Enticing, entertaining and enraging Barcelona audiences in equal measure, Kika Super Puta has rapidly ascended to one of the city’s must-see queens in her brief two years of performing. Whether it’s giving her unique perspective on life through her one-woman shows at La Federica or winning Futuroa’s Drag contest with her Shrek-stravaganza, a Kika appearance is always one-to-watch.
Next up for Kika is her turn in the upcoming Dragatha Christie: Death At St. Fanny’s Convent on 28th September at Teatro Metamorfosis. She will be joining Lady Red Velvet for the next chapter in the city’s hottest new whodunnit.
As Kika prepares for the role-of-a-lifetime, she tells Loverboy about her love of villainy, her archnemesis Meryl Streep and being on the verge of burn-out…
Kika, hello. Last weekend we sadly said goodbye to the Olympics. If you had been in charge of the closing ceremony what could we have expected?
Some big and spectacular flop. The olypmics are all about preparing to be the very best, but I feel we also need to rejoice in failure somehow.
It’s so hot right now, we are dreaming of escaping back to England. Rain, grey clouds and sleeping with a duvet. How has Kika been surviving the heat this August?
According to her press release Kika has been retired all August. She’s been in a spa in Bali, though the Betty Ford Clinic has a registration in her name for the same dates…
We’re already looking forward to later this month when we will be seeing you in Death At St Fanny’s Convent! How are the preparations going?
Fine! Although summer and vacations are in the middle and rehearsals are gonna be cut in half. This being the second production of the Dragatha ‘series’ feels so right as we have already tested rythms, jokes and interactions in the first one. This second one feels way less scary.
The first show you did with this troupe was Murder At The Snatch Hotel. Can you tell us how the group came together and how you created the first play?
Actually we were summoned by Lady Red Velvet. She choose the cast from people she had already worked with and although we knew each other, we weren’t suuper close. So this play brought us all closer in a nice way. The setup was not a competition (normally you meet drag queens in competition spaces) so we were able to build up so much from Lady Red Velvet’s script, writting down gags and puns that we came up with through rehearsing and being stupid together. It felt very much like playing with friends.
If memory serves you were the villain last time! I feel being a villain is just generally part of Kika’s DNA. Tell us about Kika’s love of villainy.
I LOVE this question, thanks for noticing and for asking. My references are quite eclectic in this matter. I guess the very first characters I related to were the flamboyant and witty Disney’s queer-coded villians (Ursula, Yzma, Cruella de Vil…). But also, due to my neurodivergent backround, I’ve always related to characters typically classified as crazy, neurotic, hysterical and in many cases, bad people. Characters in Fatal Attraction, Sunset Boulevard, Streetcar Named Desire. I’ve grown up believing that those things I liked about them (and ultimately me) were bad because they were usually portrayed as so frivolous, ambitious, mentally fragile, femenine, dark hummored. So Kika is a way for me to revisit those references, make fun of them, inhabit them as cultural landmarks that can be resignified to actually get to know me better, letting go of the clichés I interiorized for all those years.
Your arch-nemesis is actually Meryl Streep. When/How did this feud begin?
I was the actress chosen to portay Donna Sheridan in the film adaptation of Mamma Mia. I had surpassed all the stages of casting, but at the last moment the usurper (thats what I call her privately) came and began to distabalize me to get the part. She began mobbing and texting me till it got to the point I lost track of time and missed the last casting. That bitch was there though and she ruined the last hope I had to have my acting career succeed.
If someone compared your acting in Dragatha Christie to Meryl Streep. How would you take this? Which role of hers would you NOT want it to be compared to?!
Well, I’d understand. After all, she copied me in so many ways that now it’s difficult to differenciate my acting style from hers. The only question I’d pose is: Do you think its her real hair? Ha! Dont be ridiculous, she’s been bald since she started doing crack on the set of Out Of Africa.
Death at St Fanny’s Convent is a bi, maybe even tri-lingual show. Is the balance something you are all conscious of or does it just naturally come together?
