There are always drag events happening around Sydney, and you can discover the best ones to suit your plans with this guide. Keep reading to find the best drag brunches, competitions, curated performances, trivia nights, and much more. You’ll have the chance to see seasoned professionals who have been perfecting their drag game for years, alongside baby queens just starting to figure it out. Sydney is home to a thriving, boundary-pushing LGBTQ scene where everyone will feel welcome.
Drag at WorldPride 2023
WorldPride is a major Pride event first hosted in Rome in 2000, and in 2023, Sydney will host the festival’s parades, performances, and cultural events. It will be the first time WorldPride has been held in the southern hemisphere, and it promises to be one of 2023’s biggest and best Pride events. The event will run from Friday, February 17, to Sunday, March 5, and the official opening ceremony kicks off on Friday, February 24. WorldPride will overlap with Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade and celebration, the largest Pride event in the continent and one of the largest in the world.
Live and Proud: Sydney World Pride Opening
Casey Donovan (the youngest winner of Australian Idol) and Courtney Act (one of Australia’s most popular drag queens) will host Live and Proud, the WorldPride Opening Concert. It happens at The Domain on Friday, February 24, from 7 pm to 9 pm (but if you buy tickets, you’ll get access to The Domain and its food and drinks from 3 pm). With two of Australia’s best live performers as hosts, this concert will be the perfect way to kick off WorldPride and the Mardi Gras season. Live and Proud is an all-ages event, but children 15 and under must have a parent or guardian to accompany them.
WorldPride Arts
WorldPride Arts will run throughout the festival and host over 60 performances and events, including dance, drag shows, contemporary art, and literature. You can sign up for their newsletter to get updates on specific events as they announce them. You can expect stunning drag performances, lip-synching, laugh-out-loud stand-up, cabarets, and choirs like the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir. It is curated by the event’s creative directors and festival producers, who carefully handpicked the best and boldest artists from the local and international queer arts scene.
Laneway
The Laneway recovery party is a Mardi Gras stalwart, selling out every year and always providing an amazing atmosphere with live music at an incredible venue. Laneway takes over the Beresford Bar and Beer Garden in Surry Hills, one of Sydney’s major gay villages and spills out onto Hill Street. It features multiple dance floors, world-class DJs, and live performances. During WorldPride 2023, Laneway will happen on February 26, and there will be a number of drag performances throughout the event. Get ready to party the night away and keep your energy going for the last week of WorldPride.
Mardi Gras Sissy Ball
Mardi Gras Sissy Ball had its first outing at the beautiful Sydney Town Hall in 2022, and it returns for WorldPride in 2023. Experience queer ball culture at its finest, with houses from around the world competing across a range of categories. It’s happening on Saturday, March 4, from 6 pm to 11 pm, so you can spend an evening watching some of the most regal and revolutionary queens, kings, and performers of all gender expressions battling it out for the top score. Kilia Pahulu, the beloved godmother to the House of Slè, returns as curator, and she will guide the event with a solid creative vision that pushes the performers to new heights.
Where to find drag events in Sydney
Gay bars and drag performance spaces can be found all throughout the city, but there are a few hotspots where you’re more likely to find drag events happening (or find someone who knows where the best drag events are happening).
Darlinghurst has long been the beating heart of Sydney’s gay scene, with bars and clubs lining Oxford Street, and plenty of them may have drag performances taking place while you’re there. Erskineville is a popular home for LGBTQ people in Sydney, particularly the Imperial Hotel or “Impy,” one of Sydney’s best gay venues that hosts regular drag events. Redfern, Newtown, and Kings Cross are other great areas to check out too.
Drag n’ Dine at Priscilla’s at The Imperial Hotel, Erskineville
The Imperial Hotel in Erskineville has been a popular LGBTQ hotspot since the 1980s, and Priscilla’s Restaurant hosts fantastic Drag n’ Dine shows every week from Thursday to Sunday. With an impressive lineup of drag artists performing at each show, performances range from stand-up comedy to classic jazz numbers. In addition, Priscilla’s offers a vegetarian menu, and you can reserve your seats ahead of time, with performances usually starting at around 6:45 pm.
