New York’s riotous drag ball scene is the setting for a stylised story about political resistance The recent BBC drama series _Pose_ was a joyful reminder of the mid-80s voguing scene, an underground efflorescence of creativity in New York’s queer community. In riotous club nights called balls, rival houses, each led by a “Mother”, competed to show off outrageous costumes and moves parodying film stars and models. The final arbiter was the vogue caller, who thought up the sartorial themes and provided the vicious commentary accompanying their efforts. Taking a more sombre tone, Niven Govinden uses these balls as a backdrop to a story of civil disobedience and political resistance. In the opening section, a group of Mothers are staging a silent protest outside City Hall. Use of the first person plural turns them into a kind of Greek chorus. In their forties and fifties, feeling around 80 in gay years, they describe how they took in young men who had been rejected by their parents and community, fed, clothed and moulded them into the peacocks and divas who strut by night, gaining kudos for their houses. But their “gurls”, some of whom work the streets, have been going missing and the protest seems the only way to force the police out of their inaction. Continue reading...
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