A cabaret act has spoken about how a visit to the bathroom helped to kickstart their career after feeling like they had lost it all due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Adam Perchard, 37, had to leave their London life and move back to their parents’ farmhouse in Jersey. As a teenager, Adam spent hours singing in their bathroom, dreaming of a life on stage. As a result of Covid, the life they had built was gone, and here they were again - back to square one.
Adam walked back into the bathroom and started to sing. After posting videos of some of these bath time songs online, Adam quickly became a sensation on the locked-down island and was commissioned a live show. Everything snowballed for the artist from there and since they have been able to step back into the life they dreamed of.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Thomas Cashman trial over Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder begins
The non-binary performer, who is bringing their show to Liverpool this month, told the ECHO: “It's my story and it's a story with a lot of heart. It's about how this bathroom used to be my refuge. When I was a teenager and I was facing homophobia at school and on the streets, I would go into my childhood bathroom I'd shut the door, have a Judy Garland moment and sing to the mirror pretending it was an audience that loved me.
“After all these years later, I found myself back in the bathroom and I found it was still a safe space for me. It was when I was in my bathroom, I realised I was non-binary and I was ready to let my trauma go and really grow as a person.”
The trained opera singer recalled they have always been somewhat queer - growing up, they would waltz around in dresses and skirts, ask for tiaras for Christmas and go against outdated gender norms. Their immediate family was “super accepting” but when they left the security of the four walls they called home, Adam would be faced with homophobia, spat at in the streets and physically assaulted on some occasions.
The doctor in postcolonial literature, who grew up in India, said: “My bathroom was my escape from that, it was this the world of my imagination and it's really beautiful. Now, through my show, I can welcome everyone into the world of my imagination and show them what I am all about.”
The former nightclub host added: “I had been slightly burnt by Jersey as a teenager and so when I moved back to Jersey, it was quite tricky. Over the course of making these videos, I realised loads of Jersey people were now embracing me, loving my queerness and really getting involved with the conversation I was creating. All of these people who I'd met online, suddenly, were all in the same room together with me. It was this explosively beautiful and joyous moment. This online community were there in the flesh and there was just so much love in the room.”
The same feeling of love is what Adam is hoping to replicate with their latest show, Bathtime For Britain, when it heads to the Epstein Theatre on Thursday, March 16 at 8 pm. Guests can expect to “wash away the last of the pandemic blues with a non-stop parade of big hits, belly laughs, and booming vocals” from the queer cabaret act. The show features live singing, story-telling, re-writes and Liberace-level costumer.
Tickets for Adam’s show can be bought online.
READ NEXT:
- Three people found dead after five went missing following night out in Wales
- Live updates as police close Speke Boulevard after bin lorry crash
- Mum couldn't afford to shop in Primark until 'absolute heroes' came to aid
- Mango shoppers praise £70 'Chanel inspired' blazer that's 'beautiful and stylish'
