There’s drag queens, and then there’s Davina Devine – a powerhouse performer, host, and LGBTQ+ icon who has been a fab fixture of Ireland’s queer nightlife for almost 20 years.
Whether she’s hosting Thirsty Thursday nights at The George or leading the charge during Pride, Davina brings a mix of glamour and genuine heart to everything she does. Davina is a true Diva, in the best possible way.
In this exclusive interview, we catch up with Davina to talk about what makes The George such a special place, how she started out in drag, and why she believes Irish drag is the best in the world…
The George has been a cornerstone of Dublin’s LGBTQ+ scene for decades – what do you think makes it so unique?
“I think the George is just really more than a bar – it’s more than a club, it’s a community space. And I feel like it’s always been a bit of a safe space across the board for everybody.
“And I feel like that goes past the kind of boundaries of LGBTQ+ too, because a lot of girls come there because they feel safe. It’s a happy space, and it’s very rare these days that there is a place like that left in Dublin city center. It’s got more heart, I think, than a lot more venues have.”
For first-time visitors, what’s one event/night they must experience when they visit?
“It depends, because the thing about The George is there’s something going on every night of the week, so it doesn’t really matter when you land in – you’re always kind of guaranteed a good time.
“That’s the other thing that’s really different with The George, is that we’ve got entertainment there six nights a week, and they’re all sorts of different flavours and different people. So there’s something literally there to suit everybody.
“And there’s always something going on, we always do specials, as well as all the regular shows. I do Thirsty Thursday, and obviously, that’s my baby, and I’m biased in that, but I enjoy all the girls’ shows.”
Do you remember your first-ever visit to The George – what was it like?
“Oh I do! My first time was a Monday night, and I remember they used to show movies on Monday nights, and it was always like, a really old queer movie. I think they were showing Torch Song Trilogy that night…
“The night I was in there I was like, ‘what the hell is this?’ Because they used to have these candelabras on the stage, and to be honest, when I think back, it was a bit like going into Dracula’s Lair, you know, that kind of way, because back then, it had just all this really weird kind of kooky stuff. So it was a little bit like a haunted house back in the day.
“There’s still a few bits and pieces of antiques that have ended up in other venues around town. I could walk in somewhere and I’ll be like, ‘Oh my god, the candelabra!’.
You’ve built an incredible career as one of Ireland’s top drag performers – what inspired you to start doing drag?
“I always had a kind of yearning to perform; I always performed when I was a kid. And then you get to that kind of awkward age where you’re like, ‘God, you can’t sing, you can’t really dance. You can’t join a boy band. It’s like, what are you gonna do?’
“I feel for a lot of child performers or people that like to sing and dance as a kid, they get to that awkward age where it’s not really cool anymore. And you’re in this transition period, so a lot of them just give up and settle into normal life.
“So I really thought I was done, and then I went to The George and I saw one of the drag shows, and I’d never seen anything like that. I just thought, ‘what the hell is this?’
“I liked the idea of taking something that I love – which is Pop music – and being able to perform it without even being able to sing it and actually create your own vibe, create your own costumes, choreograph dance numbers and all that kind of stuff. So it was a bit of a no-brainer.
“It all just literally just clicked all of a sudden. So that was it. It was really kind of by accident, to be honest. It was just that yearning for performance. And then when I saw it, I just thought, yeah, this is where I’m meant to be.”
Do you remember the first time you did your make up?
“Back then you have to understand, there was no YouTube, there were no makeup tutorials. All we had was literally a wing and a prayer, so we would just learn from each other.
“We would use whatever we could find in Boots and Brown Thomas, that’s all we had. In 2003, Mac was really the only place that you could buy lashes, and they only had one drag lash, which was the No.5. And all the Queens would just wear the number five. So you’d go into Mac and you’d be praying to God that they had any No.5s left! So things were very different.
“Make up was very experimental. Back in the day, you would have a vision, or you’d see something in a magazine, and you would try and create it. It was a really fun, organic way to learn, because everybody looked like a sack of shit, really.
“It wasn’t just one person; we all helped each other, and we all had that sense of community, and that really bonded us together, because everyone kind of had their own look and their own vibe. There was no one kind of making you feel like you were really bad, it was fun. It was very encouraging.”
How long does it take you now to get ready for a show?
“If I could get rid of the getting ready part, it would be the best job in the world! Now, it is the best job in the world of course, but sometimes getting ready just feels like such a chore, and you never have enough time. Even when I have loads of time, I still haven’t got enough time!
