Deconstructing
DavidPaul Burston/Time Out July 5/12th 2000
At nearly 40 years old, controversial performance artist David Hoyle is preparing his most famous creation for early retirement. His alter ego The Divine David (a stick-thin, queer cultural terrorist) is about to be put on ice, literally.
Twenty-seven years ago this month, David Bowie killed off his most famous alter ego - a stick-thin, sexually ambiguous 'leper messiah' known as Ziggy Stardust. Next week, performance artist David Hoyle is planning to kill off his most famous creation - a stick-thin, queer cultural terrorist known as The Divine David.
Anybody who has followed Hoyle's career will appreciate the comparison. Bowie songs have long been a staple of The Divine David's stage act; and a couple of years back, Hoyle had a small role in 'Velvet Goldmine'. And while hardly a 'leper messiah', The Divine David did strike a chord in a lot of people - even if, as one critic suggested, he looked more like 'a decomposing Liza Minnelli'. But whereas Bowie made a calculated decision to retire Ziggy at the height of his powers, Hoyle sounds as if he has simply reached the end of his tether. He is fast approaching 40, and feels the time has come to turn his back on the confrontational character he created a decade ago. He just can't summon that level of aggression anymore. All of which would sound a tad more convincing if it weren't for the nature of his 'farewell performance'. Next Tuesday, Streatham Ice Arena will reverberate to the sound and vision of 'The Divine David On Ice'.
Hoyle has always prided himself on being a multi-talented performer. When he wasn't goading gay audiences with jokes about AIDS; or declaring that drag was dead; or inviting female strippers to sit on his face, The Divine David demonstrated a range of technical abilities which suggested that his creator took his stagecraft seriously. An accomplished painter with a sideline in surreal animal impersonations, he's even been known to indulge in a spot of lap- and pole-dancing. Then there were the TV appearances - showcasing fellow performers in 'The Divine David Presents' and reaching out to members of the public in 'The Divine david Heals'. As he says himself. 'You do what you can.'
The idea for 'The Divine David On Ice' came from his trusted sidekick, J Cloth. Hoyle says he was attracted to the title 'for obvious reasons'. Which are? 'Well, I would imagine that we both loved Davros. You know, the creator of the Daleks? His own creation, the Daleks, actually put him into a cryogenic state for 90 years. So, doing "The Divine David On Ice" means that I can finally stop feeding the furnace that I know and love as The Divine David. And also that I can put him on ice literally, which is a nice way to go out. Some people are already talking about the ghost of The Divine David, but I've put ten years of my life into this creation. The evening is about the right of an artist to destroy their invention before it destroys them.'
It's probably safe to say that not everyone will be sorry to see the back of The Divine David. Hoyle is still bitterly critical of what he describes as 'the homogenised gay world, which doesn't like to acknowledge that some gay people are homeless and penniless, and which likes to pretend that collectively we don't have any responsibility for anybody.' And he's pretty damning about the folks at C4. 'C4 like to think that they're alternative and the rest of it, and yet they completely support the myth of celebrity. I believe the world needs another gurning celebrity like it needs a hole in the head. I predict that in the next 12 months, anybody who is a celebrity is suddenly going to turn bright red and start boiling like a beetroot. And not even C4 will be able to protect them from the righteous scorn of the public.'
This won't be the last we see of David Hoyle. Even as we speak, he is hatching plans for a new character, joining forces with performer Chloe Poems to play a couple of 'traditional comedy drag queens' known as Nancy Germany and Rachel Cleansing. 'Nancy and rachel are the kind of performers who go down well on the gay scene,' Hoyle says sneeringly. 'The kind who insist that gay men have a divine right to ridicule and devalue and lampoon women.'
But he's adamant that Tuesday's performance will be the last we see of The Divine David. Asked if he plans to go out with a bang or a whimper, he pauses for a moment. 'I think it'll be a case of "ciao bella",' he says. 'I'll be very interested to know what fills that space, whether there'll be another performer along who is going to address issues. But I feel I've done my bit. I think I deserve to have a life. As for the future of gay culture, let there be Steps. Let there be Kylie.'
And does he have any parting words for the fans? 'I'd just like to wish everybody lots of love. I could sit here apologising for the next half hour for some of the strange psychological things that have happened over the past few years. But really, what would be the point? It's not as if anybody died.'