Void Phlux & Marionette Clown Toy

Denver drag artists Void Phlux (they/them) and Marionette Clown Toy (it/its) may seem like your average, eclectic Mile High performers, but there is something vastly different about the duo–They both suffer from several disabilities and chronic illnesses. Yes, they may struggle more than the average performer, but don’t you dare feel sorry for them. The last thing they want is your pity, and their ailments are not going to hold them back.

OFM caught up with the pair to talk more about their disorders, artistry, and how they are bringing visibility to the disabled community while also making it pretty damn sexy.

Can you begin by telling us how you two met?

Marionette: I was in a cage (laughs).

Void: We were doing a performance, but it doesn’t even remember me that night because things were so chaotic. Then we met again at X Bar. We both had shows at different venues that night, but then we saw each other at X Bar. That was about a year and a half ago, and we just really loved each other’s vibe and energy.

How did drag become a part of your lives?

Void: I am disabled, so I’m home a lot, and I also can’t have a job because I’m on disability. So, I really wanted to find an outlet for artistic things. I started asking around, "How can I get into this community? How can I start doing performance art and stuff like that?" I had to put myself out there a lot, which is very hard when you’re disabled because people are already looking at you, but you have to be like, "Look beyond that part! I want you to see that I can do art as well."

Marionette: For me, I failed school. I failed all higher education, but I was doing drag. Then I came to do drag in Denver because I was adopted into the House of Killz by Heroine Killz and Awkward Clown Boy. I have a performance history, so I was like, “I might do this.” I think this is what we’re going to do now, because I can’t work either for the same reason. I like to make art, and at the time, Gladys was open, and I basically lived there four days a week.

How would you describe your drag style and aesthetic?

Void: I call myself a drag creature. I don't like to use king, queen, or anything like that because depending on the performance that I'm putting out there, I'm either one or the other. I feel like my art can be a little bit darker, but I feel like it’s reflective of the lives that disabled people lead. I sometimes do hyper pop things as well. I don’t make all my art as dark as some of it can be, but I do want to show the community and be like, “This is what’s happening. This is how we feel,” things like that.

Marionette: I kind of took my entire family’s existence and shoved it into my eyes. As to my look, some may think I’m a weird Victorian baby doll child. I usually say a drunken toddler on a string because I fall over a lot, naturally, in my everyday life. I worked that into the brand. I fall over; it’s fun, and I love it. I’m on the ground, and I’m like, I guess this is where I am now. I guess I’ll just roll over and put my legs around my head or do something. I am not a king or queen, either. I am just a thing. I am an object, and most times, it’s my favorite thing to be.

Would you mind talking a bit more in-depth about your disabilities?

Void: I have a couple chronic illnesses, and a few rare ones as well. I have something that’s called CADASIL, which stands for cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy), and it’s a rare genetic disorder. That means that the vessels in my brain are too small, and I had my first stroke when I was 13 because of it. I’ve had a couple other strokes, and now I’ll get a few mini strokes a year at this point. I also have mobility issues because of it, and cognitively I think (I'm) much slower than I used to be. What I have results in Alzheimer's and dementia. I've seen a lot of people in my family get it and go through all the stages of it.

Marionette: A terminal disability that we both have is called myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as ME. There’s a pretty good documentary about it called Unrest by a woman called Jennifer Brea. She was a Harvard graduate, and she actually didn't end up having it, but she had all the symptoms and definitely had a whole lot of things going on. They call it chronic fatigue, but it's not even that.

Void: It’s an autoimmune disease. We both got it fairly young, but I was diagnosed in Arkansas, so I didn’t know for a long time. They pretty much told me I was just lazy. They said I had chronic fatigue syndrome, but that would mean I’d be sleepy. They didn’t tell me that it would hurt, and I would have seizures, and stuff like that.

