Russella, London’s Top Tranny

Who is that mysterious face in the cafe window in Dalston, lost in such dreamy contemplation? Is it an obscure European princess, taken flight on a state visit to London in the manner of “Roman Holiday” and yearning to discover something of the life the of the common people in the East End? Is it perhaps a Hollywood starlet conscientiously researching her role in a forthcoming romantic comedy about a Hollywood starlet and an East End barrow boy? Or is it Goldilocks in her red cape, who has somehow strayed too far in the forest on her way to grandmother’s house and discovered herself lost on the Kingsland Rd? All of these are possible, though what is certain is that this delicate presence incarnates a rare glamour which captivates the spectator. Yet the simple truth is this picture records an ordinary scene in the daily life of Russella, London’s Top Tranny.

Eager to learn more of the alluring enigma that is Russella, I asked Spitalfields Life contributing photographer Sarah Ainslie to turn paparazza for a day in an attempt to capture some intimate images of Russella’s life in the East End. And it was my privilege to be granted a rare telephone interview with Russella herself which I publish here to accompany Sarah’s  affectionate portfolio of cherished tranny pictures.

The Gentle Author: May I ask you about the word “tranny,” what does it mean?

Russella: When I started doing drag, I think “tranny” was a word that was probably derogatory, so we were reclaiming it. I know some people think a tranny is a transvestite but that’s very different, they actually dress up for kicks or they do it on a more full time basis. I don’t really know how to explain “tranny,” it doesn’t really mean anything other than we’ve updated the term “drag queen.”

The Gentle Author: I can’t say the word “tranny” without smiling…

Russella: It’s a fun word isn’t it?

The Gentle Author: Can you tell me about your origins?

Russella: Originally I was a more traditional drag queen and I went by the name Christina Draguilera but then I decided I wanted to be more performance art and avant garde, so I changed my name to Russella. The official story is that I started doing drag because I entered a competition and I won it, and then I was offered more and more work – but I think the reality is I was probably having an identity crisis…

The Gentle Author: Let me say, I think your “Next Top Tranny Contest” is a tour de force and I predict big things for it.

Russella: It’s strange because there’ve been all sorts of competitions, but this format seems to work quite well, even if the first winner was a sixty-five year old truck driver and the last winner was a drag king! And it’s all quite messy isn’t it? I try to make it glamorous but, the more I try, the more of a mess it becomes…

The Gentle Author: Had you ever thought of launching your own chat show?

Russella: I would love to, but I did actually go on the “Weakest Link” and I was quite wooden. A film man once said to me that sometimes when you put people who are quite outgoing in front of a camera they just freeze, so I think I would need more training for that. I do like asking questions actually.

The Gentle Author: Tell me about your ambitions.

Russella: I have a show about Princess Diana that I used to do, it was a really great show and I’ve been thinking about bringing it back for years now. It’s my next biggie. I think it’s time we brought Princess Diana back. It’s such a touchy subject, I performed extracts of it somewhere quite corporate recently and they were a bit disgusted by it, even though it’s twelve years ago. All her dresses have been taken out of Kensington Palace, so she’s officially in the past now but I think she deserves to be remembered.

The Gentle Author: Do you think there’s a spiritual side to trannies?

Russella: I do think there’s an ethereal quality – because it does just come from nowhere. I put on my clothes and my wig and I become something else. I think that for a long time I embodied this thing I’d become, but I actually go to therapy now and, since I’ve been having therapy, I feel more and more like a clown, like I am putting on a costume whereas before I actually became this other character. I suppose it is quite spiritual – something’s going on! I feel like when I am doing drag it’s like becoming a child again, acting and behaving in a way that you wouldn’t in day-to-day life. People find it quite hard to dress up and run around laughing and joking and poking fun at things. But when I am in drag, it’s like you become the person that you are supposed to be.

The Gentle Author: I feel that this performance liberates something in the audience too, a sense of misrule.

Russella: I can’t imagine what it’s like for the audience because I am in the moment, but I suppose it must be like watching a little child play – you do get that feeling of “anything is possible”

The Gentle Author: There was this sense of danger, that it could all go so wrong, and it did and we loved you for it.

Russella: I guess I like chaos, because I’m constantly striving to make everything perfect which it’s not.

The Gentle Author: Are you an East End girl?

Russella: Originally I am from Yorkshire and the reason came to Dalston was because of my friend, who’s actually a pop star now, Paloma Faith who lives up the road from where I live now. I moved from Yorkshire with no job so I slept on her sofa for a year. That’s how I ended up in the East End.

The Gentle Author: But is this your home now? Or is there another part of London you want to be?

Russella: Chelsea! I want to sell out and live a quiet life in Chelsea.

Russella sets her cap straight.

At Avant Garde, 466 Kingsland Rd

At Wah Nails, 420 Kingsland Rd.

At the First Class Laundrette, 408 Kingland Rd.

Learn more at Russella’s horticultural blog The Glamorous Gardener.

Always gracious with fans who strike up conversations.

At Tin Cafe, 1 Middleton Rd.

Pondering the mysteries of the postal service.

Relentless in her pursuit of five a day.

Enjoying seasonal fruit.

Making good use of her Princess Diana tea towel.

At A Bit of What You Fancy, 465 Kingsland Rd.

Dreaming of meeting a Mudlark one day…

Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie

The Mudlark & The Tranny have agreed to get together for a CHIT-CHAT next Wednesday 24th November at 7pm. Russella, London’s top tranny gets down and dirty with Steve Brooker, London’s top mudlark! This is the second of my CHIT-CHATS in which characters from the pages of Spitalfields Life interview each other live in front of an audience, after hours in the Rough Trade East record shop in Dray Walk, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. Admission is free and no booking is required, just turn up at 7pm.  I have no doubt it will be as amusing and informative as The Stripper & The Oral Historian proved to be last time, and we can all go along to the Golden Heart again for a couple of drinks with Sandra afterwards.