5 Drag Queens, Noel Sullivan, Keala Settle and Diana Princess of Wales isn’t necessarily a group of people I expected to be writing about in the space of one review but thanks to The Diana Mixtape I have been proven wrong. The show itself tells the story of Diana Princess of Wales through iconic pop songs and Diana herself is played by 5 of the biggest names in drag, Courtney Act, Divina DeCampo, Priyanka, Rose and Kitty Scott-Claus and of course along the way we meet Queen Elizabeth II (Keala Settle) Prince (as he was then) Charles (Noel Sullivan) and Camilla (Lucinda Lawrence).

The song choice for the various points of Diana’s life is iconic and inspired, from Keala Settle appearing as Queen Elizabeth and delivering Kelly Rowland’s Commander to Beyonce’s ‘Freakum Dress’ when Diana wore that revenge dress, or from Carrie Underwood’s ‘Before He Cheats’ when Charles and Camilla’s affair became apparent to Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi’ when Diana’s privacy starts get invaded ensured that not only did the song very much fit the moment but they were all huge anthems which meant that the audience were very much on side. Combine these with Britney Spears, Dua Lipa, Kylie, Jade, Chappell Roan and more and it was a brilliant playlist and one that wouldn’t be out of place at a gay club.

The 5 Queens take it in turns as the People’s Princess and they also get a chance to show off their vocal ability whilst doing so. Rose’s moment in the spotlight was the wedding and her vocals during Angel of My Dreams really gave her a chance to shine and delivered the vocal performance of the night. Courtney Act performed Sorry Not Sorry and once again showed just why she is so big in the Drag scene with solid harmonies and bundles of stage presence. Not all of the Drag Queens have the same vocal (or dance) ability and Priyanka was a prime example of this in her version of Paparazzi however she oozed charisma and won the audience over by mocking her own attempts at an English accent. Kitty Scott-Claus also stood out in terms of her mannerisms being remarkably like Diana herself, something that she had clearly studied and Divina De Campo once again showed off her versatility as a performer and the range of songs she delivered!

They also appear together as Diana frequently throughout the show and whilst their harmonies could have used some work, nobody, myself included seemed to care because we were having too much fun. Many of the numbers were huge numbers, with choreography by Taz Hoesli and 5 backing dancers thrown into the mix ensured that the energy never dropped.

Keala Settle threatened to steal the show with her appearances and delivered the vocals she is renowned for but also showed that she could do comedy, it was just a shame that we didn’t get to see more of her throughout the show. Noel Sullivan was the hapless Prince Charles and worked wonderfully with all of the Queens although fittingly the majority of his stage time was with Lucinda Lawrence as Camilla who lapped up the boos as much as the cheers.

The wig and costumes are always a huge part of any drag show but in this show where fashion was such a huge part of Diana’s public image it was even more important than normal. River Smith, the costume designer got it spot on, the wigs were instantly recognisable as Diana and most of her iconic looks were present at some point in the show. One of the highlights was how each Queen made the look their own, Diana’s revenge dress was the perfect example of this, each of their costumes was instantly recognisable as the revenge dress yet each of the Queen’s had their own twist on the dress.

At some points the attention to detail was set high, the reference to Diana’s support of Aids charities was in there as was the tampon reference along with much more during the video montage set to ‘The One That Got Away’ by Katy Perry. Despite this the attention to detail in the technical side was lacking, there were often late pick ups on the microphones, sound balancing issues and late cues. The layout of the venue also meant that there was often a struggle to even see parts of the show, with the back half of the venue standing tickets once you were one or two rows back much of it was lost to a sea of heads.

Whilst The Diana Mixtape may not be one of the most polished it is certainty the most fun I have had at the theatre in a long time. The Diana Mixtape is camp, flamboyant and I loved it…..what ever love means!!!

The Diana Mixtape is on at Here at The Outernet until August 10th. You can find out more and book here.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Titanique, Six and Operation Mincemeat.