The gender bender's back ...

Award-winning comic actor Ben Voss, of Green Mamba/Black Mamba fame, is bringing his un-PC creation to the State Theatre Rendezvous in Pretoria from 6 to 25 October 2009.

This follows previous successful runs in Sandton and, most recently, at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in addition to Beauty's regular cameos on East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM. Directed by Janice Honeyman, the show was hailed by the Sunday Independent as "superb satire with a BEE sting".

Zuma's wives

Beauty is a 49-year-old Houghton mother of two who is comfortably ensconced in the ranks of the black nouveau riche, counting Jacob Zuma's wives among her personal friends and being privy to all the high-level gossip that her well-connected life of privilege affords her.

By climbing into the skin of Beauty, a black diamond of the highest wattage, Voss slips off the shackles of being a whitey in Africa and is freed up to comment on racial, political and social dynamics, frequently venturing into controversial territory where others fear to tread.

"I realised I needed a voice other than my own that was freer to comment on these dynamics," he explained. "Through her eyes I can wreak havoc on the laughing stock that is SA politics and business, sans judgment."

Manto, Winnie, Thabo et al

Beauty's savvy fly-on-the-wall observations about the state of the nation may veer towards the outrageous at times, but they strike uncannily close to the bone. Voss's targets unwittingly write his script for him (but have thus far not demanded royalties) - Manto, Winnie, Thabo, Jacob, Helen,
Patricia and some of the newer kids on the block are all fair game for his alter ego's glib and relentlessly honest tongue.

Tickets for Beauty and the BEE cost R65 from Tuesdays to Thursdays as well as Sunday matinees, and are priced at R85 on Fridays and Saturdays. Book at Computicket for the State Theatre season, Beauty and the BEE then moves to the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square in Sandton from 27 October to 21 November 2009, tickets can be booked at Strictly Tickets for the Theatre on the Square performances.