La Voix on joining EastEnders for Pride: ‘Straight people have that every day’

Drag icon La Voix is joining BBC soap EastEnders for a special Pride appearance, performing in the Queen Vic after some devious dealings in Albert Square.

La Voix is booked to perform at Albert Square’s LGBTQ+ bar The Prince Albert, before she’s tricked into performing at the Queen Vic instead.

Speaking to PinkNews, the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finalist admits stepping into Albert Square was “the strangest experience”.

She tells us: “You’ve never been there, but you know it better than any other street or square in your life. It could be a café and a laundrette and a market stall anywhere, but all of a sudden you’re like, I know everything that’s happened in this café, outside this pub, outside these houses.

“It was just so surreal to feel like you’ve been there all your life, but you’ve never actually physically visited it. It was very, very surreal – and it’s just so real. They’re proper houses, proper trees, proper grass and railings. It really was quite an out-of-body experience.”

La Voix’s episode is set to air on Thursday (2 July), as part of the soap’s annual Pride celebrations, something she is very excited about.

“I grew up in the north-east in a town where I think there was one gay bar – one of those where it was gay every second Tuesday,” she says. “It was very, very underrepresented.

“If I’d had knowledge in my local town, once a year, there was an afternoon or a festival where I could meet other people in my community would have helped massively with feeling connected at school, with helping with things like bullying or just knowing where your place was.

“Sometimes it can be very isolating, and to expect people to find their own community on their own is a big ask. If someone can just reach out and go, ‘I’m just letting you know this is very present in your area,’ that’s massively important.

‘Straight people have that on a daily basis’

“Straight people have that on a daily basis – every pub or supermarket or shop or event they go to is very tailored to that, and sometimes people can feel very outside without people realising it. If we can just connect them with feeling welcome in their own town, they won’t necessarily feel they need to move to London or Manchester. It is very much everywhere, and it’s lovely if that can be embraced.”

Soaps have long brought LGBTQ+ issues to the masses. A recent EastEnders storyline saw Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) enter a bisexual love triangle with twins Jasmine Fisgher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) and Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan), but the British soaps have seen plenty of other LGBTQ+ storylines over the years.

La Voix tells us: “I just celebrate them for moving with the times and not keeping those characters and those real life issues off somewhere like Albert Square.

“It’s really easy to think, ‘Well, we just won’t touch on that,’ but the fact that they’re brave enough to do this, and it does bring those issues into homes that might be living in areas where there isn’t a gay bar, there isn’t a Pride or someone who hasn’t been exposed to that, it’s really important that when they meet someone in real life they can be like, ‘Oh, that’s a bit like that character in EastEnders.’

“I’m all for that. It connects it to reality and it brings issues into living rooms that you might not see day to day in certain areas. I think that’s massively important.”

‘All I need to do now is film a mating ritual with a squid with David Attenborough!’

La Voix is no stranger to the BBC, having competed on Drag Race UK and Strictly Come Dancing. She says getting the call for EastEnders was “the sort of call you just dream about”.

“I just never thought it would ever happen,” she says. “I think I’m still actually accepting that I’ve actually done it.”

She laughs: “I mean, all I need to do now is film a mating ritual with a squid with David Attenborough! I think I’ve done all the iconic moments of the BBC.”

“It really is a dream come true,” she adds. “I’ve worked really hard over the years and dreamed of opportunities like Drag Race and Strictly. For them to embrace me and see me as an actor and an entertainer… mainstream is all I ever could have dreamed of.”

Her EastEnders role sees her show off her improvisation skills, as she was asked to treat it like a real pub gig, riffing off the punters.

“There was far too much [improvisation], quite frankly,” she jokes in her trademark style. “I think they could have put some money towards a script writer! I took all the money on myself, so they couldn’t afford a script-writer.”

But when La Voix got to the Queen Vic, she realised producers had pulled out all the stops and given her quite a big stage.

“I was like, ‘Well it wouldn’t be that big in a pub like this, it would be a tiny block in the corner with a curtain behind,” she says, adding she wanted to make it more real. “They reduced it all right down, and I did feel like I was back in those pub and club days. Let’s just say I’ve played worse pubs than the Queen Vic!”

Now, La Voix is hoping for a more permanent spot in Walford. “She needs to buy a terraced house and move into the square,” she tells us. “I might not be able to afford the house, but I certainly wouldn’t be wearing a silver puffer jacket off the market. I would be dressing better than that, and I wouldn’t be shouting, ‘RICKY!’ across the square.”

As for her cameo this week, it sounds like there’s plenty of drama to come for fans.

She tells us: “The whole thing is filled with drama and intrigue. The Slaters, do they get their comeuppance? Does it get found out? Do I get away with it scot-free? Who knows, you have to tune in, but it’s certainly something that viewers will want to watch.

“The ending is quite dramatic. I end up in a good old bit of a Queen Vic argument, and I like that. I wanted some drama.”

And, she reminds us, you can watch La Voix’s episode from 6am on Thursday morning. “That’s commitment, isn’t it?” she says. “Watching it before your breakfast!”

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