Entering Soho Theatre, there is a palpable buzz within the packed audience teeming with excitement to finally get to see piss/CARNATION’s Edinburgh fringe-smash hit, 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals. This riotous cabaret (directed by Ilona Sell) is immediately entertaining and laugh-out- loud, loaded with cleverly constructed social commentary and wit, bursting with poignant and powerful themes from femininity, sex, motherhood and, naturally, Barbra Streisand.
Charli Cowgill and Laurie Ward’s dazzling performances are brilliantly raw and incredibly slick with excellent movement direction from Naissa Bjørn. The performance style echoes the script by being both vulnerable and exposing, yet shrewdly composed and concentrated. Expertly weaving together different narrative perspectives of other trans women alongside Cowgill and Ward, the show presents a rip-roaring and gut-wrenching cabaret-exploration of their transfeminine experience.
52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals doesn’t shy away from intense moments of pain and, frankly, trauma, yet there are explicit and repeated content warnings throughout the show and the projector displays the message assuring audiences that they can leave at any time. The creative team must be commended for their sensitivity in creating a safe space where audiences can go through the catharsis of the show, yet always have the option to put their wellbeing first, without judgement.
Indeed, entering (in Ward’s words) this “strange and twisted hot-pink universe” is a journey well worth taking. There are few shows that leave your jaw sore from laughing yet eyes wet with a tear, 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals is one of those shows.
Shows are quickly selling out so do book now to avoid disappointment. 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals is playing at the Soho Theatre until the 16 th of March. For more information and tickets, you can follow the link here.
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AD | gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Arabella Kennedy-Compston
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