Drag Trivia at the Imperial Hotel
The Imperial Hotel also hosts drag trivia nights on Wednesdays at 7 pm. Drag trivia combines all the competitive fun of pub trivia with the glitz, glam, and comedy of drag shows as your queens guide you through an evening of trivia, jokes, and amazing prizes. Fran Giapanni and Dakota Fann’ee host the events, and they are two of the funniest and cleverest drag queens you’ll ever see. You can get half-price pizzas as you try to rack your brains for the right answer, and, of course, make sure you come prepared with your favourite trivia team name.
Universal, Darlinghurst
In Darlinghurst, the heart of Sydney’s gay scene, Universal hosts fantastic drag performances five nights a week with both seasoned professionals and amateurs building their name. In 2021, they remodelled the upstairs section into a glittering dinner theatre space. Downstairs, you can enjoy a slightly more casual food and drink space along with live performances and screenings of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
On Fridays and Saturdays, they usually host themed performances, and some of Sydney’s top drag performers, including Hannah Conda and Charisma Belle, grace the stage. Walk-ins are welcome for visitors not intending to dine, but if you want to experience the divine cooking of their new Paradiso’s Kitchen, then it’s best to book a table.
Baby Drag at Slay 4 Pay and Slay 2 Stay
One of Universal’s best events is the mid-week show Slay 4 Pay, where baby drag performers try to build a name for themselves in a welcoming, community environment. Although the performers are less experienced, they’re always passionate and excited to show what they can do. Slay 4 Pay is occasionally replaced by Slay 2 Stay, a knockout competition where the pressure ramps up. Hosted by Carmen Geddit and Charisma Belle, Slay 4 Pay and Slay 2 Stay are always a super fun night out, and you might even get the chance to claim that you saw the next big thing before they got famous.
Gender Bender Bingo
Gender Bender Bingo runs a variety of drag bingo events around Sydney and throughout the week. On Mondays, between 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm, visit Coopers Hotel in Newtown, hosted by Verushka Darling and CoCo Jumbo. Head over to the Potts Point Hotel on Thursdays between 8 pm and 10:30 pm for a bingo night hosted by Penny Tration and CoCo Jumbo. On Fridays at 7 pm, The Miranda Hotel has a bingo night hosted by Minnie Cooper and Jacqui St Hyde. Penny Tration has been organising drag bingo nights for over 20 years, so you can be assured of an excellent night blending performance with five competitive rounds of bingo.
Poof Doof Drag Brunch
Poof Doof is known for its fantastic parties, and now they’ve branched out and perfected the drag brunch scene. They host their brunches at the Ivy Pool Club every Saturday afternoon from 12 pm to 4 pm. You’ll get two hours of bottomless mimosas, a high tea brunch package and, of course, incredible drag performances. Hosted by Marilyn Mootrub and starring Coco Jumbo, Sia Tequila, and Miss Danni Issues, plus a rotating lineup of incredible guest performers, each brunch has something new to offer. With some of Sydney’s best queer DJs on deck, the vibes never falter at this excellent establishment.
Queerbourhood at The Bearded Tit
The Bearded Tit is a fantastic venue in the gay-friendly neighbourhood of Redfern that celebrates non-conformity and boundary-pushing expression. This culture is always on display during their Wednesday night Queerbourhood shows that see repeat performances from Sarah Moany, Joe Pol, and Jayvante Swing. Queerbourhood is about blurring the lines between masculinity and femininity and pushing the boundaries of what drag means and what it can be.
The Kings
You’ll find it much easier to find regular drag queen events in Sydney, but the city also has plenty of drag kings on the scene. The Kings is a drag king production company that puts on regular shows and tours throughout Australia, most often in Sydney and Melbourne. Each performance is a little bit different, and you’ll get to see a full lineup of kings performing comedy routines, lip-synching, live music, and more. They’ve performed at Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville and The Vanguard in Newtown, but make sure to check out their website to see where they’re performing next.
