Rosie Lugosi – Vampire Queen

World domination and being a complete & utter bitch.

Consummate performer, cabaret star and creature of the night Rosie Lugosi is an award winning showgirl with a twist. Escaping from rural small town England to the burgeoning goth scene of Leeds in the Eighties gave Rosie Garland the freedom to create her vampish alter ego Rosie Lugosi. Outspoken and never knowingly underdressed her act is camp with a touch of cadaver as she incorporates song parodoies and comedy with a touch of dark sexuality and no holds barred humour. In short ‘she knows exactly who she is and doesn’t give a shit about what mere mortals may think.’

 

Not one to mince her words she tells Dominion exactly who she is and why she does it, the restrictions of the label ‘lesbian’ and why everyone should let themselves be ‘Odd and Proud’ once in a while.

 

My favourite costume of all was Batman. I wouldn’t take it off. A creature of the shadows at the age of 6.

 

“Rosie embodies the defiant and transgressive power of unconventional female sexuality – the predatory vampiric villainess who never gets staked. Six foot tall in six-inch stilettos, clad in pvc catsuit and corset, towering wig, fangs and hoisted cleavage, I transform accepted notions of what constitutes queer performance. Rosie Lugosi is a drag act. I’m a female drag queen – a woman who dresses up as an extreme example of what a woman is supposed to look like.”

“In brief…. Rosie Lugosi is the radical lesbian feminist, monstrous-feminine dominatrix, bitch goddess, top femme, vampire queen. She’s a costumed avenger / alter ego, and she is a lot of fun. I’ve been tantalising audiences nationally and internationally with her unique blend of poetic perversion, sharp-edged humour and sexual satire for ten years now, and have won a clutch of awards, including an Erotic Oscar, the Diva Award and the Dada Award for Performance Art.”

 

With success and popularity can sometimes come unwanted attention, which can lead to court as it did in Rosie’s case.

 

“I got a front page banner headline in the paper ‘Lesbian Stalks Vampire Poet’. You couldn’t buy that.”

“A while ago I acquired that least desirable of celebrity accessories – a stalker. A random person who’d seen me perform: after the gig I was polite and that was enough for her to concoct an entire parallel universe where we were in a relationship. It went on for years and at the time was hellish. It took two restraining orders and a number of court appearances to get my life back. But, turn life into art: the March Violets track Dress 4 U is based on the experience.”

 

Rosie is often found alongside more traditional burlesque artists – peeling off their stockings behind Ostrich feather fans and twirling their tassels – and she fits in perfectly with the glamour and fabulousness of it all, the attraction in being someone else for a little while.

 

“I’m a show-off and proud! There’s a lot of work to do in reclaiming the word “show-off” (a word far too often used to put people – especially girls – down), and someone’s got to do it. When I was a kid I loved dressing up and part of performing as Rosie Lugosi is delight in being able to keep hold of the dressing up box, and play. It would be nice if adults played more often, rather than feeling that they’ve continually got to be grown up. Adult play is something we’ve lost out on. So part of my act is playful in that way; like the way I play with the audience.”

 

Some attribute the popularity of burlesque at the moment to women becoming comfortable and proud of their bodies and wanting to be thought of as sexy in a classy and retro way. Others see it as no more than stripping in a vintage fashion. Rosie has her own take on what the art form means to women.

 

“Female performers, whether singers or comedians, struggle with making their bodies sexual, in case it distracts (it will). Rosie Lugosi makes her body part of the act and challenges the tensions that women feel about how “real” women are represented in society/media.”

 

I see myself as a femme Trojan Horse, a stealth queer guerrilla

 

“Sure, some people only see the ‘shiny showgirl’ side of Rosie Lugosi. Ok, it’s not the most original thought in the universe, but humour can ease the delivery of uncomfortable messages. And my messages are uncomfortable – as are those of anyone who is making a stand against the rise of the religious right, the startling resurgence of anti-Semitism, the demonisation of Muslims, queers, and anyone else who is ‘different’.”

 

“I’ve no desire to alienate my audience in some naff art-drama-student ‘I’ve suffered for my art now it’s your turn’ bollocks. If you’re only getting your message over to those who already agree, (and alienating those who don’t) then it can’t be much of a message. Or it’s self-indulgence. Whatever. I want to change minds, not confirm prejudices, & that feels like a harder job.”

 

“Lull the buggers into a false sense of security with the shiny showgirl look. When it’s too late they find themselves coming round to the simple fact that sexual diversity and perversity is fabulous.”

 

Speaking of sexual diversity Rosie is a loud and proud lesbian and a well-known face on the gay scene hosting events and performing at clubs all over the UK, but it wasn’t always something people could feel proud of and being a goth at the same time sometimes made it even harder.

 

“At the same time as being in The March Violets in the 80s, I was also coming out, and it felt like I was the only lesbian goth in the world. I got bizarre reactions when I wore goth gear on the dyke scene. It was the decade of 80s feminism and I was shunned for having long hair and wearing leather trousers. I kid you not.

Now I am happy to be far more flexible than just a plain old lesbian – whaddya mean ONLY sleep with women? How terribly parochial.”

 

“Moving to Leeds when I was 18 was a life-saver. Anything could happen, and felt like it would, any minute now. A jumble of punk music, meeting new people, the stimulation of university study, the end of isolation. I felt like I’d come home.”

 

And she still remembers what it was like to live in that ‘small town’, to feel like the only ‘weird one’ so, while she has performed all over the world, the impact events in small places can have is important to her.

“Oldham Pride is a good example – it only started a couple of years ago and is a small town where a Pride March makes a real difference. By contrast, Manchester Pride is a fantastic event to perform at and attracts thousands: but Manchester has a Gay Village and a huge, visible queer population. Smaller towns can still be scary places if you’re different”

 

When not being the scariest vampire bitch this side of the equator Rosie is also known as the female vocalist in original goth legends The March Violets. The costume and make-up come off and Rosie Garland takes the stage, although Ms. Lugosi has been known to ‘escape’ on occasion.

 

It seems that Rosie’s pvc clad vampire queen is a difficult character to put back in the dressing up box. Twice in her life has she felt the pressure to conform, to get a ‘real’ job and attempt to ‘fit in’. It did not last long.

“Artists can feel the pressure to get a ‘sensible’ job, stop acting like a kid, grow up and get rid of these foolish ideas of being a poet/artist/ performer. But that way lies madness. Literally. We live in a world desperate to fit us into narrow parameters. We are offered all kinds of tantalising rewards… a nice safe life, a nice safe marriage, nice kids, nice family, nice car, nice job. It’s a lonely task to step outside, and stay outside.”

 

“Being different, whatever that means, is hard work. Being different is lonely (ask the bullied school kid… oh, that’s you, isn’t it?).  It would be so easy to cop out. We need all the help we can get to stay Odd and Proud.”

 

After all, no-one died wishing they’d worn more beige.

 

So my advice? ‘Do it now’. Whatever it is you’re itching to say, to paint, to write, to sing: do it now. However ridiculous, outrageous, out-of-line, over the top, left-of-centre, off-kilter. If you want to do it, do it now. How much more time are you going to waste trying to be conventional?”

 

As well as seeing Rosie Garland on tour with The March Violets you can see more of Rosie Lugosi in her one-woman show ‘Everything Must Go’ commissioned by Lancaster Litfest. Read more of her work in a short story in an upcoming anthology of fiction about female werewolves, and a new collection of poetry for 2011, as well as her most recent solo collection of poetry ‘Things I Did While I was Dead’

 

Rosie Lugosi Official Site
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Photo credit – Holly Fairclough

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