Interview with Crudi Dench
Words by Amelia Stallworthy
Crudi Dench is the drag persona of Matt Stallworthy (my brother!). Originally from Liverpool, Matt began doing drag here at the University of York. He performed as part of ‘Comedy society’, improvised with ‘The Shambles,’ and joined the team at ‘Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody.’ As well as being a part of those performance groups he has created the award winning ‘Haus of Dench!’. Crudi, alongside Kate Butch, Dyke Van Dick, and Tyler Sleaze, held regular cabaret/club nights, including ‘Lip Sync Lollapalooza’ in Fibbers allowing a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community to showcase their talents. In Brighton he is currently the ‘Dabber’s Bingo Next Top Bingo Caller 2022’ whilst working as a university event coordinator. “Every time I perform in York it feels like I'm coming home. It's Crudi’s birthplace and one of the venues where we have performed the most, so it feels like we are coming back to home turf” (Dench).
Crudi in action
I have been lucky enough to see him in clubs in Liverpool, in Edinburgh alongside Kate Butch in ‘Drag Queens vs Zombies,’ and here on campus. His drag style is completely unique, described as “impressively quick and witty,” and totally not inspired by our mum... “I’m Crude by name, crude by nature! I'm absolutely a classic comedy queen through and through. A Yorkshire cross-dressing clown! I like to smash up gender binaries with my drag. I'm a big hairy lass so the beard stays on and is incorporated into my gorgeous makeup. Performance wise, I love a lip sync mashup, taking viral clips and old comedy sketches and mashing them up with modern pop hits seems to be a winning formula for me so far. I’m inspired by Lily Savage, a scouse icon and so quick witted, everything I aspire to be in life! I can remember watching her when I was little on Blankety Blank thinking "Wow this tall lady is very funny!" That classic, camp British drag I absolutely adore.” (Dench)
Our exhibition, queer!, which Matt is featuring in, is keen to present a range of art that represents and celebrates the diversity of the queer community, from protest art to creatives in our University. Drag performances are art in which the body becomes the canvas and have been around since Ancient Greece, going through different manifestations to become what we consider drag to be now. Matt says: “it's interesting because I do think drag is an art form; an art form that is incredibly flexible because there isn't one type of drag performer. The key component is a critique of gender and other than that there is free range. Hence my beard, comedy, and northernness; I like to see how they play together. I think it would be interesting to have drag in galleries but for me it is all about the performance. Drag is a combination of traditional gallery pieces of fashion, photography, and video. But drag queens don't do well in lit places, they thrive in bars and dimly lit places!”
Crudi Dench
This is Norman Rea gallery’s first queer exhibition and their first ever drag performance in the gallery; we recognise the gap that has existed in the gallery’s past exhibitions and events. So an aim for the gallery is to create a safe space for the community to feel represented and perhaps experience new forms of queer art like drag for the first time. “It's vital for space. As much as people like to critique Miss Rupaul she has broken down barriers in terms of accessibility. There is a worry of entering those spaces that you are going to be rejected and not understood and so there needs to be mutual respect for the cultural transaction to be a success. You've got the protests happening in America and the UK over the drag queen storyline which is so ridiculous and over the top, just because someone's wearing a wig and makeup there's no difference in telling stories.” (Dench)
A poster from one of Crudi’s previous performances
If you’d like to see Crudi Dench perform, you can catch them performing at the Norman Rea Gallery on 2nd February and art from their past performances in the gallery’s upcoming ‘queer!’ exhibition, displayed above the Courtyard in Derwent College from the 30th January 2023.