Marionette: I’m narcoleptic, so that means I’m sleepy! I’m Denver’s premier narcoleptic drag being, so I am Denver’s Jinkx Monsoon (laughs). I joke often at myself because there are times I’ll be yelling something funny, then the next thing you know, I’ll be passed the fuck out somewhere on a couch in a basement.

Void: We also both have EDS (Ehlers–Danlos syndrome).

Marionette: Thanks, Yvie!

Void: Yeah, it’s the same thing Yvie Oddly has. Our cartilage is all weird, and it makes our joints dislocate frequently. Because of my hip dislocating and relocating, I now have what’s called avascular necrosis in my hip. It just means the bone of my hip is dying because the vessels pinched.

As performers, how has drag helped you overcome your disabilities?

Void: Doing performances and being on stage is therapy for me because I get to put art out there that I feel, and I’m also connecting with my community and expressing myself. I think it has helped my depression a lot; even my therapist and psychiatrist have noticed a change since I started doing this. I’ve only been doing drag for about a year and a half now, but I feel like my emotions are more stable.

Marionette: I feel similar to Void in that way, but I’m also a Tinkerbell performer, so the attention helps me feel like I’m not so alone. Also, I love being able to professionally submit to people for a living. Kink is a huge part of my life, and with drag, I guess I feel more qualified to do something or be smart in my thought process, whereas I feel entirely different when out of drag.

You both are showing that having a disability can, in ways, be sexy.

Void: Yes, and kink is majorly involved in both of our lives. We’re also polyamorous, and it’s very often that we don’t get seen as sexual beings. People are like, “Oh, you have to move a special way, or you have to have a rollator or wheelchair,” and that seems like an automatic turnoff for some. Of course, we don’t want those people in our lives, but it still hurts. We’ve had some people thank us for making our disabilities visible and sexy. Someone was actually doing a class project, and after our performance, they came up to me and were like, that was very inspiring. They didn’t realize there were such biased thoughts about it.

Marionette: I always find myself unpacking other people’s feelings about it.

Do you perform with your equipment and such?

Marionette: Oh, yes. There were a couple performances where I didn’t, and I was on the floor every single time.

Void: We both have a rollator, and there is not a bar that I can think of besides HQ that is accessible for us to bring rollators. We’ve had such bad experiences with it. One venue, I’m not going to name drop, but one venue took away Marionette’s chair because they thought it was a prop.

Marionette: I was like, um, I need that!

Void: People are always like, I love your prop, and stuff like that.

Marionette: Almost every single time at the end of the show, people go, “Wait, that’s not a prop?”

Void: Even when they see us walking around the bar with it, they just think we’re in character.

Where do you primarily perform at?

Marionette: I have a monthly at HQ because two of my drag nephews perform there. Since I help with their shows, they provide me a space to perform as well.

Void: I would also like to mention that we also do draglesque, and both of our burlesque parents, Allie Soreass and Eliza Rex, run a disabled burlesque group called The Broken Babes. They give us spots a lot, and it’s a very inclusive group. They’re really starting to grow and evolve.

What are some future goals you hope to accomplish with your drag careers and platforms?

Void: Personally, I want to do more online stuff and build a platform for homebound people. With my hip bone dying, I’m probably going to have to have hip replacement surgery, so I’m going to need to step back from live performances for a little bit because it’s very fragile right now. If I fell or anything, I could break my whole hip. So, I plan on doing a lot more online things, possibly a Twitch show. I eventually want to do a pageant with Marionette and call it Piss Poor Pageantry (laughs).

Marionette: My goals, I want to advocate for more accessibility in these venues and places. You can almost get inside of Tracks, but you can’t get into the dressing room. And Blush & Blu is a goddamn joke. When I stage manage there, I stage manage the danger zone. That involves me going up the back stairs, down the back stairs, up the front stairs, down the front stairs, and I can't really do stairs that well. So, it would be nice to have more ramps and things like that. I want to do more things on the internet as well because I also can’t go out as much. But when I do, I want to be able to go there!

Stay up-to-date and connect with Void Phlux and Marionette Clown Toy by following them both on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.