drag
I am genderqueer. Ask me about it if you like.
I am also a professional drag king with 11 years' experience, as my alter ego Cesar Jentley. On stage and in film I explore gender identities, politics, sexuality and love, with stand-up comedy, singing/rapping, dancing, sketches, monologue and experimental performance art.
I create cultural space for queer women, trans and non-binary folks in particular, though I am also thrilled by the response from and connection with more 'normative' or previously clueless folks too, every time.
Sex Sex Men Men at the Yard Theatre. Photograph by Holly Lucas.
WINNER - ‘IDEA’ OFF-WEST END AWARD 2019
for 'Sex Sex Men Men' with Pecs at The Yard Hackney Wick
★★★★ The Guardian “funny, smart and downright sexy...[Griffiths is] quietly commanding...a cunning linguist”
★★★★★ spyinthestalls
“nothing short of incredible"
I worked for six years with Pecs Drag Kings, performing to consistently sold out audiences at a range of venues including The Southbank Centre, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Royal Academy, Brainchild Festival, Latitude Festival, The Glory, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Brighton Pride, London Pride, The Yard Theatre and Soho Theatre.
Cesar Jentley and Scott Free in ‘Sex Sex Men Men’. Photograph by Holly Lucas.
Since creating and performing, ‘Mentl: in response to Barbara Streisand’s Yentl’ in late 2019, I have been collaborating with Birds’ Eye View, touring cinemas with live performances around the country and now working online, hosted by the incredible Mia Bays (right), with support from the BFI among others.
Commissioning from BirdsEyeView has not only allowed me to experiment with Cesar's online potential, but has also allowed me to develop less binary gender performance, such as when we toured 'L'Auteur: in response to Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire', and I debuted as FEMINEM, with comic film critique and bespoke, original music.
More work from both Cesar and FEMINEM is in development, and Cesar's male swimwear shoot with Waddon Productions for Transmission Magazine will be released any minute...