“It usually takes me about two hours from start to finish. And that’s when I’m putting my foot to the pedals. There’s nothing worse than just feeling unfinished, because you just don’t feel like you – it’s like creating a painting, you know? I always think it’s like that TV show 60 Minute Makeovers. It’s like the clock is counting down. And if you’re not done, the room is just unfinished.
“But it’s all a work in progress. And I think really we’re all kind of a work in progress, all the time.”
Is there any current drag makeup or hair trend that you’re not really a fan of?
“It’s funny because you can see since Ru Paul’s Drag Race started, one of the main trends that have come in is human hair wigs. Back in the day, wigs were really expensive. Say, £300 for a glamorous synthetic wig, which would just not last that long at all.
“Now everybody’s into these human hair wigs. I love human hair wigs, but I invest in human hair wigs because I have a certain style that I wear all the time, so I can get my money’s worth out of those wigs. So I’ll invest, and I’ll spend a lot of money on them, but they last me a long time, and you have to just look after them.
“I just see so many Queens walking around now with these fried human hair wigs, un-styled, untreated. It just drives me nuts.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into the drag before you even sit down to get ready.To style a wig takes about 90 minutes, you have to do the treatments, you have to do the shampoos, you have to do all the masks. You have to do all that to actually make it look good.”
Would you say there’s a quality that you have on stage that you wish you could bring more to your off stage life? Or do you feel like it’s just a natural extension of yourself?
“That’s a really good question. I feel like drag is like an extension of who you are. It’s a way to express certain elements of yourself. And I always feel sometimes that Davina Devine is very larger than life, a very strong entity in oneself. So it’s very hard.
“I always kind of have the analogy of the way there’s two sisters, maybe, in a family, and one sister is always in the shadow of the other sister, like Marcia Brady and Jan Brady. There’s Danny Minogue and Kylie. There’s Gráinne and Sheila. They’re great sisters, but they’re always a little bit in the shadows.
“And I feel like sometimes I’m in the shadow of myself, which is really weird. I’ve created this character that I feel like I never fully will live up to, and who I’ll never fully be. But the irony is that I’ve created it.
“It can be a bit of a head-mess sometimes, because you create something that people really respond to and react to, but they don’t really know who you are.
“You do live in the shadow of yourself sometimes, because when people do meet you, they’re kind of like, ‘oh…’ As though it’s quite shocking that you’re not the same person as on the stage, and that that could make you not feel great sometimes, because you’re like, ‘what were you expecting?’
“It’s impossible to be like this 24/7. It’s unrealistic, but you put a lot of pressure down on yourself to be this way and to not let other people down.
“I’ve never heard like a drag queen talk about this before, really. It’s something that I don’t think a lot of people do, because I think a lot of people let people see behind the mask, whereas I keep my private life very separate from my stage and online persona.
“I feel like I’m different in that I’ve created this kind of entity that is a fully formed person. And I want to give them that. I don’t want them to see how the rabbit comes out of the hat. It’s kind of like the Wizard of Oz, you know? When you look behind the curtain, it’s just an old man turning the dial, and the magic is gone.”
What would you say is the proudest or most memorable moment of your career so far?
“There’s so many, but I think the one that stands out is doing the live broadcast in The George with Vincent Brown for the Marriage Equality Referendum – that was really amazing.
“But you know what? To be honest, there’s so many other ones that kind of make me feel proud, when on a human level something happens where you can do something for somebody that actually just means a lot.
“I remember there was a contestant on Operation Transformation, and she was a little person, and she said on the show that she’d never been on a night out ever, and people were really mean to her when she had gone out anywhere, so she’d never been in Dublin because she was afraid.
“So I invited her to The George and she came along with all the Operation Transformation team, and she had the most amazing night. I like doing things that can actually impact somebody’s life or or make someone feel really good on a personal level. It just feels really nice to use your drag, or use your confidence, to help somebody like that.
“Because I feel like, in this day and age, we all need to be each other’s allies, we need to look out for each other. I don’t think that happens enough, you know. I don’t think people are kind enough to each other.”
If you could collaborate with any performer or artist, who would it be and why?
“When I first started out, I was in a bit of a duo, and I was with this Queen called April Showers. We were called DNA, because it was Davina and April, and she was wild.
“We were both just starting out on the drag scene, and she was much more rambunctious and wilder, and I was kind of quiet, and she helped bring me out of myself a lot. She was a bit of a larger girl, and she just had no fucks to give; so unapologetic, so confident, so funny. And I absolutely loved it.
