From the glam to the kind of gross, Guy Alias hosts inclusive, interactive, and upbeat alternate arts events around the Canberra region, including the monthly Drag Cabaret shows at Smith’s Alternative. Who is this emcee creating a buzz in the local drag community? Guy Alias is fabulous, glamorous, over the top, in your face. Guy Alias is Lea Maddocks.  

Lea did all the right things: got married, had children, and pursued a career in a STEM field. However, for most of her life, she was also suppressing and hiding a major part of who she is – her sexuality. By the time she was in her mid-thirties, Lea longed for a connection with the queer community, decided to embrace who she was and came out. She and her husband split for a time while she connected with the queer community, during which time Lea also started to explore a deeper bond with her own inner creative.

“I always loved music, I loved the idea of doing drama and being very silly. Internally, I am Kermit the Frog, I very much love The Muppet Show, so I just wanted to do something silly and engage with my community,” she says.

While exploring and engaging, Lea started taking burlesque classes to improve her body confidence, and while it was enjoyable, it wasn’t quite right for her. Then she happened to meet a local drag king who took her under their wing. Soon, Guy Alias was born – the hyper glam, crown wearing, sequin loving vagabond by day, hustler by night.

“I just really love the concept of male fabulousness and this character felt like a really natural way to get creative about it. Plus, be very silly and give me licence to do on stage things I absolutely could not do as a normal performing artist. Guy gets away with a lot. Guy gets away with everything,” Lea smiles.

Being a self-confessed dag who loves dad jokes, the name was easy for Lea; Guy Alias is her guy alias, she laughs as she says the joke is slightly less funny each time she tells it. Guy’s eclectic wardrobe has been scouted from drag shops, op shops, and wherever one may find something a bit niche, kitsch, or sparkly. The essence of Guy shines through each look with Lea summing up his outlook perfectly. 

“It’s very dapper nonsense, break your heart and steal your sock puppets, give you a kazoo serenade,” she says.

Before 2019, Lea had never touched makeup; now, she is highlighting, contouring, and exploring colour palettes. Not all drag kings do their makeup the same; some try and go for a more masculine or androgynous look, while Guy speaks to the glam rock styles of Elton John or Boy George – “a prancing peacock” as Lea describes it. 

Like many in the performing arts, Guy Alias is an extension of Lea’s own personality, however, he does things she would be hesitant or embarrassed to do in her regular form.

“A lot of people would feel that way on Halloween; they get dressed up as a witch or something else, maybe scary and they feel empowered. They can do something they maybe normally wouldn’t do because you’ve got this fun mask and character to play,” she says.

Guy’s first monthly show coincided with Lea’s birthday. Feeling a bit sad and sorry, she decided to throw a drag show to celebrate with her new community. It was a Wednesday night with drag, pole, and burlesque dancers, musicians, and circus performers having fun; it went so well that they were invited to host a night on a Saturday. Soon Drag Cabaret was bringing in a loyal crowd of misfits to Smith’s every month. Their nights have different themes from The Simpsons to Christmas.

“So a lot of the performing arts, they’re just glitter cousins. We still get propped up. There’s a lot of fake lashes. There’s a lot of costumes. We love getting really empowered on stage,” Lea says.

In recent years, drag has been thrown into the spotlight with Ru Paul’s Drag Race becoming an international sensation and drag events popping up around clubs and pubs. However, these events more often than not feature drag queens, not kings. Lea says she is often asked what the difference is. To this she says, it is exactly what it says on the tin.

“It is usually but not always someone who identifies as a woman or assigned as female at birth, who puts on a masculine persona and usually does a hyper gender expression performance of the opposite gender,” Lea explains. “While drag queens are often cis-gendered men pretending to be women, drag kings are generally cis-gendered women pretending to be men.”

She says it isn’t always as cut and dried as that; sometimes a trans person will do both kinging and queening, or male at birth people may be a drag king, or a cis woman might be a drag queen. At the core of it, drag is about a hyper-gendered performance, usually in a glamorous or silly package with sexuality and biology not being a determining factor; rather, it is all about the personality.

“[Drag kings] just haven’t really been seen, or it’s been a very different kind of art form, or it’s been in lesbian bars which are less seen than the very fabulous, more mainstream gay bars and that sort of drag group,” Lea says.

In the few short years Guy has been performing, he has travelled up and down the country’s east coast, and even joined a show while holidaying in Toronto, Canada. Well and truly immersed in the LGBTQIA+ community, Guy has walked with the Ru Paul’s Drag Race Downunder crowd, Mardi Gras, and can often be found at a rainbow story reading or at a fair. 

“I think he does love to work hard for the money. We love singing dancing and performing. Doing just odd things and making people laugh in my general direction is a treat.”

By day, Lea runs her own business as an aquarium technician, leaving the competitive science field of wheat and field adaptions after the birth of her second child. Then by night, she is in full producer and performer mode. 

“I think it’s the same as organising a thesis, or organising a job, organising kids or organising a drag show. There are a lot of similarities, a lot of organising, but I love it and it is so nice when a plan comes together.”

Lea’s diagnosis of ADHD is both a hindrance and an advantage, as it enables her to switch tasks quickly which makes her a good producer and enhances her creativity. Sometimes she does struggle to manage to get everything together, which is where the strong community she has formed comes in to help.

“I know a lot of people in the drag and performing scene are neuro-diverse with levels of autism spectrum or other various things. There are also a lot of folks who have various physical abilities or disabilities who struggle to be seen in the scene,” she says.

Through her connections in the community, Lea knows that many people are trying to make it easier and more accessible for those people to be seen and appreciated. Drag Cabaret welcomes people of all shapes, sizes, gender, and abilities to jump on stage. Even those in the crowd are from all walks of life; they again are invited to get involved on the performance nights.

“When the audience screams louder, we tend to go harder,” she smiles.

Lea and her husband are back together. He is accepting and supportive of her community involvement, even finding some great new friends for himself, while their two children think it is an absolute laugh to see the costumes Guy comes up with.

“I think the only negative to take away is that I now own more suits than he does and there are constantly rhinestones in the carpet,” Lea smiles.

Discover where to find Guy Alias via his social media – instagram.com/guy_alias/ – or keep an eye out for the next Drag Cabaret at smithsalternative.com

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