Review: The Blueprint by Ina Propriette – A Blue Love Letter to Cape Town Drag Herstory

On the opening night of The Blueprint, held at the Masambe Theatre (Baxter Threatre) in Cape Town on 21 November 2024, Ina Propriette’s dazzling presence did more than captivate – it reclaimed, reimagined, and retold the story of Cape Town’s queer culture with the precision and power of a feminist manifesto.

In her shimmering tribute to Cape Town drag, history, body politics, Ina transformed the blue stiletto into a symbol of rebellion, reclamation, and transcendence. Much like Audre Lorde’s declaration that “poetry is not a luxury,” Ina’s performance reminded us that drag, as form of storytelling and a form of poetry is not a frivolous escape but essential tool for survival and self-determination.

Ina’s approach is profoundly Black and feminist, rooted in the layered identities of the city she calls home. As she boldly personifies the blue stiletto, it becomes a tool of movement and aspiration- she invites us to reflect on the journey of drag, not as a linear evolution, but as a herstorical collage where the past, present, and future marry.

Noble Prize Award winning author, Toni Morrison often spoke of the necessity of creating worlds within fiction that demand recognition of overlooked truths; Ina accomplishes this by grounding her narrative in the overlooked, the marginal, and the fabulous.

From the pieces of her drag herstory at the foyer to opening pre-recorded visual, Ina set the tone for an evening that was as conceptual as it was personal. Her humour and exaggerated gestures served not merely as entertainment but as a mechanism to dismantle the oppressive histories that Cape Town harbours.

She began by paying homage to her Khoi ancestry, reclaiming performance as an inherited gift of storytelling that was central to the Khoi people. This reclamation is vital in a world that has sought to erase such histories.

The narrative spiralled through colonialism, the forced removals of District Six, and the rise of the ballroom culture – a poignant nod to the resilience of chosen families in queer communities. Here, Ina refused to sanitise history, confronting us with both the pain of HIV/AIDS and the revolutionary strength of Simon Nkoli.

When she wove Nkoli’s words—“I am Black and I am Gay”- into Beyoncé’s I Was Here, it was no mere homage; it was a visceral reassertion of intersectional resistance. Nkoli was here and contributed indelibly to queer liberation.

Nkoli’s insistence that one cannot separate struggles of race and sexuality mirrors Morrison’s understanding of how identities intertwine to shape not only oppression but also resistance.

Ina’s tribute to pageantry, the heartbeat of Cape Town’s queer culture- was as celebratory as it was defiant. She acknowledged drag legends like Angel Lalamore, Jayda Kay Johnson, Manila von Teez, Samantha Foxx and Tiara Skye while centering her own ground-breaking moment as Miss Sovereign Western Cape 2023.

Through her vivid orange dress, Ina not only narrated her own defiance of normative aesthetics but inserted herself into the fabric of drag herstory. Pageantry here becomes more than glitter and spectacle; it transforms into a stage for political and personal revolution.

I would have loved to see the inclusion of names like Connie Chung, Anastacia Khan, and Enigma von Hamburg- pioneers who once reigned supreme in the world of drag pageantry in the Mother City and whose contributions helped shape its rich legacy.

These trailblazers stood as towering figures in their time, defying norms and rewriting the rules of performance and identity. Their absence felt like a missed opportunity to fully illuminate the intricate tapestry of drag herstory. Nonetheless, the narrative held its ground, landing with remarkable power and grace, a testament to its carefully woven structure and Ina’s masterful storytelling.

What made The Blueprint extraordinary was its ability to draw connections between the blue stiletto and feminist reclamation. Blue, a colour often associated with masculinity, was turned inside out, becoming a feminist symbol of fluidity and freedom.

The city of Cape Town- its blue skies and blue oceans- became an extension of this narrative. Ina used the stiletto to remind us that drag is not simply about gender impersonation; it is a reclamation of space, colour, and story.

Ina’s production was not merely a history lesson; it was a blueprint for survival and futurity. As she closed with a vision of a “drag Wakanda,” a utopia where queerness is both magical and mundane, Ina reimagined the possibilities of queer futures. Ina shows us that we must build new houses altogether, ones where drag, art and black consciousness hold the foundation.

The brilliance of The Blueprint lies in its ability to hold complexity without fracture. It is altogether a love letter to Cape Town and a scathing critique of the systems that have tried to erase its queer inhabitants. Ina’s performance was a visual, emotional, funny and an intellectual feast that offered love and rage, history and possibility.

Much like Morrison’s suggestion that which demand that we see the overlooked, Ina Propriette insists that we look closely at the lives of queer people of colour who have survived colonialism, apartheid, and criminalisation. They have survived not merely to exist but to create- families, art, and futures.

The Blueprint is more than a celebration of Cape Town drag; it is a manifesto of what it means to live boldly, beautifully, and unapologetically in a world that demands otherwise. And Ina Propriette’s impact is beyond performance; she is a griot, a conduit, a theorist, and a symbol of what Cape Town’s drag culture has been, is, and can be. Protect her. Celebrate her. She is, quite literally, the blueprint.

 

Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie is the Legal & Health Programmes Manager at Gender DynamiX. They are a storyteller, artivist and gender fugitive with a passion for gender justice.