“We used to perform every week at Bingo, and we were sort of like the terrible twos up until she quit drag about nine years ago and she moved to America for a corporate job. We had such amazing chemistry together, it was just so much fun.
“If it was anyone in the world I would want to perform with, it would probably be her, because it’s all about having chemistry. So I don’t want to say something like RuPaul or because I want to be sure that I’m going to have a good time.
“She’s back in Dublin this weekend, but I don’t think she’ll ever perform again – I think the wig is retired now.”
What’s the best drag show you’ve ever seen?
“I’m not just saying this because I’m biased, but I remember when I first came out into the scene, maybe around 1999 or 2000, and Shirley Temple Bar used to do an amazing bingo.
“It was very of its time, but it was trailblazing. And I never, to this day, have ever seen anything like it. There were so many amazing numbers, and that really inspired me as well. It was just next level.
“And to be honest, I’ve never seen a drag show like that. I don’t know if it’s something within our culture – our Irish humor -but it was absolutely incredible. There were RTE documentaries and everything done about it.
“I think nobody does it better than the Irish. We’re really great entertainers. I think we’re really great at reading the room,and really great at bringing the craic.”
What’s been the most significant change in Dublin’s drag nightlife scene since you started performing?
“I think probably the whole RuPaul Drag Race show, bringing drag into the mainstream. It’s opened up drag to a much bigger audience, and now people kind of understand drag a little bit more, and understand there’s different kinds of drag.
“It’s (RuPaul) done good things and bad things for the community. Because I think it’s made people think that drag is just a way to get famous, when there’s actually so much more to it.
“It gives, you know, for maybe straight people at home who had never seen drag, a little bit of an insight into the work that goes into it and I think they just get a bit of a kick out. So I feel like that has opened a conversation in society.
“RuPaul himself was massive back in the ‘90s but it was still quite niche and still quite kind of subversive. Whereas I feel like it doesn’t get more basic than Netflix. When something is on Netflix, everyone knows who RuPaul is without me even having to say anything.
“Drag has become so kind of normalised in that way. I think that’s so funny because it’s become so kind of normalised that it’s now a talking point or a bone of contention with people, whereas drag has been around for decades, and now all of a sudden, people have a problem with it or the negative aspects of it, which is I think, a distraction.”
What’s your typical post-show routine?
“I always have a little bit of a party in the dressing room. I always just like to decompress. I like to have the fan on full cool. Literally, the room is like an ice box, and we just sit there.
“We like to have a few little glasses of champagne. I love a bit of Moet – these days I’m really into Champagne. It’s actually nice and quiet, just sitting around with the people that have done the show.
“I used to love going out after a show, but now I’m just kind of into sitting around and talking, I’m just chilling. It’s like the adrenaline is really high and really intense, and the shows are just pure intensity. So it’s nice then to just sit back and kind of just chuckle a little bit, enjoy the moment.
“It will be just us performers having a laugh, very low key – we’ll be sitting around in our knickers, just chilling.”
Where’s your go-to spot in Dublin for food before a show?
“I actually love Yamamori. I have to say, I love a bit of Japanese. I love Yamamori. I’ve been to Floritz on Stephen’s Green twice now, and it’s unreal. It’s bougie, but it’s really good.
“But my staples are Yamamori, or Fallon & Byrne; I like things that are local to The George.”
And finally, what advice would you give to a young Queen just starting off in drag now?
“The best advice I could say is actually just go and do it, to just bite the bullet. I have a show called The Apprentice that’s running from May 1st to the end of June, and that’s opened up to all new performers in a Drag Race kind of situation, where it gives people a chance to come out and try it. Some people, I think, like the idea of it, but the idea of it and doing it are two different things.
“So I always say it’s a bit like Nike. Just do it. Just do it, and then get a feeling.
“Also, just be authentic to who you are. Don’t look at what other people are wearing. Don’t look at what other people are doing, because what people connect with is the authenticity that you bring as a performer. It’s similar to a singer or a songwriter. If you write from your experiences and what you feel, people relate to that so much better. And you can’t copy that, you can’t fake that, it can’t be duplicated.
“Whereas people might copy your wigs, they might copy your dress, but they can’t copy your message or your essence. And that is one lesson that I learned, that all you can do is you.
If you listen to yourself and listen to your gut, it’ll never see you wrong. It can apply to so many things as well, because we get so distracted with what other people are doing and it takes us off our own path.
“It might feel like the road less travelled, but actually, if it’s meant to be, it will be.”
Want to see Davina in action for yourself? Check out What’s On and get planning your next night at The George.