Drag Race star Courtney Act’s triumphant return to Hong Kong: after the city’s 2019 protests brought her show to a halt, Australia’s most famous drag queen finally returned to Sevva – interview

Apr 4 , 2023

RuPaul’s Drag Race star Courtney Act performed at Hong Kong’s Sevva. Photo: @courtneyact/Instagram

Courtney Act was first invited to perform at Sevva 15 years ago by serial entrepreneur Bonnae Gokson, but was thwarted in 2019 due to the protests, making her return this March all the more sweet

The pop culture icon is one of drag’s most recognisable names after her appearance with Bianca del Rio in RPDR season 6, even getting a mention in The Simpsons and now her own Madame Tussauds waxwork

Hong Kong’s live scene has returned – as we’ve seen with the return of big events like Clockenflap, Creamfields and, of course, the Rugby Sevens. Fortunately for drag fans, the art form gaining mainstream popularity has also come back with a bang.

Australian drag queen Courtney Act entertained the audience at Sevva in Central, Hong Kong this March. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

During March, Hong Kong’s first mask-free month after three years, Australian drag icon and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Courtney Act put on a spectacular open air performance overlooking the harbour at award-winning restaurant Sevva. “Hong Kong is back, and I’m so excited to celebrate with you,” Act announced to the crowd.

In fact, drag persona Courtney Act, better known as Shane Jenek when not performing, started her relationship with Hong Kong way before she rose to international stardom on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Drag star Courtney Act on Hong Kong, anti-drag rhetoric in the US and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’

As Act, 41, rushed in frantically from an afternoon of shopping and sightseeing in the city, she was noticeably accompanied by Hong Kong’s very own Bonnae Gokson, a vocal supporter and close friend of the star.

Gokson, of course, is the owner and creative visionary behind popular eateries like Sevva, Ms B’s Cakery and C’est La B cafes, and she serves as a creative adviser to the Niccolo Hotel Group.

Courtney Act has been performing in Hong Kong for years, pictured here at alongside Marney McQueen at Sevva’s New Year Countdown party at the Prince Building in 2009. Photo: Handout

“I met Bonnae in Sydney and she invited me over to Hong Kong to Sevva. I’ve been performing at Sevva since New Year’s Eve 15 years ago,” Act told us during an interview at her hotel, with Gokson right by her side.

Act’s return to the stage in Hong Kong was a particularly sweet one after her last performance got cancelled during the 2019 protests.

“I was here in 2019 during the protests and did the sound check,” she said. “I went back to the hotel, and next thing you know they were banging on the doors of the Mandarin Oriental. We had to cancel the show. So it’s really great to be back.”

But Act has another reason to be excited to be back in the city.