Transsexuality is a wonderful thing. I think so, at least. If it isn’t, the last five years of my life have been oddly spent. Were you to follow the news over that same time period though, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking otherwise. Though it may be a case of the smallest numbers speaking loudest, it certainly does feel like the wave of public opinion has turned against us.
In the North-East, at least, it is tangible. Us Cowards, as we have dubbed ourselves, can be most succinctly described as ‘weird’, and though not technically a protected category, the difference is marked: the exodus of students from Durham this summer has led to a five-fold increase in incidents of public harassment among our members, the temporary closure of spaces we frequented, and a general hesitance to go out in public dressed or presenting as we would like to.
In sum, we are antsy. Not only because we find ourselves quite literally cooped up, but because the constant presence of anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric in public and private life (as many of you beloved readers know, I’m sure) leads one to feel a little suffocated. Thus, Dead Effing Rebels is an outlet.
Originally conceived as a pure corporate satire in December of last year, it metamorphosed through a half dozen drafts and months into a “phantasmagoric, absurd extravaganza of bastardised masculinity”, that combines a corporate meeting room and the dressing room of a drag show into what I’m sure is an excellent piece of theatre. It forms a key part of a series of works I have produced in the last three years on the topics of gender and sexuality, examined here through the lenses of power and control.
I have always been fascinated by systems of control and hierarchies of power; the two settings in Dead Effing Rebels seemed to me the best environments to not only present them, but to satirise these structures that dominate so much of our lives, whether that be at our jobs, in our relationships, or in our families.
To do this, I have not only a superb cast (Kian Standbridge, ‘Mister’; Ivy Harper, ‘Andrew’; Rufus Brierley, ‘David’; Icarus Gilbert, ‘Frank’; Ben Oliver, ‘Mark’) and creative team (Mika Trench, AD; Bryony Curley, Lead Technician) at my disposal, but also the invaluable contributions of the rest of our company (Sam Garratt, Lottie Roddis, Sophie Partis) through numerous workshops and rehearsal. See, the thing that is so utterly fabulous about our company is that we are not a real theatre. We are a troupe of delusional, ambitious, horrifically talented young people with more time on our hands than we know what to do with. As such, every single project we take on is conceived and developed through an intensely collaborative process of experimentation and feedback that involves the entire company, creating work that we truly believe is worth the price of entry.
Dead Effing Rebels is a microcosm, a mere splinter of the all-encompassing hunger that backs up the arrogance that is theatre; the belief that what you have to say is worth saying and worth listening to. It is the ethos of the Theatre of Cowards.
We believe that this presentation of a middle-manager turned dominatrix and his submissives (employees) in the throes of financial misconduct is worth saying and worth listening to. We believe that our juvenile experiences and understandings of the world and the mechanisms therein are valuable and unique.
We know that this is a fabulous show. We think you should come and see it.
Dead Effing Rebels runs on 17 – 18 August and 20 – 23 August at Barons Court Theatre, 28a Comeragh Rd, London W14 9HR, United Kingdom.
