Break Out Of The Cage - Davina De Campo on Being Unapologetically You
Outspoken Beauty
In this episode of Outspoken Beauty, host Nicola Bond interviews drag performer Davina De Campo about her groundbreaking solo musical 'Amand
Key takeaways
- Davina De Campo is performing a solo musical monologue playing 14 distinct characters at Bridge House Theatre.
- The performance utilizes Brechtian acting techniques rather than Stanislavski's method to maintain character distinction.
Main topics
- Solo musical performance
- Gender identity and transition
Notable quotes
I can just be a person doing little person things, being a little weird creature in this weird little world.
Conclusion
An inspiring look at breaking free from societal 'cages' to embrace on
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:02) I love my mother. There are parts of my life I don't Speaker 2 (0:05) think she needs to know so Speaker 1 (0:06) much about. And I can just be a person doing little person things, being a little weird creature in this weird little world. Speaker 2 (0:22) Hi, I'm Nicola Bond and this is the Outspoken Beauty Podcast. I'm going to tell you about today's episode in just a moment. But first of all, as promised, I'm going to announce the winner of the £1,000 beauty giveaway. This is all because we are eight years old, folks, eight years old. And I know that some of you have been with me since the very, very beginning. And I cannot tell you what that means. Thank you. I can't actually believe you've stuck with me for this long. It's so nice. I do feel that over the years, we've all grown together, haven't we? I've definitely changed so much. And it's just lovely. And I hope to do this podcast until I am a very, very old lady, if podcasts are still around. But anyway, yeah, it was to celebrate that. And we have a winner picked totally at random, by the way. This is random. The winner is, well, Sophie, who is known as Straight Up Northerner on Instagram. I have also put this on my Instagram stories. But Sophie, congratulations. Enjoy the products. Enjoy sharing them. And if you could DM me your address, that would be amazing. And I will get those products out to you as soon as possible. Now then, shall we get on to today's episode? I realize that usually on a Wednesday, it's the Outspoken Review. But this week, we have a very timely episode. It needs to go out today because it is with an amazing person who is in a show. And the show finishes soon. So if you want to get tickets, you need to get on to it quickly. My guest is Davina. De Campo. Now you may know Davina from the very, very first series of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she came, well, she came as a runner up, but she was absolutely amazing. And since then, she's done so many brilliant things, some amazing shows, but nothing quite like the one she's in at the moment. It's called Amanda, The Night Before Me. And in this episode, you're going to hear what it is like to do a show totally alone and take on 14 different characters. Okay. Massive. This is such a huge thing. We're also going to talk about Davina's own journey, I suppose, to self-acceptance. And it really resonated with me in so many ways. So many things that they say during this episode resonated hugely with me. And I know they will resonate with you as well. Just what a brilliant guest. I could have talked to her forever. I'm going to put a link to the tickets for this show in the notes, but it's at the Bridge House Theatre in Penge. OK, so I guess if you're London based particularly, this might be something you can go and see. But yeah, the ticket link will be in the notes. But without further ado, here is the amazing Davina De Campo. Speaker 2 (3:15) Welcome to Outspoken Beauty, Davina De Campo. You're probably absolutely exhausted, right? Speaker 1 (3:22) I am in the middle of a solo musical monologue. Yeah, so there's nobody else on stage but me for the two hours of the show. We've had three previews so far and we're about to have our press night. And yes, I am tired, but I'm also excited. Speaker 2 (3:41) I've never... heard of anything like it because it's not only the fact that you're doing a two-hour show on your own but you're playing 14 different characters how I don't how do you how do you do this I Speaker 1 (3:55) mean I have to be honest I have been given so much help from the director Rory Six and Jerome Knowles who's the co-director and Bettina Bogdany who have just been fantastic at helping me to kind of dig out the physicality and the voice and the nuance and the little eccentricities of each character so that we've tried to make them as clear as possible so that the switch is really clear. But I mean, that's acting, isn't it? Speaker 2 (4:27) Well, yeah, I mean, it is acting, but that's hardcore. I always think back to my theatre studies A-level where we studied Stanislavski. And I wonder, are you like, because with Stanislavski, you always like became the character and