Last Friday, I had the great joy of attending The Oxfordshire Drag Collective’s competition 'Oxford's Next Hot SPUD’, in which 11 acts competed for the title across a varied and highly entertaining evening. ‘SPUDS’ stands for ‘Strange People Undertake a Drag Show’ and SPUDS shows are well-established and well-loved in Oxford. Tonight’s judges included the Drag Queen Cairo, the Burlesque performer The Dumb Belle, and a guest judge from Oxford Pride.

The show was bookended by two of the more straightforward acts, Lily Lovelace and Lozza Cherry Mateo. Lily Lovelace opened the show with a lip sync to ‘Holding Out for A Hero’. She had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction but kept up great energy throughout.

Lozza Cherry Mateo’s costume consisted of an ornate, pearlescent body suit. She smoothly performed an ambitious routine to ‘Love (drag mix)’, with the lighting dimmed for the most part. This added an element of excitement but made it hard to see her moves, which were (from what I could gather) very impressive.

There were some delightfully high-concept acts. Drag Queen Brittania, in a candy-coloured costume and blue wig, performed a mix that began with a voiceover as she pretended to write in a diary about a crush and then led into ‘Stupid with Love’ from the Mean Girls musical, this was spliced with other songs about being rendered dumb with attraction. It was clear the performer was powering through some nerves, but she needed to have worried. From the adorable makeup to the amusing concept, the act was vastly entertaining.

Drag King Fuck Boi Jeff mesmerised in a bait-and-switch double act, arriving on stage singing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’, evoking an effortlessly masculine brand of Americana before the lights cut out and the baseball cap came off. In the dark, the performer was illuminated in glow-in-the-dark body paint, from stripes on the abdomen and arms to the eyelashes. The act became a dazzling dance sequence, as Fuck Boi Jeff, now dressed in hyperfeminine lace lingerie pulled eye-popping moves with a fierce confidence. One of the most thrilling and memorable performances of the night.

A second Drag King, Petit Pois, meanwhile, was a tiny Travolta, jiving along to a ‘Grease Mix’ in a black wig and flares (which we then discovered, were held on with velcro), and crooning to a blow-up doll with Sandy’s face pasted on. It was a slickly professional, methodically plotted and infectiously silly act. Petit Pois also dared to bring an audience member onstage for part of the routine, which further emboldened the audience. They ended the act in a nude bodysuit with drawn-on abs, and a beatific grin.

But not only the drag acts shone, there were also multiple burlesque performers strutting their stuff to great effect.

Lady Zoodoo began her act in a white cocktail dress and long gloves, before gradually disrobing to the tune of Christina Aguilera’s ‘Ain’t No Other Man’. The MO of this act could be summed up by Mae West’s famous line ‘Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one home, I’m tired’. In between removing layers, she implied an impressive array of lewd acts, contrasting with both the song’s lyrics and the dainty precision of her costume and moves.

Her interaction with the audience was next-level and brought out the humour of the piece, making it the perfect mix of silly and sexy.

Also very entertaining was Muffin but Trouble, who performed ‘Sweet Tooth’ from Wonka, with joyously creative accessories, including fans made from Cadbury Heroes lids and a fringe of sweets wrappers, and pasties from the same. Her performance, fittingly, also felt sweet, with effervescent energy and pacy, cheerful choreography.

Bridging the line between burlesque and drag was Shayama, whose sultry and explosive dance to Nicki Minaj’s ‘FTCU’ included impressive full-bodied moves and a passion behind them. It was impossible to look away.

Not all the acts needed high concepts or rigorous routines to impress. Francis Lightningheart, who came out in a drawn-on goatee and hair long and bright enough to make an 80s rocker jealous, absolutely dominated the stage in a lip sync to The Struts’ ‘In Love With The Camera’. Although the song is fairly recent, the performance had a distinctly classic rock feel to it. Lightningheart carried a digital camera and took audience pictures throughout the act, which further thrilled the crowd. The big energy of the performance got every single audience member dancing in their seats.

Another stand out was LuJane Oud, who delighted in a stunning yellow dress and impeccable makeup, performing a both deeply funny and impressive routine to ‘Arabian Bellydance Comedy Mix’. Both the physical comedy and the technically impressive moves in her performance were impeccably timed, making the performance a triumph.

But the crown that night went (quite fittingly) to Henry the 8th, who performed an original song to the tune of Meatloaf’s ‘I Would Do Anything for Love’ all about the plights of his poor misunderstood self. The performance was riotously funny and creative, and the costume, which included a bedazzled codpiece, delighted. A well-deserved winner.

In between acts, Scarlett Von Kok made a wonderful host, bringing contestants out of their shells with her acerbic humour, and leading the audience in a sing-a-long to ‘Reach’ by S Club 7 in one of the intervals.

The judges were superb as well, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and constructive in the critiques.

All in all, it was a deeply enjoyable evening, and I very much look forward to attending SPUDS next show, come April.