"Drag queens can be triple threats!": Divina de Campo and Viola at Bury Pride

The streets of Bury came alive with colour on Saturday as Bury Pride was celebrated for 2024. The event, which initially started in 2017, saw hundreds line the town’s Knowsley Street to celebrate LGBTQ+ diversity and unity.

As part of the celebrations, a day of musical acts were organised on stage, including drag queens Divina de Campo and Viola.

Divina de Campo, stage name of performer Owen Farrow, was runner-up in the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, a BBC adaptation of the American series of the same name. She has previously performed on The Voice UK and All Together Now and recently starred as Plankton in the UK tour of The SpongeBob Musical in 2023.

Viola, stage name of Niall Trowsdale Stannard, appeared in the second series of Paramount+ programme Queen of The Universe. Originally from Coventry, Viola is now part of Manchester’s drag scene having studied at the city’s Metropolitan University. She learned to play the violin aged seven, and the flute aged fourteen, incorporating both into her acts.

When asked how programmes such as Drag Race and Queen of The Universe have impacted the drag scene, Divina de Campo discussed its diverse cultural history. “Drag was always a massive part of TV in the UK and it’s been a huge part of our culture,” she said.

“We have the history of it right the way through from Shakespearean times, then you get the Gang Shows, and we saw loads of it on TV.” 

She then went on to discuss TV appearances from late drag artist Lily Savage, played by comedian and presenter Paul O’Grady, adding “[She] used to be on The Big Breakfast in the early 2000s interviewing people. You can’t imagine that now; it would be too much for our moral panic at the moment. So, I think it’s just reminded people in the country that drag is just great fun and has a wealth to offer.”

Viola discussed the versatility of drag artist’s talents that has been shown by these programmes. 

“It was always known that drag queens are lip-syncers and dancers, and we forgot that drag began with singers,” she highlighted. 

“Queen of The Universe reminds everyone that drag queens can be triple threats! Drag queens can be singers too, and we can lip sync as well at the same time, and we can play violin as well, babes!”

Both artists also appreciated the importance of performing at smaller pride events, such as Bury.

“Smaller prides like Bury, you can see kids coming around […] that wouldn’t be able to come to Manchester Pride and bigger prides, where especially there’s expensive tickets involved,” said Viola. 

“It’s great for visibility for them to just be able to see that queer people can be loved and appreciated and be celebrated in such a way like this.”
Divina de Campo argued that these prides “are the most important in the country.” I love Manchester, London, Brighton, Birmingham, all of the big prides, I love them,” she said.

“But those are already spaces which are much more gay friendly, and they have established gay scenes, whereas places like Bury (which maybe don’t have such an established gay scene) it has a much bigger impact on the community at large than Manchester Pride does, say.”