The glamour of drag has a new home, with viewers now having an extensive look behind the wigs, lipsyncs, make-up and sequins that make up the Cape Town drag scene.
From Miss Sovereign to Miss Gay Grassy Park, and from Beefcakes to Zer021, the show will take you onto the Cape Town drag scene’s biggest stages. Told in Gayle with subtitles, it’s an eye-opening and jaw-dropping introduction to a world of extreme transformations, unforgettable fashion, warring houses, opposing queen mothers, wig-gates, and sisterhood.
The reality show about Cape Town’s drag queens, including multi-award winner Emogan Moore, Miss Sovereign Western Cape winner Ina Propriette, Miss Cape Town Pride winner Kat Gilardi, SA’s Got Talent runner up Manila von Teez, Miss Gay Western Cape winner Maxine Wilde, and rival house mothers BB Vahlour and Madisson Scarr.
“Maxine Wilde from Belhar, BB Vahlour from Lavender Hill and Emogan Moore originally from Mitchells Plain (are represented by The Drag Cartel). About a year ago, queens were approached to be cast to the show,” he says.
“We worked quite hard to push the girls to be ready for the casting. They were interviewed, then they had a second interview and not long after that second interview, the cast was announced.”
Quite a few individuals were contacted in the conceptualisation of the show, Southgate says.
Creating awareness
Shows like these bring greater awareness to the culture and the LGBTQIA+ community, says Southgate.
The show will also by extension bring awareness to gender identity pronouns and trans people, by featuring Maxine Wild and Madisson Scarr, who are both proudly trans women.
“Cape Town is definitely the capital of Drag at the moment. Things like this really push the boundaries of what we didn’t expect drag would become. Even in the last year, we have seen such a lot of hype around drag,” he says. “When I say drag has been taken seriously, we are seeing that mainstream media is latching on to the culture of drag. And we have advocated for some time, even before the Drag Cartel started, the advocacy was there pushing that drag is an art form.”
This show will give viewers insight and create awareness about what drag is and the impact it can have on different subsections of society.
- Brandon Samuels (23) is the talent behind BB Vahlour (Pronouns: She/Her) and is the mother of House of Vahlour. She only started drag after choreographing one of Emogan’s shows, so she is still relatively new to the drag scene but has already been featured in Vogue and was the runner up to Ina Propriette at Miss Sovereign Western Cape last year.
- Fabian van Schalkwyk (33) is the man behind Emogan Moore (Pronouns: He/They). Thirty-three-year-old, also known as Emogan Moore, has been doing drag for 13 years, winning multiple pageants. The sassy queen is also a netball coach and admin clerk at a primary school in Cape Town.
- Ina Propriette (Pronouns: He/Him) is the alter-ego of Wade Khoosal (29), a full-time drag queen who has been doing drag for five years, winning Miss Sovereign Western Cape last year and being featured in Vogue.
- The oldest and most experienced queen on the show, Kat Gilardi (Pronouns: He/They) is brought to life by Carl Richards (45). He has won many pageants, including Miss Cape Town Pride, and has crowned many of the other queens.
- Madisson Scarr (Pronouns: She/Her) is a 26-year-old proudly trans woman. The professional dancer who found her love for drag during the covid pandemic. A regular face on Expresso Morning Show on SABC 3, Madisson is the mother of Haus of Scarr.
- Manila Von Teez (Drag prounouns She/Her) is the stage name brought to life by Veon Wentzel (pronouns He/They). The 33-year-old has been doing drag for more than 14 years winning multiple pageants, including Miss Gay Cape Town 2014
- Gillian Archer (28), also known as Maxine Wild (Pronouns: She/Her) has been doing drag for more than a decade and won Miss Gay Western Cape in 2019 and Miss Cape Town Pride 2019. She is a proud trans woman. By day, Maxine is a make-up artist and hairstylist, and by night she performs all across South Africa. Maxine is also the co-owner of drag house The Drag Cartel.
