Rewind to 5 years ago, and there you have an unpromising time in Northern Ireland with next to no LGBT+ representation and the hope of equal marriage seeming a million miles away. But this did not stop me and my fake ID dancing the night away in Maverick, a gay club in Belfast and much to my delight Azzuro Penderghast was performing at an open drag stage, “Like open mic but for queers.”
Fast forward to today and we are both rehoused in Liverpool, the only difference being Azzuro now has higher heels and sharper nails. You can catch the self-proclaimed, ‘confident and bold,’ Azzuro performing every Thursday at Heaven Nightclub on Victoria Street. However, the chances of her remembering your conversation in the morning are slim; well at least that’s what she told me when we gossiped and giggled over 2-4-1 Espresso Martinis.
“Customers are always buying me shots, it’s their way of getting me to play their favourite song,” she confessed whilst touching up her lips. The intensity of her lipstick fading with every sip as the purple tones clung to the rim of the glass. Madonna, Lady Gaga, Girls Aloud, and Britney were just a few that rolled off her tongue when I asked who was most requested. If her tone didn’t let me know she was bored of playing them, her eyeroll certainly did. We cheersed to that!
She takes another sip before saying “that’s bitter,” at this point I’m unsure if she’s referring to the drink or my question. “It was entirely constricting. I was constantly contained to a box that I had to fit into yet I was always too big for. The gay is not okay box,” she explains as she reflects upon her upbringing in rural Belfast. “Don’t get me wrong I had a great upbringing but it was hard, suffocating, and the people I was surrounded by were difficult. Or for a better phrase not queer.”
Despite this Azzuro still wanted to make it clear that she was thankful for starting her drag career in Belfast, with being accepted in the community with welcoming arms helped her mental health, a saving grace she referred to it as. College and her part-time jobs began to step into the background as Azzuro’s unique perception of drag bagged her work straight off the bat.
This proved no different in Liverpool. Amongst the many Queens, from the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, The Vivienne, to local queen, Shania Pain, Azzuro still stands out. With experience of hosting, performing and DJing it’s no surprise she recently won a competition in the Empire Theatre, “it was a huge accomplishment and possibly the most validating moment I’ve had in drag with a room of over 2000 people cheering for me. It was pretty indescribable,” she fondly recalled. “All the constant performances in my room with my mum’s heels on growing up paid off.”
With the bartender giving us the signal to drink up, we turned to what the future had in store for Azzuro and if she has her way, you will be seeing much more of her. “I do find drag quite limiting on how far you can go without having the televised fame, so I have a few goals in mind with one being the obvious, RuPaul’s Drag Race here I come.”
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