Editor’s Note
Secretly, most men want to dress up as women. The stilettos, make-up, boobs and big hair are as irresistible as the licence to flounce around flirting freely and making suggestive jokes without the threat of being reported to HR. Maybe that’s part of the reason why drag shows are so popular — we love the uplifting anthems, bitchy jokes, sequined dresses and largerthan-life characters that are part of the show. In fact, Brendan van Rhyn’s latest cabaret, NON-Specific, at Gate 69, was voted by TripAdvisor as the best Theatre Experience in the Western Cape.
The show is different to your runof-the-mill drag though, as Claire Keeton discovered in our featured story this week. Instead of using drag to disguise themselves, Ms Specific and her cast reveal themselves, giving their audiences a lot more than they bargained for in a game of kiss and tell. While emulating some aspects of being a woman, these performers also pay tribute to what it means to be a woman now.
It’s Mother’s Day next week, and while there is no overt theme in this edition, an appreciation of mothers runs through many of the stories.
Jabulani Dhlamini was brought up
in a one-parent household and devoted his first project as a photographer to single mothers. Tymon Smith spoke to him about his exhibition at the Goodman Gallery.
As mothers, we’re often perplexed about how to get our kids off the screens and into the garden. A new series of books that profile our sports stars, Caster Semenya, Wayde van Niekerk, Chad le Clos and others, may be just the inspiration children need to get them off the couch.
And if you find sports stories inspirational, a new book by former Sunday Times sports journalists Luke Alfred and Ian Hawkey is a compilation of some of the highlights of this era. In Archie Henderson’s review, he says if you want the good news, turn to the back page (provided your team won, of course). For more good news, read Jennifer Platt’s interview with Melinda Gates, who flexes her muscles when it comes to putting her husband’s fortune to good use to help women. While we hope the world is becoming more appreciative of the work moms do, the stay-at-home kind still work their butts off for no pay. Yolisa Mkele gets the Last Word on the elections when he tells us the EQ of the voting queue.
Take note.