WHEN JAMIE MET “JAMIE”

Six years ago Jamie Campbell shocked his school friends by turning up to prom in drag. Almost immediately, the BBC made a documentary about the teenager from County Durham. Now his story is being turned into a musical

WORDS: JUNO DAWSON PHOTOGRAPHS: VICTOR HENSEL-COE

JAMIE CAMPBELL WAS ONLY 16 YEARS OLD when he caused a commotion by going to his school prom in full drag. Six years and one BBC documentary later, his story has been adapted into a musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, featuring original songs by The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells.

Jamie is played on stage, at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, by John McCrea but, although the actor has spent years developing the role, he has never met the real-life inspiration behind it. Until now.

I join Jamie and “Jamie” for that first meeting, ahead of opening night. We meet for an earlymorning coffee at the Ku Bar in Soho and I walk into what feels like a slightly awkward Tinder date: John knows Jamie probably as well as Jamie knows himself.

All three of us are a bit groggy and definitely ready for the first coffee of the day. While they both seem a little tentative, luckily “real Jamie” isn’t at a loss for words. “Drag back then,” he says, “especially where I am from in County Durham, was looked down on, but I just really wanted to do it. It’s where Billy Elliot was set, so you can imagine…”