Drag star Courtney Act to star in Bradford Alhambra panto

Best known for reaching the top three on season six of the Emmy-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, and for winning Celebrity Big Brother UK, the Australian drag queen will play the Blue Faerie in Pinocchio, Bradford Theatres and Crossroads Pantomimes has announced.

Courtney joins Bradford panto legend Billy Pearce and Coronation Street star Chris Gascoyne. As revealed in the Telegraph & Argus earlier this year, Billy will play toymaker Geppetto while Chris - who was Peter Barlow in Corrie for 23 years - plays the evil Stromboli.

Billy Pearce will play toymaker Geppetto (Image: Nicola Salter of T&A Camera Club)

Courtney Act shot to fame in 2003, making it to the live finals of the first season of Australian Idol. She later released her debut EP, Kaleidoscope, and toured internationally with her show, The Girl from Oz, following her rise to fame after her appearance on Drag Race in 2014.

In 2018 Courtney was crowned the winner of Celebrity Big Brother UK, winning viewers' respect for discussing issues such as gender fluidity and sexuality. After her world tour, Under the Covers, in 2019 she made TV history as the host of the UK’s first bisexual dating show, The Bi Life. She hosted two seasons of interview show One Plus One, her own variety TV special, The Courtney Act Show, and was a judge on ITV's Queen for The Night,. She competed in Eurovision - Australia Decides and was runner-up on Dancing with the Stars and Dancing with the Stars: All Stars.

Courtney told the T&A her first experience of panto was playing a mouse in Cinderella. "It was a theatre school panto in the school holidays in Brisbane, I got to wear a little mouse suit," she recalled. "The Dame was the most exciting character - and got the most laughs. That was my first experience of drag. Age seven, I had no make-up skills but I was inspired to pick up my colour pens and do a face chart."

Added Courtney: “I can’t wait to bring some Aussie sparkle to the role of the Blue Faerie in Bradford! Who better to help Pinocchio become a real boy than me! I’m thrilled to wave my wand in the cherished UK panto tradition for the first time ever!”

Adam Renton General Manager Bradford Theatres said: “It’s fantastic news to have secured the international performer Courtney Act to appear in this year’s Alhambra Theatre pantomime. She’ll make an excellent contribution to the show, performing alongside the previously announced Billy Pearce and Chris Gascoyne.

"There is huge affection for the Alhambra Theatre’s festive production and I’m sure that our audiences will thoroughly enjoy another outstanding panto in Bradford. We can’t wait to welcome Courtney to our city and to our venue, in its 110th anniversary year.”
 

Corrie star Chris Gascoyne will play the evil Stromboli (Image: Bradford Theatres)

Produced by the world’s biggest panto producer, Crossroads Pantomimes, Pinocchio will feature "stunning sets and costumes, fantastic special effects and laugh-out-loud comedy". It runs at the Alhambra from December 7 to January 19, 2025.