It was in 2007, while working in Ibiza, that the drag queen Divina De Campo finally got to watch the 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, thanks to a colleague who had the DVD. Before then, she had unsuccessfully tried to persuade her then boyfriend to watch it with her on their weekend trips to Blockbuster. “I loved it, I just thought the whole thing was incredible,” she recalls. “And a real epiphany, like, how have I wasted these five years of not seeing this amazing film?” Ever since, she has wanted to play the role of Hedwig, a genderqueer rocker – even cheekily tweeting that she would be up for it after coming runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019.
And now, it’s finally happening. Next month, she will take on the role of Hedwig – her first major lead in a musical – for a revival of the show that the film was based on, at Leeds Playhouse. “It’s like putting on a new coat, but one I’ve really wanted for a long time,” she says. Speaking after a day of rehearsals, she and director Jamie Fletcher – who have known each other for more than 18 years – look far from washed out. Instead, they are animated and bubbly, riffing off one another and frequently erupting into laughter. “We’re going for a curr-eh!” De Campo says excitedly exaggerating her Yorkshire accent, when I ask what they’re doing after our hour-long interview. Then she tilts back her shaved head, letting out a euphoric cackle, something she tends to do a lot.
