Trans Scripts

It has become increasingly accepted that awareness of transgender issues, and the arguments carried with them, are more widely articulated today than at any point in history. Defenders of such a narrative point to figures such as Caitlin Jenner or Chelsea Manning and the plentiful coverage they have enjoyed, as if the media should be congratulated for such generosity. But the narrative is just that, and it comes at the expense of less publicised realities: 16 trans Americans were murdered in the US this year. The latest was last week.

Trans Scripts cannot alter the imbalances of popular perception alone, but it is a valiant piece of theatre that recognises its limitations and glories in what it can do.

Constructed from interviews with trans individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, the show is powerfully aware that their community is forever subject to redefinition and debate, and that the present heightened awareness of their struggles and aspirations may disappear just as quickly, leaving the same human beings behind in a world that has not yet matured enough to properly recognise them as such. 

The intelligence and eloquence of Trans Scripts extends far beyond the context in which it has been created. The six performers reminisce, painfully and hilariously, about how they came to understand themselves: what went right, what went wrong and what they have still to achieve. 

Trans Scripts tells the stories that are unique and familiar, moving and amusing, timely yet unending. It is the audience's responsibility to listen; in this case, it is also a pleasure.