02x04 - Veronica Green

[bunniefuu]

(people chattering)

- [Veronica] Ah, it's been ages.

Oh wait, where is it?

All downstairs?

- [Producer] Go and put them,
we're waiting for Ginny.

- Are you not ready yet?

Oh wait, one second.

I'm just gonna take it from there.

- I didn't get anything.

- Let me check.

(people chattering)

- Oh, mama.
- Dropped me boobs.

(dramatic music)

- [Lawrence] Welcome everyone

to the "RuPaul's Drag
Race UK Season Two Tour!"

(audience cheering)

- It's showtime!

(Joe laughs)

(upbeat music)
(audience cheering)

- We probably won't ever
all be together again.

This is the only time
we can say thank you.

- Oh my god, I stumbled.

- We're selling out every place we go,

and they came to see drag at the finest.

- Fancy a slice?
- Slice?

- It's gonna be a wild show.

- [Drag Queen] It's amazing.

- Do you feel like Tommy Lee?

(people laughing)

- I've never been involved in
a production this big before.

(Lawrence yelps)

The best drag show you're gonna see.

(cameras clicking)

- [Veronica] When the
12 of us are together,

it's just sort of like, a magic.

We're all different pieces
that complete a jigsaw puzzle,

and once this tour is over,

we're never gonna be together again.

- [Audience] God shave the queens!

(audience cheering)

♪ You blew it all, I'm
okay, I'm okay, I'm okay ♪

♪ From the outside in ♪

♪ You're looking from the- ♪

- Just poured water all down meself.

No, no me face.

I have it on me face.
- Oh.

- Thank you, Emma.

Who's Veronica Green?

I do know.

(Veronica laughs)

Words can't describe me, really,

'cause I'm a bit of everything.

I'm very eclectic.

Glamorous, gorgeous, geeky.

Gollum.

- Here we go, five, six, seven, eight.

Work, work, work, work, work.

Cover girl, six, seven, eight.

- I think as a 12 queen
collective, we are like, golden.

We are a cast that are just so diverse,

and so exceptional in
all the areas of drag,

that I think it's gonna be a long while

before anybody tops us.

Oh, well the dynamic of
us all on tour is like,

I'm the eye of the storm.

I'm very, very calm, whereas on the show,

I was a terror.

♪ Best woman win ♪

(upbeat music)

- Ooh!
- Oh my.

- Well, think it's about time
to get this party started.

Right now!

I'm Veronica Green, I'm 34 years old,

and I'm known from going

from Gollum to gorgeous in three hours.

- So if you go out, if
you're wearing that bottom,

f*ck everything you know, and just do it.

- Well, I think I'll stick
to everything I know,

thank you very much.

I was just having so much fun,

and just enjoying it, and I was like,

I could be eliminated at any second,

so why not just be fun, and
free, and say some shady things,

and stir up some trouble, like?

You underestimated me once.

Don't make the same f*cking mistake again.

(ominous music)

I don't want that drama in my life,

but I was like oh, I'll do that.

Yeah, I don't care.

We can be friends afterwards.

- Veronica Green has tested
positive for the coronavirus.

She won't be joining us for this series.

- In some ways, I'm quite happy

that I caught COVID when I did.

I'd had such a hard time over the summer,

that I wasn't ready to go back.

I hadn't improved my runway outfits,

so I'd have been torn to shreds.

So although I was upset,
I was like actually,

it is the best thing
for me to not compete,

because I'm not in that
right place anymore.

(Veronica singing warmups)

Well, this is our last big rehearsal day,

and I'm so, so excited, so excited.

Finally getting to work with
hair, and heels, and stuff.

You know, it's our victory lap, really.

To finally be able to
be in theaters again,

and performing is just so, so amazing,

and I can't wait to entertain

hundreds of thousands of people.

- [Producer] And then we're gonna run

the entire number, okay?

- I'm Veronica Green, and
I think it's about time

we get this party started,

right now!

My song choices are, it's
a huge crowd pleaser,

which is what I'm all about.

I like my shows for people to be singing

and dancing along with me, you know?

- That's it.
- I'm tired now.

- I see Veronica and see someone

who needs to be in the theater.

