TuckShop, the UK’s leading specialist drag production company, announces the world premiere of CATEGORY IS: MACBETH, an all-drag reimagining of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy set against the backdrop of 1980s Soho’s underground gay bar scene. The production opens at the Emerald Theatre on 24 April 2026, running until 28 May 2026, and stars two Drag Race UK winners in the lead roles.
Ginger Johnson, winner of Drag Race UK Season 5 and Celebrity MasterChef 2025 champion, takes on the role of Macbeth, whilst Kyran Thrax, Drag Race UK Season 6 winner, plays Lady Macbeth. The production marks a bold new direction for TuckShop, known for theatrical spectacles including Death Drop and all-drag pantomimes, but this time performing Shakespeare’s original text without alteration.
The show transposes the Scottish play’s themes of ambition, power, and paranoia into the pulsing backrooms of a Soho gay bar during the height of Section 28, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and a period when queerness was criminalised. Prophecy arrives whispered over eyeliner mirrors, riots rage outside the venue, and ambition stalks the dancefloor to a soundtrack of Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, and Pet Shop Boys.
Chris Clegg, Creative Director and Founder of TuckShop, directs the production and brings together an all-star cast including Yshee Black, Cyro, and Daniel Jacobs as The Three Witches, Anna Phylactic as Banquo, Richard Energy as King Duncan, and Victoria Scone as Macduff. Further casting and the full creative team will be announced in coming weeks.
“My favourite thing about Shakespeare is that his work can transport, and has been transported, to just about every location and every era and has been taken on by some of the world’s greatest performers,” Clegg said. “Category Is: Macbeth will be no exception. Our bold new take on this bloody fight for the crown will find new meaning and entertain audiences like nothing else TuckShop has taken on before.”
Clegg emphasised the natural connection between drag and Shakespearean performance traditions. “To be working with not one, but two Drag Race winners who are both Shakespeare lovers is going to be a thrilling challenge. And, just as in Shakespeare’s time, cross dressing is truly on the cards across the whole cast. Drag is powerful, raw, and has been around since this play first existed, so marrying the world of 1980s London, the drag scene, and the Scottish play makes so much sense.”
A Tragedy Born Under Strobe Lights
The production explores what happens when masculinity is policed, queerness is criminalised, and the price of visibility becomes everything. In this reimagining, the witches’ prophecies emerge in the haze of cigarette smoke and club lighting, whilst Macbeth’s descent into paranoia unfolds against a backdrop of police sirens and underground resistance.
The show’s setting during the 1980s AIDS crisis and Section 28 era adds layers of historical resonance to Shakespeare’s themes of persecution and survival. In a world where being visible could mean death, either from state violence or disease, the characters’ desperate grasps for power take on new meaning. Wigs slip, crowns are stolen, and blood proves impossible to wash out under club lighting.
This marks a significant evolution for TuckShop, which has built its reputation on productions including The Diana Mixtape, Cool Rider, and a series of all-drag West End pantomimes. The company has consistently pushed boundaries in drag theatre, but CATEGORY IS: MACBETH represents its most ambitious classical theatre undertaking to date.
When the Law Says You Don’t Exist
The production asks a central question that resonates across centuries: when the law says you don’t exist, how far would you go to rule the night? Shakespeare’s exploration of ambition, guilt, and the corrupting nature of power finds fresh urgency when transplanted into a community fighting for its right to exist.
Dark, defiant, and drenched in 1980s synth, the show promises gore, glamour, and a radical reclaiming of a classic famously tackled by some of Britain’s most revered classical actors. The production challenges expectations of what drag theatre can be, moving beyond camp entertainment into hard-hitting dramatic territory whilst maintaining the art form’s inherent theatricality and visual spectacle.
Performances run Monday, Wednesday to Saturday at 7.30pm, with matinees on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2.30pm. The production has a running time of two hours including an interval and carries an age guidance of 14 and over.
