“Just because you put a wig on, it doesn't change who you are“

What Steven asked River Medway, legendary Drag Race contestant

Since we started these long-form interviews almost three years ago, one person stood out as the longest between agreeing to an interview and the interview taking place. Finally, Steven met River Medway on Zoom, where they discussed their performance in the upcoming Here & Now musical tour, becoming River Medway and the iconic Waghorn look on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

River Medway.

What is your official occupation?
I don't know. Depends on who you ask.
How would you describe it?
The broadest answer would be entertainer, I guess, if that's a profession.

Do you have any additional roles, paid or unpaid?
I mean, I guess it all falls under entertainment in some way or another. That would be the main thing. I do sometimes work as a wig stylist. That is when I feel like it, or if I've got some time off from being on stage.

For those who might be unaware, how would you describe drag?
How would I describe drag? Drag in its simplest form is an expression of everything that makes you you, but you're maybe not expressing every day. Because I think that a lot of people, when they're in drag, I don't think anything is put on, physically things are put on, but I think it's a lot of things coming out. I think people find a lot of confidence when they're in drag. That you can't fake it. Maybe you found confidence that you don't have without the external. The external makes your inside match it. That's how I've always seen it, because I think drag has changed my life, but I think it's in a way where it's made me feel the most myself I've ever felt, because what I found when I am in drag, I now find when I'm not in drag. But I think that was always there. Nobody's putting on drag that they're not happy with. Nobody's becoming someone they don't like. Most people become a person they like even more. Just because you put a wig on, it doesn't change who you are.

Would you describe it as a day when you became River, or was River always there, and it was about you realising that?
Well, it's interesting because I don't think I have a complete linear story of how I got to where I am now. When I was young, I always enjoyed dressing up and playing characters, and it was never about playing one specific character or anything like that. It was just more I loved wigs and costumes and makeup from when I was young. I think everybody, every da,y you choose what clothes you're going to wear, you choose how you're going to present yourself to the world. When you do drag, you're doing that maybe at a bit more of an extreme level, but it's the same way. Putting on a dress is the same as you picking out that shirt this morning. It just depends how you want to express yourself. I've always felt that when I was younger, and as I started to do a lot of youth theatre around Medway, I started to play female characters and it wasn't necessarily because I wanted to be a drag queen, it was just that was the character that I wanted to play for that show the same way if I was playing a male character. To me, it made no difference. When you see male characters on stage, they're still wearing makeup, they're still wearing a wig, they're still wearing a costume. It's the same as if you're playing a female. You change your appearance to fit whatever character you're feeling or whatever expression you're feeling. That's how it developed.
I didn't necessarily create River as a separate entity. It happened very organically as I found different ways to express myself. It wasn't, ‘I need to create this other person.’ For some people, it is that. This is just in my experience. I'm trying to think at what point River... I'd definitely been doing drag, and I'd started to go out in drag when I was 18. Then it was still just me being myself, though. It wasn't a name or anything. I think maybe when I was about 19, I decided that River Medway was going to be my name because me and my friend had said something about the River Medway and we sort of said that sounds like a drag name, that would be such a fantastic drag name.
River Medway, for me, it's got so many layers. It's where I'm from, it's very personal to me, and I want to be very true to myself. As I said, I don't use drag to escape from anything. I use it to express myself even further. I think River is also a lovely name. My favourite character in Doctor Who is River Song. There was just so many layers to it. I had thought about having a drag name for a long time before that, and I just couldn't ever pick one that didn't just feel like it could be anyone's name. Not many people can be called River Medway. It's so specific, which I like because I thought if I'm going to be known by a different name, it has to be something that's so specific to me. I don't want to be confused with anyone else. I don't want a name that someone else might have. At the time, I could probably count on one hand how many other drag queens are from Medway. There aren't many even now. It's one of those things that when you find it, you know for sure.
It was at Poco Loco with the Loco Cabaret, that was the first paid gig I had where I started to discover who River was as a performer, and then I really had to become River when I went on Drag Race, because obviously that is who you're going to be known by. I had this moment of thinking, I always wanted to work in entertainment, and obviously, I'd always imagined that it would be my real name that was out there. I realise now that it's a blessing to have a stage name because it's really nice to be able to have some sort of separation. So yeah, that's the long story of how River Medway came to be.

Can we talk about how you came up with the iconic Waghorn outfit?
Well, I got the call for Drag Race, and then they send you a packet with all of the runways that you're going to have to do. The first episode of Drag Race, you do a look inspired by your hometown. That's the standard. I would say it took me approximately ten seconds to decide what I was going to do for that runway. For me, it was an absolute no-brainer that a look to represent my hometown would be Thomas Waghorn with a cone on his head. I couldn't think of a single thing different that I would do about it, even now. I think it's so fundamentally Medway and it's so fundamental to me as a drag queen. It's like I'm from somewhere that is perhaps not the most glamorous place and I'm also not really the most glamorous person, but I like to do things in a way that you know maybe it does look glamorous, but also it's very fun and there's lots of layers to it and it's whether you see it, you think it's funny, when you know the layers from it, it just adds so much more to it, which is what I really enjoy doing.