Eleven well-known and less well-known Drenthe men transformed into drag queens for one evening yesterday. Under a thick layer of make-up and with a wig on their head, the men in Westerbork competed for the acceptance of drag queens and the title of best queen of the evening.
Miss Annie Kannie comes on stage to loud applause. Dressed as a bad housewife, with panther print camisole, black leather skirt, pink boa and black bob wig. Then the music starts: Queen’s I want to break free sounds from the speakers and Annie plays it along.
The more than two hundred visitors scream when the first participant of the evening shakes his buttocks while vacuuming. It is a prelude to the rest of the evening, on which the audience is constantly rocking their hips.
The interpretations of I will survive, Shoot your shot and I’ve got the music in me get their feet off the floor and sing along loudly with bangers like Don’t cry for me Argentina and I will always love you.
Organizer Albertje Sok looks at it all with a broad smile. She came up with the idea of the drag event through the television program Make Up Your Mind, in which well-known Dutch people are hoisted up in drag outfit. Sok tries to contribute to the acceptance of drag queens with this evening.
“In my family I saw someone being bullied because of their sexual preference and I think we should stand up against that together. We do that in a positive way and that’s how this event was born,” says Sok.
With the message that she would like to propagate that everyone should be accepted as they are, Sok picked up the phone and started calling around, looking for participants.
In her own village of Westerbork and beyond, she managed to convince local and regional celebrities to transform themselves into a drag queen for once and to perform during a playback show. “Not everyone I called immediately said yes. But there were also more than enough who were immediately enthusiastic.”
But who are actually under those fake eyelashes and foundation? Zalencentrum Meursinge is packed with people who are very curious which well-known Drents and Börkers mimic the stars from heaven.
First, the pricing. While the fun and message are central, there is also a winner for the best drag queen of the night.
Watch a video of the drag evening in Westerbork below