{"id":353134,"date":"2025-08-18T02:44:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353134\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T02:44:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:44:17","slug":"i-cant-believe-i-get-to-say-im-playing-princess-diana-manchester-drag-star-shares-excitement-for-big-new-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353134\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I can\u2019t believe I get to say I\u2019m playing Princess Diana’: Manchester drag star shares excitement for big new role"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘It’s wild!’\"FiveFive drag queens will take on the role of Princess Diana in new musical Diana The Mixtape<\/p>\n

A popular drag star who has appeared on TV and made a name for themselves in Manchester\u2019s nightclubs said they \u2018can\u2019t believe\u2019 they get to play Princess Diana each night as part of a new theatre<\/a> show.<\/p>\n

Diana The Mixtape features the story of the People\u2019s Princess told through modern-day songstress anthems from the likes of Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, as well as majestic choreography, and iconic looks – with different inceptions of Diana told through five drag artists.<\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t wild enough, Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> just so happens to be played by The Greatest Showman legend Keala Settle, whilst former Hear\u2019Say member Noel Sullivan plays King Charles III. Yes, it\u2019s a lot to take in.<\/p>\n

The show will head to the Lowry Theatre<\/a>, in Salford<\/a>, from August 19 to 21 as part of a limited run following its world premiere in London in July. In the production, Diana is played by RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race stars Courtney Act, Divina de Campo, Priyanka, Kitty Scott-Claus and Ros\u00e9.<\/p>\n

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\"DivinaDivina said they ‘can’t believe’ they get to play Princess Diana on stage<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe I get to say I am playing Princess Diana,\u201d Divina tells the Manchester Evening News<\/a>. \u201cWhen the opportunity to take part in this show came up, I just thought it\u2019s something I\u2019m never going to ever get the chance to do again, is it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought that when I saw Diana and Charlie driving up the road past my junior school, I\u2019d be able to say \u2018I did you on stage\u2019. It\u2019s a wild thing to happen!\u201d<\/p>\n

Divina, who appeared on the first season of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race UK<\/a>, is originally from Brighouse but became familiar within Manchester\u2019s Gay Village<\/a> scene for their time hosting club nights and performing across its many venues over the years. Divina also famously has their own mural in the Manchester district<\/a> too.<\/p>\n

\"DianaDiana the Musical will be performed at the Lowry Theatre from August 19 to 21<\/p>\n

Whilst \u2018definitely not a royalist\u2019, Divina says there is a lot to love about Diana and believes there are a number of reasons why so many people still continue to idolise her today. “Her message was always about kindness,\u201d Divina explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe came from a very privileged background, but it didn\u2019t stop her from being able to see things from other people\u2019s perspectives. Even though she wasn\u2019t brought up on 3p noodles and 10p loaves of bread to exist on, she was able to empathise with people who were very different to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike with the HIV\/AIDS patients, she could show them humanity and kindness at a time when nobody else with that level of power would. She was able to say \u2018these are just people like you and me\u2019, and we can be kinder ebause life hasn\u2019t been. In her advocacy, she was able to humanise people. It was quite a radical thing really. She was punk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RuPaul\u2019sRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race stars Courtney Act, Divina de Campo, Priyanka, Kitty Scott-Claus and Ros\u00e9 will all take on the role of Diana<\/p>\n

In Diana The Mixtape, which has been created by Tuck Shop and directed and produced by Christopher D. Clegg, each of the five queens will interweave with each other to recount iconic Diana moments – including marriages, divorces, scandals, and her untimely death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I describe it is it\u2019s as if you\u2019ve had an argument with someone and then three hours later, you\u2019re re-running through it all in your head,\u201d Divina tries to explain of the premise. \u201cWe\u2019re like that internal monologue. We\u2019re on stage with each other, and we\u2019re also having the dialogue with the audience, whilst singing, dancing and having a real camp old time.<\/p>\n

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\"TheThe song includes modern-day songstress anthems from the likes of Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry<\/p>\n

\u201cI also love the fact that it\u2019s five different portrayals of Diana – it\u2019s different types of singers, it\u2019s different body shapes, it\u2019s different personas. They could have very easily had just one queen playing Diana but, actually, our differences really add to things and allow us to explore the different aspects of her personality onstage.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for Divina, who has toured the country in productions like Spongebob Squarepants the Musical and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it\u2019s a chance to catch up with some of her fellow RuGirls as well as meet some new queens who she has yet to have graced the stage with before. She also gets to work alongside superstar Keala.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Greatest Showman star Keala Settle plays Queen Elizabeth II in the show<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve all been so lovely and so supportive,\u201d Divina says of their cast. \u201cWhen I go wrong in the choreography, nobody shouts at me. By the end of this, If I\u2019m still getting it wrong, they might start to become a bit gnarly with me, but they\u2019ve just been brilliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoel is just phenomenal, he\u2019s absolutely brilliant in what he does. It\u2019s just fantastic, he\u2019s a really brilliant singer and such a great actor as well. Lucinda, who plays Camilla, is also amazing – she has a real physical transformation with her character.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeala is just, wow. She is an absolute powerhouse. There\u2019s no diva attitude there, she is just part of the gang. We\u2019ve just all been having a brilliant time together, it\u2019s a great show and I think people will have a lot of fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diana The Mixtape plays at The Lowry theatre from August 19 to 21. Tickets and more information here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘It’s wild!’Five drag queens will take on the role of Princess Diana in new musical Diana The Mixtape…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,1760,5763,2465,31228,519,1290,32801,2417,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-353134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-king-charles","12":"tag-lgbtq","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-theatre","15":"tag-royal-family","16":"tag-salford","17":"tag-the-lowry-theatre-and-arts-centre","18":"tag-the-queen","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115047476004901378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}