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“What came first, the burger or the box it goes in?” That is the precise query Travis Alabanza asks a prepared viewers member as he comes on stage to assist them make a burger. Burgerz is predicated on the abhorrent transphobic assault Alabanza was topic to when a burger was thrown at them in a public place and in broad daylight. Not a single individual reacted to this act of violence. This is the spine to this efficiency piece, which is a heartbreaking however completely vital watch. We begin with an enormous crate on the straightforward stage: inside, we…
Rating
Unmissable!
A painful however certainly vital watch on transphobia and identification politics. Flawless.
“What came first, the burger or the box it goes in?” That is the precise query Travis Alabanza asks a prepared viewers member as he comes on stage to assist them make a burger. Burgerz is predicated on the abhorrent transphobic assault Alabanza was topic to when a burger was thrown at them in a public place and in broad daylight. Not a single individual reacted to this act of violence. This is the spine to this efficiency piece, which is a heartbreaking however completely vital watch.
We begin with an enormous crate on the straightforward stage: inside, we see extra cardboard packing containers wrapped in fluorescent pink tape and a kitchen island, which takes centre stage for the burger making. Alabanza then invitations a volunteer cis, white, heterosexual man on to the stage to help in studying the directions. The dynamic between the each is mild. Alabanza asks the gentleman about himself, his expertise with non-binary folks and his ideas on his personal identification. They completely hold the dialog logical but emotional, with components of comedy peppered all through. Ad libs and off the cuff viewers interplay is impeccably clean, with the viewers, many instances, in matches of laughter.
Alabanza deliberately blurs the road between actuality and efficiency with their up to date and witty writing type. As an viewers member, I virtually felt intrusive listening to the intimate particulars of Alabanza’s identification and the racially charged transphobia they’ve confronted. There’s a second of heightened pressure when the burger patty is scorching away on the grill, Alabanza reliving the small print of their painful and horrible assault; we’re met with an additional layer of deliberately uncomfortable music rating (lovely composed by XANA) because the sizzle and smoke of the patty burns an increasing number of. “I wasn’t born in the wrong body, I was born in the wrong world,” Alabanza tells us. From viewers members exhaling a held in breath, to these nodding and ‘snapping’ alongside, they’d us all hanging on, captivated.
The format is nearly summary and non-conformative in itself. The complete time I used to be attempting to suit it right into a field: was it a monologue, spoken phrase, comedy skit? But the fact was, it was simply that – a telling of actuality. An individual telling a room full of individuals about their lived expertise, by way of the analogy of the burger and the heavy burden it held.
The power and emotional toil it should take performing this each evening is indescribable. Alabanza reminds us that silence is compliance and leaves us questioning ‘what would I have done.’ It was an honour and a privilege, thanks for sharing your story Travis Alabanza.
Written by: Travis Alabanza
Directed by: Sam Curtis Lindsay
Produced by: Hackney Showroom, Molly Sharpe
Burgerz performs at Southbank Centre till 12 March. Further info and bookings will be discovered right here.
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