Take a bite of this juicy booty!
Drag performer Pichi Keane (pronounced Peachy-Keen) was one of the first artisans to step onto the National Arts Festival stage on Thursday morning for her solo extravaganza: Ripe ’n Ready at the Monument.
This three-part performance, divided by costume changes, addresses topics of sexuality and gender identity with a wallop of kinky punchlines.
Keane (or Meg van Wyk, 31, from Wellington when not rocking a purple wig) performed to an intimate audience of fellow queer folk and as luck would have it, senior citizens.
The camp musical showcase is soaked in sexual humour, her guitar sports a knitted covering with two dangling, *ahem* testicles, and rainbow string to resemble pubic hair.
There is an age restriction of over 18, with a bombardment of jokes around the male member alongside emoji banana cue cards if you don’t get the message.
Also butt stuff.
Behind the lashes, kitten heels and Ursula-esque eye shadow, Keane’s exquisite voice and personality shine through in the unscripted moments, like quipping the audience when a side door was accidentally left open or politely untangling the plastic leafy vines covering the mic stand.
There is a semblance of narrative, temptation in the Garden of Eden, forbidden fruit and the excitement of kissing a girl and liking it.
However, this stand-up showcase, burlesque teaser is a moment for cheeky Keane to engage with her viewers, hopefully, her next show won’t have the end of the spotlight cutting her shine at the forehead.
There is audience participation, and for those too self-conscious to clap along, a bar at the venue for some of that good ol’ dutch courage.
If you don’t engage with the energy of the show, why are you there?
Speaking to Keane after the show, she was elated to be in Makhanda.
“I am so excited to be at the National Arts Festival, it’s insane, I feel like I started doing performances here when I was quite a young performer so its wonderful to come back,” she said.
“I’ve been out of it for the past five years and this feels like coming home.”
Rocking plenty of body hair in the show, Keane undressed until only her nipple caps swung to the beat, hot pink thong et al.
“I am an AFAB (assigned female at birth) person but identify as gender-queer.”
Gender-queer is a term used to describe a person who does not identify with the binary genders of male or female, but rather falls on the gender spectrum.
“I only keep she/her/hers [pronouns] to still make it easy for people, I’ve felt like I don’t deserve to call myself nonbinary because there are certain things about my body that I just can’t get away from.
“I am curvaceous and voluptuous and that does not ‘look’ like what people expect nonbinary to look like, gender-queer seemed like a lot more expansive and all-encompassing term that really felt it suited me.
“Drag helped me to discover all of that about myself because suddenly I was dressing up as a female with the wig and the heels.
“I felt comfortable with this femininity because femininity has always felt performative for me, and suddenly I had the vocabulary and could find new nuance into what gender — my specific gender expression meant to me.
“When I was younger nobody was saying this kind of thing, saying it’s fine to enjoy sex, to enjoy your sexuality and to explore yourself and to discover something new. ”
On until the 26 June at Thomas Pringle.
DispatchLIVE
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