‘Glamrou: Drag Mother’ review: A revelation of family, faith and identity
Amrou Al-Kadhi has mummy issues. And to see photos of their mother projected above the performer onto the white drapes in the main theatre space of London’s Soho Theatre, you can understand why. She… is… fabulous. It really is the image that every gay boy wished that their mother would look like. While my own mum always took pride in her image, she was always more a slightly upmarket Greek-Cypriot take on Pat Butcher in her Zara leopard print than this Loewe wearing Iraqi goddess.
In Glamrou: Drag Mother – the autobiographical solo performance recounting the writer-director’s relationship with their mother – Amrou’s drag alter ego Glamrou takes us on a journey from a brutal vision of Iraq “during the British invasion” (as they recollect the events, which may or may not have had some dramatic stamped queer tax added to the memory) through to their early years growing up in London’s chic Knightsbridge.
It’s through introspective spoken word peppered with comedic wit and song that Glamrou brings their early years to life. The soundtrack comes courtesy of the performer’s take on such musical luminaries as Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (Katy Perry to you and me), Lorde, and a re-worded Charli XCX brat megamix.
“Mother is brought to life when Glamrou slips into a niqab and then a glittered pink jacket”
On stage, the statuesque Glamrou delivers an imposing image: their wig’s thick black hair is encased in a neon orange headdress – made of braided real hair by WigChapel – rises up over their head then cascades down their back. Mother is brought to life when Glamrou slips into a niqab and then a glittered pink jacket, their voice imitating Mother’s accent… and offering perspective on those same memories.
Taking on the voice of Mother, the writer-director-performer presents a complex relationship built on a precarious dance between admiration and resentment, as reflected by each of the other. Freud would have a field day.
It’s seemingly intentional that Glamrou’s unpolished drag plays out as the counterpoint to their mother’s more traditional presentation of femininity and refined elegance. It’s homage and reverence that is met with disappointment and disapproval. Glamrou isn’t trying to emulate their mother or replicate her; rather, it feels there’s a reverence that conflicts with her rejection of their drag.
“The dynamics and emotional conflict are certainly relatable”
For Mother, she has lived an entire life under a patriarchal world, and she cannot comprehend why her child has – in her view – chosen to take on their embrace of their femininity.
The revelations aren’t new to followers of Amrou’s work, from their poignant memoir Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen and their directorial feature film debut Layla, that was selected to be screened at Sundance Film Festival and opened the BFI Flare festival in 2024. Amrou’s regular columns for Attitude have also charted – and dissected – the evolving journey of this mother-child relationship, providing a glimpse into the changing dynamic of even the most stable parent/child relationship.
If the situations are completely alien to most in the audience – Amrou being the child of Iraqi-born Muslim parents raised in wealthy central London – the dynamics and emotional conflict are certainly relatable. Amrou delivers their view casually but with the gravitas a lifetime of emotional turmoil requires to bring the audience into their world.
Glamrou: Drag Mother is at the Soho Theatre until Saturday 25 January.
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