Performance: NTLHOMOLE TSHETLHO (remove a thorn from me)

Ntlhomole Tshetlho draws on the symbolism of the devil's thorn, representing the 

painful social conditioning of toxic masculinity that must be removed before healing 

and reconciliation can begin.

Ntlhomole Tshetlho is an interdisciplinary performance combining acting and dance to 

explore healing, trauma, and reconciliation through the lens of gender-based violence 

(GBV). Rather than depicting violence itself, the work examines the emotional journey 

of a young man before violence emerges. Naturally gentle, empathetic, and 

emotionally sensitive, he is raised within a culture of toxic masculinity that teaches him 

to suppress vulnerability and equate manhood with emotional control. As he grows, 

he struggles to reconcile his authentic self with society's expectations. His inability to 

understand women's emotional experiences, coupled with his expectation that they 

should respond to his logic, leads to increasing frustration and emotional instability. 

The performance does not justify violence but investigates how unresolved trauma, 

rigid gender norms, and emotional illiteracy can become precursors to it.

The narrative centres on a transformative conversation between the young man and 

an older woman, who guides him towards self-awareness, empathy, and emotional 

healing. Through dialogue and embodied movement, the performance symbolically 

removes the "thorn" of harmful masculine conditioning, allowing him to reconnect with 

his compassionate identity and develop a deeper understanding of emotional 

difference.

The work responds to the ongoing GBV crisis. The World Health Organization (2021) 

estimates that nearly one in three women globally experience physical and/or sexual 

violence during their lifetime, while research links rigid masculine norms with increased 

aggression and poorer emotional wellbeing among men (Jewkes, Flood & Lang, 2015; 

Heilman, Barker & Harrison, 2017). By positioning performance as a space for 

reflection and healing, Ntlhomole Tshetlho invites audiences to rethink masculinity, 

emotional vulnerability, and reconciliation as essential pathways to preventing 

violence.

Keywords: Toxic Masculinity; Emotional Regulation; Healing; Reconciliation