinning director Andrea Harkin takes us on a deep and haunting journey in this four-part British series.

Based on the novel by Sara Collins and adapted by Collins, the series stars Karla-Simone Spence as Frannie Langton, Sophie Cookson as Madame Marguerite Benham and Stephen Campbell Moore as George Benham. Frannie’s relationship with Marguerite Benham begins over their shared enjoyment of books and reading and then becomes deeply, irrevocably emotional and sexual., and complicated by their respective roles.

The sets are lush and very “Bridgerton.” The acting is superb, the direction deft, Collins script crisp and emotive and believable. It’s absolutely stellar and must-watch TV; on Britbox Apple TV Channel , BritBox, BritBox Amazon Channel.

So for the fun, the fabulous and the fractiously fetid, you really must stay tuned.t

Read the full column on www.ebar.com.