'There are five Princess Dianas in front of me and I feel like I'm in a camp fever dream'
Maybe it's the tooth medication, but nothing is making sense
Maybe it’s a bad reaction to the tooth medication I’m on from an emergency visit to the dentist earlier in the day, but I’m sitting within the crowd in a Manchester theatre feeling like I’m amidst a continually-spiralling fever dream.
Nothing is making sense to me.
There are five (yes, five) Princess Dianas on stage in front of me, strutting and thrusting around as they sing along to modern pop hits in a range of questionable ‘royal’ accents. And that’s just moments before a former Hear’Say member portraying King Charles III then proceeds to sing the chorus of The Veronica’s Untouched with near-perfect mannerisms of the monarch.
But, alas, I’m not in a fever dream. I’m, of course, at the Lowry to see the Manchester premiere of The Diana Mixtape. It’s sort of like Six, if you were to scrap everything you ever knew about that show and replaced it with royal drama, drag queens, and, naturally, a rapping Queen Elizabeth II played by an actress perhaps best known for portraying a Bearded Lady.
The story of the People’s Princess is certainly one that continues to captivate people. We know where we were when we first found out about the tragic news of her untimely death in 1997, and there’s a good chunk of us who could quite easily also recite the entirety of the ‘three of us in this marriage’ interview without much rehearsal needed.
So, we find ourselves on this Tuesday night going through a whistle-stop tour of the high’s and low’s of Princess Diana’s lifetime through quick costume changes, girlband-style choreography and a fair few innuendos. It's chaotic at the best of times and there's a lot going on.
Princess Diana is played by five drag artists who fans of the many iterations of RuPaul’s Drag Race will certainly recognise - Divina de Campo, Courtney Act, Priyanka, Kitty Scott-Claus and Rosé. They’re joined in the cast by Noel Sullivan, Lucinda Lawrence and The Greatest Showman actress Keala Settle - making for an incredibly prestigious round up of performers.
Created and directed by The Tuck Shop’s Christopher D. Clegg, who previously helmed the witty Death Drop, there’s a tour-de-force to proceedings: no interval, no chance to catch a breath. Billed as a mixtape, the show is happy to jump from one song to another often telling the story in way of dialogue (The use of Lady Gaga's Paparazzi and Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats make just two not-so-subtle examples of this).
Some might find it a bit on the nose at times, but it does wear this on its sleeve - The Diana Mixtape never tries to apologise for what it is. It’s not afraid to be silly, it’s far from subtle, and it manages to skirt around needing any sort of deep-dive into history.
But each queen is given a chance to demonstrate their own side of Diana - whether it’s through solo numbers, group performances or their near-perfect mannerisms of the Princess in the background, which are all slightly different but fairly accurate.
Rosé steals the show with a jaw-dropping performance of Jade’s Angel of My Dreams, which proves to be a rare moment of emotion and sincerity for the audience. But the rendition is then immediately followed by a cabana retreat - filled with inflatables, kaftans and Union Jack towels - performance of a Carly Rae Jepsen song which almost gives me whiplash due to the sheer juxtaposition of the two numbers. But, despite saying this, it still manages to sort of work out as alright and I'm not sure how.
Divina proves to be an absolute powerhouse in comedic timing - managing to save two unfortunate on-stage mishaps with their fast-witted remarks that actually end up adding to the performance rather than just serving to further highlight what went wrong.
Kitty also impresses with a dominance on stage, whilst Courtney shows she is a pro when it comes to sheer presence and vocals. Priyanka brings high energy to the stage with tight dance routines and a seriously impressive moment in heels to Doja Cat’s Boss Bitch.
Keala Settle’s rendition of Queen Elizabeth II is also a pure showstopper. Whilst severely underused (understandable considering this is a show about Diana, after all), she just oozes star power and has no problem in captivating the attention of every single moment when on stage. It's a caricature of the queen, not to be taken with high prestige, but it's never offensive and it's just an utter joy.
Noel and Lucinda, taking on the role of Charles and Camila, are infectious on stage too as they navigate through parts of Diana’s story which aren't necessarily known for being any of the Princess' fun or happy memories. They allow themselves to be seen as 'villainous' and lap up every moment.
There are however some gripes with production which, sadly, cannot go unmentioned. The sound mixing is not at a point where it should be having just come off two weeks of shows in London. There are times the music is too loud and just booming out pure bass, then there are other times the vocals end up being shouted. It’s frustrating for not only the audience but perhaps for the cast too, who are let down in certain moments because of this.
It also feels like The Diana Mixtape struggles to find the perfect balance between theatre production and drag show - and has not quite fully identified what it wants to be. There is some polishing up that could be done to make it tighter, and an expansion on the set besides back drops and props would certainly help elevate things.
But, at the end of the day, it’s a show not to be taken seriously. It’s good fun, it’s karaoke-ready, and the crowd were all up on their feet by the end as the Diana’s rounded up their run of Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue and Little Mix anthems.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s show, creator Christopher took to the stage to tell those of us in the crowd that we would be able to say that we saw The Diana Mixtape on its first northern show in five years when, he hoped, it would then be on Broadway. Whilst I feel like that is quite ambitious right now, it is still certainly a good, silly time and it’s deliciously camp. And that’s not something to be faulted for.
Diana The Mixtape is at The Lowry until August 21.
