When I was first told I was to interview the first ever drag ‘Forces Sweetheart’, quite frankly I didn’t know what to expect. Still, I thought it had to be worth a go. So on a chilly Monday evening I followed some steps descending into the subterranean refuge of Cellar Door in Aldwych, where l found a surprisingly new world – a world of divine cocktails, chic surroundings and, on occasion, a certain Ms Cookie Monstar.
Cookie Monstar first emerged in an explosion of glamour in New York City in 1996. There she learnt her craft with other legendary drag icons such as like RuPaul and Lady Bunny. Her timing was impeccable, catching the last good bits of the Big Apple’s infamous club scene before Rudy Giuliani cleaned up the city in 2000 when he became Mayor. ‘There was lots of variety back then,’ Cookie says, nostalgically. ‘A very supportive community with a real sense of sisterhood on the scene’. But, before long, Giuliani’s mayoralty led to this melting pot of creativity drying up. Rather than reminisce about past glories, Cookie packed her bags and hopped across the pond to her native Britain.
Ms Cookie Monstar. Photograph: Jez Eaton
Having performed in all kinds of venues, Cookie genuinely feels very much at home in Cellar Door, an oasis of class under the tourist-laden chaos above, despite its having been, in a previous life, a rather less salubrious location – namely, a gents toilet frequented by Oscar Wilde, Quentin Crisp and others, for more than just emptying bladders. She seems particularly pleased to have found this unspoiled performance space, given the current state of the London drag scene. ‘Soho is just a bubble,’ she explains. ‘There simply needs to be more asides from Madame JoJo’s and CXR. For the middle of a capital city there’s really not much on offer, especially as Westminster Council is closing everything down.’
She may describe her look as a cocktail of ‘glamour, style and sophistication’, but it’s pretty clear that Cookie also has a humble streak – particularly when thinking about her early days on the circuit. ‘I looked awful when I first started out’, she says. ‘But it takes years to perfect your look and character. I know some people who’ve never got it right.’ Ever the lady, she refuses to name names.
Today, her act is far more polished, and entails something scarier than donning six inch heels and lip-syncing to Cascada: improvisation. Unlike some rehearsed-to-the-nines performers, Cookie literally creates many of her songs on the spot to suit her audience, whether it’s to welcome, chide or downright flirt with them – as discovered by a bewildered American couple who wandered in thinking they were about to see a burlesque show. ‘I hate sticking to a script!’ she says. ‘It’s far better like this; nobody knows what’s going to happen, not even me. You just have to keep on moving and be impulsive. It’s just something you have to keep on practising, and even when it doesn’t go well you can get out of it by making it part of the show.’
Helping keep this remarkable spectacle together is Cookie’s pianist and friend, Sarah Bodalbhai. Looking every bit as dazzling as Cookie, in a beautiful blue dress, she manages a remarkable feat by keeping up with Cookie’s improvisation, providing a musical accompaniment to her schizophrenically genius songs. ‘It’s been a really good evening’, Sarah tells me during a much-needed break. ‘I’ve had to go from Gaga to Sinatra to making things up on the spot. Talk about creative freedom!’ Sarah has been working with Cookie for only six months and already has been on This Morning. She describes her co-star’s sudden rise to fame after earning her ‘Forces Sweetheart’ accolade as throughly well-deserved. ‘She’s got a lot going for her – she’s very natural. And the whole title itself is something she takes as seriously as it is funny. If I can be there to support her and make sure that Cookie’s talent gets across, then that’s what’s most important.’ Pushed to tell me the worst aspect of her stage role, the only thing Sarah can offer is that she can’t to do it every night, having to juggle a teaching job by day while being a glamourous sidekick and prodigious pianist by night.
What’s truly impressive about Cookie Monstar is the fact that, even as drag’s fastest-rising diva, she is refreshingly down to earth. She’s understandably very proud about recently appearing on primetime television (ITV’s This Morning and BBC 1′s Inside Out) - but the fame doesn’t seem to have gone to her head. She jokes about being how star-struck she and Sarah were when they knocked on Holly Willoughby’s dressing room door only to hear ‘I’m naked!’ echo from inside. ‘The best thing about being on Inside Out,’ says Cookie, ‘is that it was on just before EastEnders, so all the mums and nans would’ve been watching.’ Apparently, BBC1′s Controller all but glued himself to the screen as soon as he heard that there was going to be a drag queen on prime-time television, but he was pleasantly surprised by the charismatic story of Cookie’s trip to a British army base in Germany to entertain the troops as the first ever drag ‘Forces Sweetheart’. Naturally enough, Cookie didn’t tone down her act for Queen and Country: ‘The opposite!’ she laughs. ‘It’s the Army: they like it blue. You have to have your wits about you and be brave. They’re blokes who’ve been out fighting in Afghanistan; they’re not just going to sit there.’ She tells me that the greatest support before undoubtedly her toughest crowd was a personal good luck message from the original ‘Forces Sweetheart’ – Dame Vera Lynn herself. The message is currently sitting in Cookie’s kitchen. ‘It should probably be somewhere safer’, she muses.
Drag's first Forces Sweetheart. Photograph: Jean-Paul Berthoin
Never one to rest on her laurels, Cookie is looking forward to a show in July that will be held in aid of a Forces charity, and where she’ll finally be able to meet Dame Vera in person – something that promises to be a truly memorable occasion for both. As well as this and another Army show around Christmas, she’s plotting corporate gigs, a theatre show and, most excitingly, a forthcoming TV show of her own. She won’t be drawn on the details – it’s simply ‘something ground-breaking’. And this won’t even be the first time Ms Monstar has had her own spot on TV: back in her New York days she had a show of her own. She even slips into our chat that her show beat one of RuPaul’s on VH1 for several Glammy Awards – the USA’s Drag ‘Oscars’.
Above everything else, Cookie Monstar doesn’t see her character as attempting to be anyone else. ‘I’m a female impersonator,’ she says, ‘but not an impersonator of anyone else’. Rather, she is a quite brilliantly original comedy act, and an extension of who she is underneath the makeup. ‘You can get away with so much more when you create a brand new character, as that character doesn’t have a real life!’ she cackles, before disappearing as fast as her clingy dress will allow. Her audience awaits.
To keep up-to-date with Cookie, follow her on Twitter - @CookieMonstarUK
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