Paul T Davies reviews 52 Monologues for Young Transexuals at the Pleasance Courtyard as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
52 Monologues for Young TransexualsPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe4 Stars Book Tickets Join Laurie and Charli, two young trans women, for a high-octane and moving piece, part verbatim theatre and part dirty cabaret. Words and experiences are twisted and formed into a show that really delivers the trans experience. It is informative and entertaining, managing to be both in your face and tender in equal measure. The two are extraordinary, their friendship shining through, they work so well together. There are outstanding sequences when we see misogyny acted out using real words and situations, and the abuse trans women get is theatrically recreated so well that it's good to know that theatre still has the power to shock. Although it goes to some dark places, it is also funny and celebratory. It's a call to arms for understanding, fierce and proud, ringing with authenticity. To be honest, any show that ends with the Streisand and Summer classic gets my vote! It sums up transphobia. Enough is Enough.
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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