Travis Alabanza Puts Trans-Femininity Centre Stage
Make it stand out
Theatres, in many ways, have always represented the upper-echelons of society. I have a few memories of visiting them; pantomimes at Christmas time, or grabbing a pair of cut-price tickets to a musical on the West End during an afternoon off — but for many people, seeing themselves on stage in such a prestigious setting is one of only fantasy.
Travis Alabanza is here to change that. The artist, writer, and performer uses the stage as a space to open up the world of theatre to conversations around gender; with Travis climbing the ranks of underground venues to a sell-out stint of their solo show, Burgerz, culminating in back to back performances at London’s Southbank Centre. Burgerz both placed the reality of transphobic violence straight in the faces of those who can afford to ignore it; the ranks of middle class, cis theatre goers and critics, whilst also providing a huge moment for those who most needed it — queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people who have have never seen their experiences so candidly represented in such a prestigious setting.
I’m chatting to Travis on the eve of their next big project announcement; Overflow, a new show written by them and performed at The Bush Theatre in London’s Shepherds Bush. However, it’s a conversation they’d never thought they’d be having, for a project that they never realised they needed to create. “I thought after Burgerz, you know, I'm not doing another show about transness. I can't, I need to have a break.” Travis tells me, “I guess what I realised was I'm not going to do a show with me in it, about transness. But what Burgerz showed was just how huge of a gap there was for trans employment in theatre and on stages.” After travelling with Burgerz, the reality that it was impossible to recall the last time a trans person had graced the theatre’s stages, in a main role, sunk in. When The Bush Theatre approached Travis, what they wanted to write immediately became clear, “I knew instantly that I wanted it to be a trans feminine person in the lead role.”
“In the midst of arguably one of the most transphobic Western countries right now, we’re gonna say fuck off.”
Forgoing the traditional casting process, Travis put out an open call across social media; encouraging trans-feminine people and trans-women to audition regardless of previous acting experience. “For me the open call was so exciting, because it was a way to show the industry that we’re here. We got over 60 videos. So even though the show has only one person in it, I feel like I've got this database now of all these incredible trans women and trans feminine people that should be on these people's books.” Despite banking on the fact their next venture wouldn’t be centred on the trans experience, putting together Overflow made Travis realise that they “need to step up as a writer that has access to being able to be seen.”
This year has been exhausting for us all. But for those living with intersections of their identities that continue to be marginalised; it can be difficult to find the joy in moving forward. Despite lockdown, transphobia in the U.K is on the rise; cis-white middle class women are still being paid for column inches denouncing trans-women and the government continuing to scale back the rights of the trans community. Speaking to Travis, what becomes so abundantly clear is that this is a joyful show; one that not only speaks to the hardships of living as a trans person, but delves deep into the protagonist’s life with a complexity that is rarely shown across our mainstream cultural landscape in the U.K.
“What's exciting about Overflow is, yes, it is a story about trans women and public space, and it is a story that is looking directly at the relationship between cis women, and cis feminism, and transmisogyny, but also the show is about growing up.” Travis tells me, “It's about the main character, Rosie, telling us her life through the memories of bathrooms. So it's about clubbing, it's about rave culture, it's about growing up in a Catholic school. It's all these different things that are coming into the story. Hopefully, what will be really nice is it's a chance to see a character that happens to be trans, flex a four dimensional life, you know?”
At a time when it is as common to hear about tragedy as it is accomplishments, Travis is creating a world in which the richness of trans-experiences can no longer be ignored. “People can say whatever about the work, but I don't find my work depressing, I actually find it has a lot of hope because I have to try and write for this rock to move.”
Fighting against oppression can often feel listless. But as Travis puts it, “there's two ways of this going about. There's a world where we go, ‘okay, this rock won't move’. And then trans people stay hidden, not taking up public space or public jobs. Or we go ‘fuck that, we're going to move it.’ And even if it's not ready to move, you're going to have to cast this trans person, and you're going to have to have us on the main stage.”
“People can say whatever about the work, but I don’t find my work depressing, I actually find it has a lot of hope”
While having access to these large platforms opens up these narratives to those it may be harder to reach, Travis is more importantly providing an aspirational position for those who need their stories to be sold, and forcing the old-school theatre set to move the conversation along with them. “In the midst of arguably one of the most transphobic Western countries right now, we're gonna say fuck off. And this theatre is going to open up its new season with a trans woman cast as the lead in an industry that continually tells us that that doesn't happen.” With Overflow, as with all of Travis’ work, they are providing people with an opportunity to both see and be seen; and to escape into a world in which their story is no longer omitted from the script.
Travis’ Hot or Not
Last time we caught up with Travis, they set the cultural bar for 2019 with a list that would guide our every move for the following twelve months. Of course, we couldn’t chat to the cultural connoisseur without finding out what they think is setting the agenda at the end of this hellish year.
TRAVIS: My big hot is I feel like the meme artists are keeping us alive during this time. Long live the meme pages and I found my favourite. It feels like an anarcho feminist meme page, it’s called Wild Galz. That's Wild Galz with a Z, and they are my big hot list because they're just fucking hilarious. Wild Galz is my big Hot.
My other big Hot is Caleb Femi's book Poor and it's so hot it hurts. So good. So good. And then my last Hot is, thank God they put Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Netflix because I'm in. I'm hooked.
IONE: Oh my god. I need to watch it. I've never watched it.
TRAVIS: I am hooked. It's not even my guilty pleasure. It's just a pleasure. I'm fucking living for it.
IONE: Okay, nots.
TRAVIS: My not is people waving until the end of zoom calls, until the hang up. That awkward wave when you have to leave a zoom call.
IONE: Oh, yeah 100%.
TRAVIS: Let's just abruptly leave, if we're still on zoom in 2021 let's just actually respect an abrupt leaving on a zoom.
IONE: Normalise the zoom French exit.
TRAVIS: Exactly. Exactly. None of this wave until the end.
Interview: Ione Gamble | Photography and Creative Direction: Karis Crawford