We actually try very hard to balance it the best way we can. We know its success comes from how universal it can feel and yet how local it actually is. So playing with language and cultural references is a very present topic in the preparation of these shows.
When we came to the show last time, your Mum was on the next table. What did she think of the show? Were there elements of her or your Grandma in your performance? How was doing that in front of your Mum?
Such a sweet question. Thank you. She really liked it! She even asked me to record some parts and send it to her so she could show my gran! When I was little at home we were big fans of British comedy shows (loved Rowan Atkinson’s shows, Absolutely Fabulous, Monty Python, etc.) So I think even though she didn’t fully understand all the English parts, she connected inmediately with the comedic tone and pantomime style. Actually there were many elements of both my grandmas in the Mrs White character. My family comes from a very poor backround, and my grandma actually served in many houses from a very young age. I guess that experience made her develope a discourse of denying herself, trying to erase her individualism from any situation, to fade in the backround, as Mrs White does. But knowing her closely (and I realized this after many many years) she actually has a lot of opinions that she doesn’t say, a temperament she tames down and satirical points of view she shares with only a few of us. Without doing it on purpose, I portrayed this lady who plays the part she is asked to play. But she is so done with stupid people ruling over her all her life. Now I see this is pretty much my gran dragged up. Hahaha…
Drag Race España revealed their T4 queens this weekend. Might we see Kika there one day?
No, I haven’t applied yet. I can definitely see myself doing very well there but I am not sure yet if I want to go through the isolation on set and the fame afterwards that comes with it. Well, I can’t say I haven’t thought about it, and I must agree, it would be quite funny to do. Hehe…
Your performance at Barcelona Pride, having all your friends play different incarnations of Kika was so beautiful. Tell us more about that show.
Thank you again for the question, it feels amazing to be seen and followed with such care. So, this year was hectic for Kika. From doing a show a month in January 2023 I came to be doing six shows a month by April 2024. Razzmatazz, Apolo, Pride, Ravaladas, La Federica. Amazing opportunities were coming to me in such a short period of time. I began to feel quite overwhelmed and worried I couldn’t be up to all the things I expected from myself. So around May I started to burn out, be tired of shows, not be excited about the creation process anymore, and felt very isolated from my social network of friends. Then I was asked to do Pride in Plaza Catalunya. I was very scared I wouldn’t be funny or creative enough in this state of mind, so I decided I would do what I have always done; talk about how I was feeling. The show depicted my inner saboteur in the form of several evil versions of me (reference to Roger Smith from American Dad) coming to get me while I was singing ‘I need a hero’. Going from the screen to real life, which was pretty much what I was feeling. The cheesy turn to it was that those evil Kikas were some of my friends, which I love very much, and I got to have them near through that stressful time and also offered them the oportunity to experience such a rush which is performing for 7000 people. The end of the performance put emphasis on the fact that mental illness is complicated to handle alone, and there is no hero to save you from it, but sorrounding yourself with people who love and support you makes it all waaay better.
Which look has been your favourite to wear on stage so far?
I think my Shrek outfit. Even though is super uncomfortable, it is the one which people connect with me the most. The meanings in the reference, the funny saggy tits, the stylized yet ugly shape. All that is ultimately what I’m looking for in a perfomance, so I’d say Shrek is my fav so far. Special mentions to my trash unfoldable dress, that was amazing but also SO FUCKING DIFFICULT TO WEAR!!
What else does Kika have planned for the rest of the year?
Now I’m on holiday. When I come back I am already booked up until pretty much 2025. But my goal this fall is to not put extra preassure on myself, to not try to invent every thing every time, and try to learn how to persevere in this business without burning out.
Lastly we are named after the biggest selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah song?
‘Emotions’. I know, it’s quite obvious, but its strikes me as a very pretty forward and cohesive song in shape and content, which I love. It talks about intangible emotions, and it is built through intangible notes, simple drums and beautiful embellished melodies. I’m like; ok, so emotions must feel like ‘Emotions’.
Dragatha Christie: Death At St. Fanny’s Convent
Teatro Metamorfosis – 17h & 20h on 28th September
Tickets at www.entradium.com