lived as them. But are you doing that for 14 characters? Speaker 1 (4:44) Well, thankfully, the method is a little bit too full on. So this is more like Brecht. So you sort of put the person on their... their idiosyncrasies and their little nuances so that the audience can see who it is. Yeah, so it's more like that than it is like Stanislavski. Which Speaker 2 (5:07) is quite good in a way because it means you don't have to kind of carry them when you finish as well. Because I think one of the things when I speak to actors is that you can become so overwhelmed by the character. I think you would actually lose your mind if it was Stanislavski because you'd just be dreaming as all these different people. It would be too much for anyone. Speaker 1 (5:25) Yeah. And the thing with Stanislavski is when you actually read about him and the reviews that he got for his performances. Speaker 2 (5:37) Stop. Are you joking? Did he not get good reviews? That's terrible. That's terrible. I thought he was like this hero of acting. That's so funny. It's funny when you get older and all the things you thought you knew as a kid get completely ruined. Like my dad used to tell me stuff. He found this funny. He's admitted it. He'd tell me stuff that wasn't even true. And I used to think he was a god. And I'd go to school and always say, my dad says, and he'd be like, oh. No, actually, Speaker 1 (6:09) I'm really sorry. It was a joke. I mean, that's awful. I was telling you lies. Speaker 2 (6:13) Isn't that all my dear dad? He's so naughty. Now, listen, there's so much I want to talk about and unpack here. I mean, you find yourself right now doing this amazing show and it's called Amanda, The Night Before Me. And I think we need to start by talking about it. And it's, you know, Amanda is about to basically have gender surgery, right? And it's this kind of reflection on... their life and who they are and who they want to be. And that's kind of explored through these different characters. But I mean, one of the things I saw you talking about was like the idea of the laser hair removal. That is this big thing because there are so many things you're having to do when you do change gender. And I remember when I had laser hair removal, I spent ages talking to the woman doing it about how many people were going through that and how hard it was. Tell me about, I suppose, that aspect of the show and how you've related to it as well, like how it's made you feel. Speaker 1 (7:16) Yeah, I mean, I have had laser hair removal because, you know, obviously I'm putting makeup on my face all the time and I don't desperately want to be fighting with... Loads of hair sprouting out of my chin. And also I've got this face. Can you imagine this face with a beard? That would look hideous. So I'm just like, get rid of it. Get rid of that. And there's still some there. So I'm going back actually in a couple of weeks to have some more. I think what I find most interesting about all of these conversations is how we focus on those procedures. And it is that, you know, natural as humans we are inquisitive and we're interested and we want to find out those things but but that It then pretends as if there are women who don't have excessive, excessive in, you know, in quotes, body hair, you know, women with PCOS, women who have baldness or thinning hair, women who are very tall, you know. So we kind of, for trans people, we create this little box of what you have to be. And you have to live up to these standards, which actually most women don't have to do that anyway. You know, it's like we've created this weird idea of what a woman should be rather than what women really are, you know? Speaker 2 (8:47) Fascinating. And I would argue, I think that for a lot of women, there is a lot of pressure, but that is double, Speaker 1 (8:52) that's Speaker 2 (8:53) double pressure because actually you're, yeah, you're having to, you know, you're trying to almost free yourself by doing something that you need to do, but then you're entering another cage, which is, there's always a cage, isn't there? I don't understand, you know, we are so, we're so controlled by the expectations and the images, but yeah, that image of what, a woman is. But what's really interesting then is kind of, I mean, I was going to say I have chin hairs. I mean, I've been considering laser. And I remember my dear grandma Lily always saying to me, if I'm in hospital when I'm elderly, get rid of the chin hairs. And when women get older, often you'll see that, you know, they... They have got a lot of chin hairs and I don't want them. I hate, I've got PCOS and I'm very hairy, which is why I had laser. But I'm trying to live up to that image of a woman being very smooth and hair free. In a way, that's why, because obviously you are, you know, you're the queen of drag. You do the most, you know, Davina is the most amazing, amazing drag act. That I love because that feels freeing because that is your image of, I mean, of how