Fringe Review: TRANS PEOPLE ARE AWFUL, Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard

Photo credit: Ella Carmen Dale

Gory, charming and fizzing with energy, Trans People Are Awful is a fearsome one-man hour of theatre. In the intimate space of Bunker One at the Pleasance, Ros Watt takes no prisoners and after setting up a camera in the corner and solving a Rubix cube, we listen to a radio broadcast telling us that Man (Watt) has murdered 14 men. Watt is grinning a wild, deranged grin and so begins the whirlwind of Trans People Are Awful.

Unnamed, Watt charms onstage - despite being a serial killer. The script is ruthlessly dark and pulls no punches as the trans male protagonist murders seemingly problematic cis men for their body parts for his transition. In part harrowing and others hilarious, Trans People Are Awful looks at identity, loneliness, and the effect of slowly spiralling alone.

The stage in Bunker One is mostly occupied by an industrial freezer - a sort of sign of things to come. Throughout the show, Watt whirls about the stage, in a frenzy of dance, or just in a frenzy and uses props with abandon. A marvel in stagecraft, there is no end to the life injected into the performance by Watt and the use of an old school CD player, or several cleaning products, or even jars of… you should probably just go and see it.

As we learn more about Man at the centre of the show, topics including dysphoria, shame and how to feel like himself are tackled alongside morality. The lines between right and wrong blur and things start to rapidly change. Majestic in his performance, Watt transports the audience through everything from murders to dance numbers and is compellingly grotesque throughout. It is an urgent, important discussion on trans identity and Watt leads the way through tender explorations of Man’s emotions, childhood and the hold he tries to keep on his life. 

Supplying raw emotion, depth, and all out carnage, the boldly titled Trans People Are Awful is a reckoning of society. It looks at perceptions, individuals and what really makes a person, trans or not. Smart, slick writing singing with humour throughout brings together this glowing performance from Watt into a slightly terrifying, electric show. 

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Hannah Goldswain

Trans People are Awful plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 31 Aug, with further info here.