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“I’m a huge fan of the cabaret scene in Brighton and have lived here for 15 years. I love all the performers and somebody gave me an introduction to David, saying he was lovely, colourful, and he let me into his life. I just sort of fell in love with him” the curtain falls. David can be challenging at times and it was an eye-opener, but it’s quite touching in the way he was so open to exposing himself and the frailties of old age.
The Doyenne of Drag Lee Cooper, of Proper Charlie Productions, made “an intimate portrait of ageing and friendship”, following the life of David Raven, the performer behind Maisie Trollette, in the run-up to their 85th birthday. Lee talks to Jaq Bayles about the project ) Britain’s oldest performing drag artiste and
scene treasure Maisie Trollette, aka David Raven, is the subject of a new documentary by Brighton film-maker Lee Cooper, who set out to make a piece of work that addresses the twin concepts of ageing in the LGBTQ+ community and the “dying art” of panto-style drag. Lee describes his 75-minute “passion
project” as: “An intimate portrait of ageing and friendship in the LGBTQ+ community. Viewers can follow David as he counts down to his 85th birthday [in 2018] and all the celebrations on the way. “It’s very much about exploring ageing in the community and it’s a warts-and-all look at that. In some of the backstage footage he was generous enough to let us see everything when
“There are many amazing coming out stories on film, but what about the other end of our experiences? It’s just not sexy – trying to raise money to help make the film was difficult. A lot of younger people in the community think drag is RuPaul and that very British, endof-the-pier, panto-style of drag faces being replaced by pageant queens – which I do think are brilliant – so it’s a dying art form.” In order to complete the documentary Lee and his cameraman, Sam Parsons, and sound expert Shane Gravestock, spent three years “on and off” following the cabaret legend around. Lee picks up the tale from the beginning. “I am relatively new to film-making, my background is in fashion art direction. But I went to film school and as part of the course we were tasked with creating a documentary. A STILL FROM THE FILM
