“Come for a loving and stay for the breastplates!”: Meet the writer and star of 0800 Cupid

DIVA was given an exclusive insight into the gloriously camp show coming to Soho Theatre 

BY GRACE CROWLEY, IMAGES BY OLGA KUZMENKO

Emer Dineen is a queer multidisciplinary artist who has written and stars in the genre-defying 0800 Cupid, an exciting theatre show that is now coming to London. Inspired by their personal experiences, Irish identity and the intoxicating world of drag, the show is all about navigating their tumultuous twenties with the help of their persona “Cupid”.  

Sat in Soho Theatre’s bar, I met the energetic and exciting Emer, and we discussed all things camp and cabaret. 

THISISPOPBABY’S 0800 Cupid is at Soho Theatre, Dean Street from 16^th-26^th October at 7pm with matinees at 2:30pm.

0800 CUPID

We’re all so excited to finally see some Drag King representation. Do you think there’s a reason why they have been so invisible in the past? Why is this representation important?

I think there are so many mediums artistic or otherwise where cis men have taken the lead, and drag queens aren’t exclusive to that. There is so much amazing stuff happening at the moment that is challenging the gender binary, and what constitutes a ‘man’ and ‘woman’. I’m interested in drag and art that transcends gender. Of course, I can’t speak on behalf of a whole group but I’m interested in art that celebrates identity that isn’t bound to an archetype. Drag kings are sick and are amazing. Every drag king I know has about 10 skills in their wheelhouse and they come with such a plethora of depth and variety. We should platform them more – drag kings and drag things!

How do the themes of your show resonate with an LGBTQIA audience?

My queerness is a huge part of the narrative but not a focal point. It [queerness] is woven into the fibre of not only the content but the form – drag. It’s a story about the time that I was working as a drag king and queer relationships, queer language and queer references. This is my story that has nothing to do with my sexual identity, but more it being a part of who I am, my art and the lens that I see the world through. There’s also so much celebration of queer spaces and art forms. 

How do you think your Irish Identity has helped your storytelling abilities? 

My mum runs storytelling events at the Irish Cultural Centre. She is a seanchaí – she’s just so cool, I’ll never be as cool as my mum. She has all these Irish folklore stories just in her brain. She’s got that sort of thing where you listen to her and you feel like you’re on some sort of trip and you stop and realise you’re still in the room. Like ‘Oh my god I just spent forty minutes being transported to the fields of Antrim and now I’m just back here.’ I think there’s so much inherent to Irish culture that, although it sounds cliche, is making sense of the world through art and narratives. Given our history, it’s been our strongest wheelhouse of resilience. It’s important to find beauty and poeticism in hardship. 

So, this play is set in London, but what queer clubs/bars were the inspiration for the Pinky’s club?

As a cabaret artist and drag king, I have performed in many spaces around London, so I think it’s a collage of the queer waterholes that I have frequented many a time. There’s not just one place and I’ve been quite intentional about not making one space specific. The problem is that a lot of our queer spaces are closing and being compromised. I did my first Cupid scratch in Matchstick Piehouse in Deptford for a group called ‘Qwere’. They are a fantastic identity that supports queer creatives. Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, The Glory, and The Common Press are all great community-centred spaces that are being closed – PROTECT QUEER SPACES!!

What’s your favourite moment in the show? 

There’s one line that isn’t actually a good line at all, but we kept it in because it’s so bad and silly. My friend Isabel has to say ‘That ain’t no fridge’ and every time she does it, I can’t help but corpse. I did it, I did it to her and that’s my fault, but we just have to keep it in there because it is just the best. My favourite bit in the show though is hard because I have loads of favourite bits. I quite like when I get to lie down. It’s just so good because halfway through the show I get to lie down for about 7 seconds and my body goes ‘This is just fantastic’. I love all the numbers, especially where I get to really connect with the crowd and talk to them. The show is about connection and presence, it’s really harking on the attributes of cabaret that brings you into the now and I think that’s such a strong feature of cabaret and drag, the liveness of it. The whole aim for me was to create a space where people can feel present and seen and held and engaged.

Why should people come and see 0800 Cupid? 

I made the show as a response to feelings of isolation and disconnection, and it is done with a lot of camp, a lot of satire and sincerity, kind of toeing the line between them. Just come for a loving, come for a loving and stay for the breastplates. 

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