Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Lana Pellay

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Lana Pellay

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

Lana Pellay

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the work and history of the multi-talented performer Lana Pellay.

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From Wikipedia and other sources:

Lanah P (Alan Pellay, Al Pillay, Al-ana Pellay, and Lana Pellay) is an LGBTQ English entertainer who starred in The Comic Strip Presents and as Alex in the 1987 film Eat the Rich. A contemporary and friend of designer Leigh Bowery, she also dabbled in music and was a fixture on the drag circuit.

Born near the docks of Grimsby, Pellay was the youngest of six children. Her mother was a cleaner of Bajan descent, while her father was an engineer on the fishing trawlers of Indian descent. She quit school at the age of 15, making her way to Manchester, where she befriended the Northern drag performers Bunny Lewis and Frank "Foo Foo" Lammar. Pillay impersonated Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Cleo Laine and Dorothy Squires in full drag, with no microphone, and was booked into the working men's clubs throughout the North of England, as well as the cabaret club circuit.

During a lull in Pillay's drag career, while managing the Black Market Café in Levenshulme and renting a room from Coronation Street actor Alan Rothwell, Pillay was introduced to Kay Carroll and Mark E Smith of The Fall. Pillay formed her own band, the I Scream Pleasures, who subsequently appeared as guest support at Fall gigs.

Pillay recorded with Adrian Sherwood for his dub label, On-U Sound. Their effort, the post-punk/punk funk industrial tune Parasitic Machine appeared a label compilation. Pillay then metamorphosed into a disco diva as the hormone-popping transsexual Lana Pellay. Dressed in costumes by her close friend Leigh Bowery, Pellay enjoyed a Top 40 single in Australia and New Zealand with Pistol in My Pocket. She was also featured on Gary Clail's 1991 hit Human Nature.

While living in Notting Hill, west London, Pillay met Keith Allen, who invited Pillay to appear on the first program aimed at a youth audience on the recently launched Channel 4 network. There, Pillay met her champion, Peter Richardson. The latter was an actor, comedian, writer and director for the television show The Comic Strip Presents. Richardson would go on to write parts for Pellay in five episodes of the show, plus a part in the feature-length film The Supergrass. In 1986, Pellay released the PWL produced I Can Make A Man Out Of You.

Richardson also wrote the lead part for Pillay in the 1987 feature film Eat the Rich. Pillay then became a film critic on the ITV late night chat show Funky Bunker, with fellow critic, Craig Charles. A one-woman show based on her life and a cabaret review followed, along with a step into traditional theatre, playing the title role of the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires on stage in Mrs. Roger Moore.

Pellay is friends with Andy Bell of Erasure and together, they have collaborated on a number of songs, including the LGBTQ anthem, Queercore!