SSONet.com.au – Ian Gould
Size isn’t everything at Darwin’s Offbeat but Friendly Pride Festival.
It?s the closing party at Darwin Pride and a pink-wigged performer has taken centre stage beneath the palms at the Gardens Park Golf Links.
Local drag identity Hillary Bombing twirls and pouts to a backing track, but she?s forgotten to shave and seems unacquainted with a makeup case.
Suddenly Bombing reaches into her underwear and plucks out a barbecued sausage, feeding it to a delighted spectator. And then she?s gone: no polished choreography, no high-end lip-synching and almost certainly no rehearsal.
As it turns out, Bombing?s tour de farce is a bit like Darwin Pride ? a little rough around the edges, irreverent and imbued with a wacky sense of fun.
The Northern Territory capital?s annual gay and lesbian festival has been running on and off for 21 years, though by national standards it remains a minnow. In 2001, the festival had just five events. This year?s two-week schedule, which ended last Saturday, had 21.