- I find it so funny that Ronnie Green,

she's first asleep, and
she's on the bunk above me.

The woman snores like a dog,

but has the vocal voice of an angel.

- She's a West End Judy
through and through,

and that will never go,

but her vocal has got so,
there's so much strength in it,

and so much power now.

- Veronica is literally one
of the strongest performers

I've ever seen in my life.

Mama, I think I'm up on that
stage singing and dancing,

but when I watch Veronica's,

I'm like nails down a
chalkboard sat still.

She literally is like the
triple threat of drag.

- Yes, b*tch!
- Yes!

Woo!

- So good.
- Veronica!

I can't get over how good you sound.

You k*lled it, baby, k*lled it.

- I tried drag for the first time

when I was 28, 29, something like that?

I've always been fascinated
with gender expression,

and gender identity,
and blurring the lines

of what it is to be a man, or a woman.

It took me a while to sort
of come out of my shell.

Having a repressed childhood,

and growing up in a very
sort of h*m* town,

it sort of shuts all of those
curiosities away for a while.

Myself and Vinegar Strokes,

we were touring with

"Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat,"

and we saw Raven,

and Nicole Paige Brooks's
lip sync in 2010 on the TV,

and we were just like.

You can do this?

For a job, and get paid?

So me and Vinny put on
some shows in secret.

It allows me to express
a part of my personality

that you don't get to
express in everyday life.

Veronica Mean strikes again.

(Veronica laughs)

But "Drag Race" did
teach me that, you know,

drag is this sort of
multi-faceted genre and art form,

and you kinda do need to be good

at all the different elements of it.

I'm not last, not last.

- Were you last?

- No, I'm trying to shake this reputation

that I have for being last.

- Oh do you know what, I must say,

I must say, you have been
on time quite a few times.

- Mm-hmm.

So yeah, drag's always
been a part of my life.

It's just repression and society

sort of stops you from
doing what you think is fun.

Ready to slay another day.

(queens laughing)

(upbeat music)

We're in Manchester, and this
is a special venue for me!

It's my hometown-ish.

We're Rochdale adjacent.

It feels so great to be home.

I've got lots of friends
and family coming,

so this is gonna be super exciting,

and really, really super
special as well, so.

- [Producer] Is your fiance coming?

- Yeah, yeah, that's right.

- [Producer] He's seen you
perform before, anyway?

- My fiance has seen me perform, yeah.

He's very supportive, but
doesn't usually come to my shows.

So this is like,

this is gonna be quite
special I think, tonight.

- [Producer] Does it feel
any different, is it?

- No, no.

I mean, I've performed
here before, so yeah.

I still get nervous
before I go out on stage,

but usually in the North,

they're, they go crazy.

It's quite fascinating
seeing from venue to venue,

like in some of the really
smaller, smaller towns,

that don't have drag very often,

just seeing how they're responding

to seeing drag for the first time.

And when we go to the meet and greets,

we're often chatting to people

who have never been to a drag show before.

But, this show, like "Drag Race,"

has opened the art form out
to such a wider audience,

and it's so great to see.

But especially for
people who've never been

to a drag show before,

they've got no idea what to expect.

I'm still taking my sweet time, though.

Like that doesn't change.

(pleasant music)

(queens laughing)

- [Assistant] Stop it.

- [Veronica] I've had these.

These are my birdseed boobs.

Yeah.
- Why birdseed?

- So, the reason why it's birdseed

is because it's very malleable.

So, when it's filling the gaps-

- [Assistant] Yeah, it just sits-

- It shakes around.
- Yeah.

- So it fills really, really nicely.

I've had these for

14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19-

- For nine years.
- Nine years, yeah.

Think of the germs.

I have a problem with the
word professional nowadays.

Like, I'm getting paid to do a job,

and I just want to perform.

There's a huge audience out there.

I just wanna do the job.

Get me makeup on time.

I am not late.

What time are we on?

- It's now five to.

We have five minutes
to get onto the stage.

- Oh gorge.

This is why I'm not bothered.

I am pretty much ready.

If the music was to start right now,

I'd just whack those shoes on,

and my meet and greet wig.

(plucky music)
- Yeah.

- Yes, I am professional!

