In this paper the author demonstrate that cross-identity performance, a new and specific metaphor for translation related to acting, has several points to recommend it. It covers a number of different but related types of performance, including passing, slumming, drag, blackface, yellowface, impersonation and masquerade. In each of these activities, a number of variables, including appearance versus reality, the relative power relationship between representer and represented, how knowledge of the Other is linked to knowledge of the self, and the meaning of border crossing, lead to a spectrum of practices which can be mapped on to an extremely wide variety of translation practices. The metaphor also draws attention to the importance of both aural and visual signs. The ability to mimic the speech patterns of others is crucial to successful cross-identity performance, and this should make us more aware of the importance of 'voice' even in written translation, to say nothing of oral interpretation. Furthermore, various dichotomies in Translation Studies, such as the visibility or invisibility of the translator, source norms versus target norms and domestication versus foreignization, might be overcome, or at least problematized, by the metaphor of cross-identity performance. Finally, the author suggests that there are links with post-structural attempts to dislodge the author and the original text from their throne and open up Translation Studies to a more radical vision of the field.