Jinkx Monsoon on Bringing Big Drag Energy to Doctor Who

The post Jinkx Monsoon on Bringing Big Drag Energy to Doctor Who appeared first on Consequence.

While the name “Maestro” might feel like a reference to another iconic Doctor Who villain, there’s something quite singular about the character played by Jinkx Monsoon in the show’s return this May. Literally climbing out of a piano before consuming all of the music in the world, Maestro turns out to be one of The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa)’s most formidable opponents, overshadowing the time-traveling alien’s first encounter with The Beatles in “The Devil’s Chord.”

The RuPaul’s Drag Race champion and Broadway star says that Maestro was a “dream role,” a character that represents “where science fiction meets Greek mythology — you could look at them as a god or as a demon, but what they are at the end of the day is an extremely powerful embodiment of music. And as a musical person, I felt very ready for the challenge.”

In terms of the casting, showrunner Russell T Davies wasn’t thinking about Monsoon specifically while working on the script, but as soon as he was finished, he knew she was the obvious choice. “And we booked Jinkx very far in advance, I remember, because when you’re dealing with a drag queen of that stature, they’re booked months and months and months ahead of us,” he tells Consequence. “I’m delighted that worked out. It was brilliant.”

Monsoon and Davies first met through a longtime friend of Davies named Michael, who Monsoon would eventually marry. Says Davies, “I was literally texting [Michael] on the night he said ‘I’m off on a date,’ which turned out to be with Jinkx Monsoon, which is amazing. I phoned around sort of saying, ‘What do you know about Jinkx? Is Michael gonna be alright?’ And every single person said [Monsoon] could not be a nicer partner.”

And, Davies continues, “the next thing you know, he said, ‘I’m leaving Manchester, I’m going to travel the world with Jinkx.’ That’s sort of a showbiz tale that you don’t expect to happen.” The couple is now divorcing, which Davies says “is very sad, but it’s very amicable. They’re both moving on to different parts of their life.”

In “The Devil’s Chord,” Maestro literally fights The Doctor in a full-fledged “music battle” — musical notes flying around the screen like bullets — though, Monsoon’s favorite musical moment from the episode was getting to use her voice “as a weapon. My friends have joked for years that if I became some kind of superhero or supervillain, it would be that I had some kind of supersonic screech, because the people who live with me know that I only sing at a hundred percent. So the fact that I was able to short-circuit the sonic screwdriver with my voice — that felt very cool. I was really excited for that moment.”

Behind the scenes of Doctor Who, courtesy of Disney+

Davies makes a point of establishing Maestro’s pronouns in their first scene (they/them, in case you didn’t catch it). He also notes that it’s not a pure drag queen performance, as Maestro wears some masculine looks, and “It’s Jinkx as an actor playing [the role].”

Monsoon was able to consult on Maestro’s incredible costumes throughout the episode — though not much consulting was needed. “They did want me to feel very comfortable and well represented as a trans performer, as a drag performer. But I didn’t have much to add other than ‘I love this, and I think this is brilliant,'” she says. “Every designer just had such a clear vision for this character. I could tell that the designers were having a blast working on this character, and it was an honor to get to just say ‘yes, and’ to their designs.”

While Maestro as a character has a lot of depth and mystery, part of the thrill around Monsoon’s performance comes from the thrill of seeing Big Drag Energy on screen in this context. “Honestly, I’ve been saying for a while that drag queens are especially suited for these types of roles,” Monsoon says. “You know, we are larger than life, so when you’ve got a role that’s like a vampire or a demon or a God, it’s like, ‘Go to the people who already exist in the larger-than-life realm.'”

In the past, drag queen tropes have often been incorporated into screen villains, with the most famous example perhaps being the character of Ursula from The Little Mermaid (who was directly inspired by Divine). Maestro captures a similar spirit, but unfiltered, something I mention to Monsoon.

“It’s great that you bring up Ursula,” Monsoon says, because she’s had a few recent encounters with Melissa McCarthy, who took on the role for the 2023 live-action remake. “We got to have a conversation about how Ursula was always inspired by drag queens, so Melissa went back to Divine for inspiration for her Ursula. And then to see Melissa McCarthy have everyone’s attention on her and pay so much reverence to Divine and the drag community and mention us so much… She didn’t have to, but she did. She brought up drag queens every step of the way.”

And now, Monsoon continues, “I get to take inspiration from that and put it into my performance. It’s just this circle — it’s surreal, but it’s beautiful and it makes sense.”

In the past, Monsoon adds, “There were lots of times when trans people or people were depicted as the villains or someone evil — you think of Silence of the Lambs and Ace Ventura, there’s lots of examples of it. And recently, we’ve had a lot of very genuine, authentic representation, stories written by queer people performed by queer performers — and because we’ve gotten that far, we get to go back to playing villains.

“But now,” Monsoon continues with a laugh, “we get to play really powerful, cool villains, instead of the villains that you’re conditioned to not like. That’s progress, baby!”

“The Devil’s Chord” is streaming now on Disney+. New episodes of Doctor Who premiere Fridays.

Jinkx Monsoon on Bringing Big Drag Energy to Doctor Who
Liz Shannon Miller

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