I've made all my cues.

Made every meet and greet,

and I'm the one with the
reputation of being last.

f*ck off.

The cameras are rolling now,

I'm making a big deal of this.

- [Assistant] Two minutes to go.

- [Producer] How long
does wig glue take to dry?

- Not that long.

Like a minute.

- [Producer] So you've got
enough time for it to dry

before you get on stage?

- Yeah.

(producer laughs)

I'm not moving any faster than I used to.

I'm doing it my way.

Like, great you do it in 45 minutes.

I like to take my time.

- One minute to go.

We need to head downstairs now.

- [Veronica] Okay.

- Come on, Veronica.

Curtain's going up, hon.

Beautiful, amazing.

That's it, she ready.

Thank you.

- Yes, I may be running
around at the last minute,

but I'm always there, always.

- [Lawrence] Make some
noise for Veronica Green!

(audience cheering)

(upbeat music)

- My drag leans in to
what my strengths are,

which is performing,
singing, dancing, acting,

because my professional background,

I always wanted to be a performer.

Like, performing's in my blood.

One of the benefits of
training to be a performer

is that you learn that you need to know

what your body's capabilities are,

because when you've gotta
perform them 40 days in a row,

you've gotta be able to
consistently be able to do it.

I'm a bit rusty at the moment,

out of personal laziness and choice,

like I'm not warming up.

I've just gone out and
sang these massive notes

for the first time every day,

and gone, oh I cracked there.

I wonder why.

Oh yeah, it's 'cause I didn't warm up.

I'm just hoping I hit all the notes,

like that's the main thing for me,

hit all the notes.

It doesn't matter if
they're sharp or flat,

as long as I don't crack.

- [Lawrence] Make some
noise for Veronica Green!

(audience cheering)

- The reason why I chose
my numbers in this show

is because I ran out of time, basically.

So I just immediately went,

well it's gotta be the
Emma Frost look, then.

(audience cheering)

Good evening, Manchester!

(audience cheering)

I'm Veronica Green,

and it's about time we
get this party started!

Right now!

(audience cheering)
(upbeat music)

Emma Frost is that,

she's a blend between
a villain and a hero.

She's the leader of the X-Men right now,

but she was a villain

when she was first
introduced into the comics,

and her powers, she can turn her skin to,

like as hard as a diamond.

So she just is a very easy
go-to of what encompasses

who Veronica Green is as a persona.

(audience cheering)
(upbeat music)

When I get an audience reaction,

it really makes me feel good,

and now that I'm getting
better, and better,

and vocally more strong,

that's just making my performance

like a fraction better
every single time I do it.

(audience cheering)

Oh, hello.

- [Producer] Hello.

- I'm just finding it
really difficult to breathe.

It's just the, exerting the energy just,

I'm used to doing eight, 10,

sometimes even 12 shows
a week with musicals.

And I've been on stage for five minutes,

and it's knocked the wind out of me,

and it's just, oh.

A bit out of shape.

A bit out of shape.

This is teaching me a lesson
to be a bit more active again,

so I think once this tour is over,

back to the gym, I think.

Back to dance classes,
back to all that business.

Anyway, I better go because,

I've got to get ready for the finale.

I think what's gonna stick
with me from this tour

is 100% the experience, and the memories.

So I'm enjoying the
experience as much as I can,

and being in the sort of like,

the closeness to the other 11 queens.

- [Lawrence] Make some
noise for Veronica Green!

(audience cheering)
(upbeat music)

- When the 12 of us are together,

it's just sort of like a magic.

We're all different pieces

that complete a jigsaw puzzle, I think,

and once this tour is over,

we're never gonna be together again.

So I'm cherishing that, really.

(crowd cheering)

- [Fan] You're such a good singer.

- Oh, well.
- Thank you.

(crowd laughing)

- It was a lot of pressure.

I have family in tonight, so yeah,

lots and lots of pressure.

I don't see an expiry on drag for me, no.

I'm never gonna stop doing drag.

I don't want to give up
the boy side of my career,

but it has to take a backseat,

because it expresses a
side of my personality

that I will continue while
I'm allowed to do it.

(fans shouting goodbye)

(upbeat music)