Tuesday nights are about to get shameful for the 150th time. Shame Spiral, a West End drag show hosted by Dave DeVeau as his drag persona, Peach Cobblah, will have its sesquicentennial show at 1181 on Tuesday, March 28.
"I'm a bit sort of bowled over that we're three years in and it's still great, it's still fun,” Deveau says. "It's exciting, it's strange and delightful. It still feels like we're just beginning in a funny way.”
Shame Spiral is a bit different than your average drag show. It involves a lot of interaction with the audience, and constantly has an element of surprise. Every week, when Peach is about to perform, the audience selects a song from the blender of shame, which holds about 50 songs every week, and Peach performs whatever starts playing. The show features a new drag performer every week, who performs both solo numbers and a number with Peach, and tells a shameful story. The story can be anything from getting sick on stage to making bad decisions while intoxicated. “There's something, I think, really humanizing about people sharing awkward things that they've been through,” Deveau says.
Deveau also explains that the show is held on a Tuesday night deliberately.
“I always joke that, by Tuesday, you’re finally not hungover enough to start remembering all the mistakes you made over the weekend, and start feeling really weird about them,” he says, with a laugh. “So Shame Spiral is about, ‘Okay, let’s all feel weird together and everything will be okay.’”
Deveau says that he is happy to have been able to bring the East Van flavour of drag that people know his persona, Peach, for to the West End. "I'm constantly grateful and also a little perturbed by the people that come out every Tuesday and party really hard. They party long after I go home even, so I'm happy to offer that space to them."
Deveau adds that he is thankful that Shame Spiral has become somewhat regular part of the weekly calendar in Vancouver, and believes that the show can go on, even if Peach may not always be a part of it.
"I don't necessarily know if I will always be doing Shame Spiral, as life gets busy, but it's certainly something that people love, and I think that it's a legacy that can live on past me,” he says. “So who knows, maybe by year four, it won't even be me, but I think it's something that can live on whether I'm there or not."
• Shame Spiral’s 150th show takes place March 28 1181 (1181 Davie St.). Show starts at 11pm.
