For Timothy Jackson, being in the drag queen community comes with a lot of important responsibilities.
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“I guess we all bounce off each other with ideas and stuff,” he said. “The can’s and can’ts ... and how to pluck your eyebrows.”
Jackson, perhaps better known as Timberlina, is certainly making a name in Newcastle and the Hunter. She's performing at Beresfield Bowling Club this Saturday night to raise money for Maitland Relay for Life.
Timberlina was created in August 2017 after Jackson took a trip to the United States.
“In the US, I went to heaps of drag shows and I'd always wanted to do drag, and I just thought do it!"
He came up with the idea of drag queen bingo – three rounds with performances in between.
After emailing a few places, the former Central Bar in Newcastle said yes, which eventually turned into a fortnightly event.
“We booked in the first one and had 90 people turn up and the owner was like, okay that’s good, let’s keep going,” Jackson said.
“Then we booked in another four that went really well, and he kept me on.”
When the venue changed ownership the event was cancelled, but by then Timberlina had already created quite a following.
“I started booking shows out west and up the coast, the first one in Coffs Harbour, then everywhere else and they’ve been selling out."
These included shows in country towns such as Dubbo, Parkes and Orange.
“I think for people out there it’s more exciting, because they never come to the city, so it was more like taking the city to them,” Jackson said.
"I grew up in the country so it's just like going home really.
"They've got a big gay community out west, but my main clientele out there is middle-aged women. I think it's just a night out for them. They get to have a laugh and stuff."
And while Timberlina is an experience for the crowd, she's also an experience for Jackson.
"As soon as I put on my face, I become a character, a different person," he said.
"It's the other side of me I don’t get to express as Tim. She’s very over the top and . . . sexual I would say.
"She's very flamboyant.
"She likes dropping into the splits, doing leg mounts, cartwheels, and having fun. She's very much a people person.
"They’re two totally different people. Now she’s in my life, it’s very much absorbed my life. Drag is life now for me.
"I have more costumes than boy clothes."
And speaking of costumes, getting ready is almost a full time job itself. It takes Jackson two hours to transform into Timberlina for each performance.
"It used to take three hours, but I have this one look that I do. So getting that down pat, I can break down time. But literally from shaving – your whole body – to everything else it would probably take three hours.
"I have a lot more respect for females now - it's hard. Getting into the costume is lots of work. There's lots of spanks and then coming out of drag can take an hour removing all the makeup, because it's so much makeup!"
And how does all that makeup come off at the end of the night?
"I've stopped using makeup wipes and I’ve started using baby wipes because they're much larger, but I can go through like 20 in one go because there is so much makeup on my face."
Tickets: huntertickets.com/tc-events/drag-queen-bingo