EDFRINGE REVIEW: Trans People Are Awful (Ros Watt)

Trans People Are Awful– ★★★★★ – Intense

Ros Watt in association with Camden People's Theatre
5-31 Aug
Review by Rebecca Mahar
 
Part black comedy, part tragedy, all screaming reflection on identity and the constructs that may or may not make us whole, Trans People Are Awful is a land mine of a solo debut from rising Scottish actor Ros Watt.

A scene from Trans People Are Awful. Pic: Ella Dale.

Watt, himself a trans performer and writer of the show, plays Boy, a young trans guy out to collect the final, perfect body art he’s certain will make his transition —and his identity— whole. This of course involves murdering various cis men and stealing their parts until he finds the right one, until at last he positions himself in front of a camera to document the self-performed surgery that will both complete and kill him. Boy addresses the camera directly, explaining via various dramatic, frenetic, hilarious and haunting means, what he’s doing and why. But when he brings in the final body from which he intends to amputate a part for himself, The Project falls apart, collapsing Boy’s fevered perceptions into ironic horror.
 
Trans People Are Awful is unrelenting from start to finish. Watt maintains Boy’s manic persona with incredible energy and specificity of movement— and the movement in this piece is no mean feat, from the stiff and sudden to the acrobatic, every moment precisely blocked and choreographed without feeling unnatural (or at least, not unnatural to the outlandish situation in which it occurs). Boy’s realness is the most affecting part of the show: that despite the absurdity of the startlingly realistic genitalia in jars and the ballet at one point performed with them, Watt embodies a person who could have ended up in this situation, magnifying real struggles of identity though this gruesome lens.
 
The twist is perfectly timed and gut-wrenching. Boy shuts the camera off, leaving him alone (more or less) with us, the audience now truly witness to his aching soul and the humanity behind the madness. Watt carries all of it superbly, never asking the audience to forgive Boy; only, perhaps, to understand. 
 
Mind the content warnings when deciding if this show is for you: they are all there for a reason, and the intimate space of the bunker in which the show is performed offers nowhere to hide. Trans People Are Awful will shock you into laughter, perhaps just shock you, and force you to contemplate, more than just casually, what it is that makes you who you are.
 
Running time: One hour with no interval
Venue: Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33), 60 Pleasance EH8 9TJ
5-31 August 2026 (not 17, 24)
Time: 3:20pm 
Tickets: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/trans-people-are-awful

Promotional image for Trans People Are Awful. Pic: Amy Lauffer Neff.


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