DUCT TAPE is a collective of drag queens from Berlin, founded in 2022 by EMI, Symba and Magda von Pfeffer. It produces drag shows, events and cultural projects and works with drag and performance artists from Berlin, across Germany and abroad.
© Gaysi Family
It did not start with a business plan but with an idea: put on a drag show together and, alongside it, write a Christmas musical of their own. EMI, Symba and Magda von Pfeffer were all at the start of their drag careers. The first show in September 2022 at the Salöön at Holzmarkt was also the first appearance under the name DUCT TAPE, and it sold out straight away.
Since then DUCT TAPE has celebrated a big birthday show at the end of every September. A spontaneous project has become an established name for large-scale drag and performance formats in Berlin.
DUCT TAPE combines drag with theatre, comedy, dance, music, pop culture, camp, fashion and performance art and deliberately refuses to be pinned to a single style of drag. The collective moves between theatre drag, club drag, comedy and performance art.
Every production is conceived as its own world, with its own dramaturgy, visual language and a clear standard of quality. That includes original concepts, elaborate shoots and promo campaigns that make every show distinctive. The guiding question is always the same: what has not yet been seen on a drag stage?
In the Berlin scene DUCT TAPE fills the gap between bar shows, club performance and large theatre productions. The shows reach drag fans as well as audiences encountering the art form for the first time, and regularly give new artists a big stage.
2022
In September 2022 DUCT TAPE took the stage for the first time, at the Salöön at Holzmarkt. The night sold out and became the starting point for everything that followed. Since then the collective has celebrated its birthday with a big show at the end of every September.
2022
In December 2022 the drag Christmas musical HOLY GLORY was staged for the first time. It tells the story of the birth of Jesus with a humorous drag twist and brings together music, comedy and theatre. DUCT TAPE wrote, directed and produced the show itself; it is the collective's most ambitious original production to date.
2023
For eBay and the agency Jung von Matt, DUCT TAPE developed the YouTube talk show HOT STUFF, the first German drag talk show by a major marketplace. The season ran for six weekly episodes on a wide range of topics, each one explored and humorously reflected through DUCT TAPE's drag lens.
2024
DUCT TAPE received the REMIX Popculture Icon Award for its cultural engagement.
2025
On the main stage of Berlin Pride (CSD), DUCT TAPE performed in front of around 30,000 people, the collective's largest audience so far. Under the Pride motto „Nie wieder still“ (Never silent again), DUCT TAPE staged a continuous 25-minute performance with more than 12 numbers and 25 artists.
2026
Together with Gaysi Family and the Goethe-Institut New Delhi, DUCT TAPE toured Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata in February 2026. The exchange continued with guests from India at the fourth anniversary show in Berlin.
Partners, brands and institutions DUCT TAPE has worked with include: eBay, About You, Zalando, Lieferando, Lollapalooza, Tinder, No Cosmetics, Anytime Studios, Gaysi Family, Goethe-Institut New Delhi, Theater im Delphi, Holzmarkt, rausgegangen, CSD Berlin, Ritter Butzke, SCHWUZ and Cura Berlin.
Around the collective the DUCT TAPE Family has grown: a network of drag queens, performers, dancers, hosts and singers from Berlin and beyond. Guests include Aquaria, Jimbo the Drag Clown, Derrick Barry, Tessa Testicle, Miss Abby OMG, Hungry, Miss Ivanka T. and many more.
