‘It makes sense, to be honest. The dame was always my favourite character in the panto’
A self-written introduction by Bella seems the only way to truly do justice to her; ‘Chaotic, captivating and conceited, Bella Bestia is here and ready to make it everyone’s problem. She may disappoint her family but she won’t disappoint you with her performances! Get ready to fall in love with the living dead doll of Nottingham and buy her a double vodka Redbull to feed her delusions of being a star!’
Intrigued? Get to know her a bit better before her show at Flares, on the 28th of January!
Bella's start in drag came from the iconic show that is RuPaul's Drag Race, after finding that creative hobbies like musical theatre and drama were not for her, when seeing that drag combined everything she could be interested in, she decided to give it a go, and one year later, with a combined total of almost 11,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, she has clearly found her calling.
However, a social media presence is not the only thing gained from drag, as a sense of confidence has grown, with her stating ‘if you’d have told 12-year-old me I’d be running around Nottingham in wigs and heels performing on actual stages in front of real people, they would’ve never believed you!’. Having also added that this is different between her drag persona and away from drag- ‘as Bella, I’m comfortable talking to anyone, I will happily get on stage, talk on a mic but Molly would be way out of their comfort zone doing any of that’. Going on to say, ‘it’s like a superpower being able to be two different people.’
Something Molly has also gained from doing drag has been the ability to explore expression and the fluidity of gender- whether this be through makeup, hair, costumes or even performance. This is something they feel is important to spread to others- the inclusivity of drag, as many people believe this is something only done by cisgender men, but drag is something for everyone to enjoy regardless of their gender or sexuality, and to quote RuPaul himself, “We all came into this world naked. The rest is all drag.”
Another thing Molly feels should be known about drag, is the fact it is both time-consuming and a lot of effort, behind the final look is time spent styling wigs, making costumes, doing makeup and more, to her these are still some of her favourite parts of doing drag, however, something that she did admit was ‘90% of my time is thinking about wigs - they haunt me.’ before later commenting that her least favourite thing about drag is ‘The fact that it has taken over my house, there are wigs EVERYWHERE.’
Her drag aesthetic and name, Bella Bestia, are influenced by her favourite Disney princess movie- Beauty and the Beast, with ‘Bella’ in Latin meaning ‘beautiful’ and ‘Bestia’ meaning ‘beast’. That is not where the overlap finishes, however, as she has said she wants her aesthetic to end up as ‘a beautiful beast’, combining beauty and glamour with alternative styles and horror. This does not mean all her looks are the same though- her style varies every time she is in drag; ‘I’ll either be running around in my mum’s wedding dress in a long blonde wig or I’ll be in lingerie covered in fake blood and safety pins.’ The look she created with her mum’s wedding dress is her favourite and can be seen below.
This hasn't always come so easy though, with encouraging words to anyone looking to get into drag- ‘Practice really does make perfect. You’re not going to be good at drag immediately. It takes practice to be good at styling wigs, sewing, makeup etc. but stick with it because it’s so worth it!’
Bella Bestia can be found in Peterborough on the 28th of January at Flares for a night full of drinks, dancing and fun!
Grab your ticket below while you still can!