by Max Colbourne
“I think there is a special power in performance to create spaces and dream new realities so that they can then exist in the real world. Unfortunately at this moment, trans people rarely get to be rock stars.” Emma Frankland, No Apologies
As trans folk, we’re used to being imaginative. From envisioning the life we desire, to manifesting who we are through art and creative expression, we use our brain power to make real what society denies us.
As a transgender, non-binary member of the team for Out There Fringe Fest, the South West’s only queer fringe festival taking place later this month in Exeter, Devon, I am excited yet conscious of the work it takes to platform trans storytelling in an authentic and meaningful way. In 2026, it is still difficult to find trans representation in mainstream media that does not centre stories of pain, erasure and ostracisation. This, we are told again and again, is what transness is.
Of course, these are facets of our reality that we can’t ignore - but such focal points overlook everything else the transgender experience is and can be. Two staple shows in Out There Fringe Fest’s programme, No Apologies and Untamed Burlesque, unleash the potential of the trans imagination. Both shows directly embody trans lived experience, while disobeying the rules of performance in a way that captures the limitless potential of being trans and gender-nonconforming.
Spearheading Untamed Burlesque is Mx Violent May, a non-binary, trans drag artist who notoriously founded the show in a cafe basement in Plymouth. Untamed is an alternative burlesque and cabaret show, raw and punchy, with the aim of reimagining burlesque to an audience unaware of what the medium can be: “I’ve found that people like to be subverted, so I’m hoping to do just that: break down misconceptions about what burlesque really is, and have a jolly old time doing it,” says Mx Violent. “There are not enough people who know about what alternative cabaret looks like, and so, for us, traditional burlesque is very much the exception to the rule.”
It is telling that even such a subversive performance medium as burlesque has standards around the types of bodies we see onstage, and what makes an ‘acceptable’ burlesque act. With Untamed, “you’re not just going to see skinny people onstage,” says Mx Violent. “If you’re good enough, I’ll book you. The cast is almost always queer and we have different bodies.” Audiences are always surprised by what they see; “they come to our shows expecting very glitzy glamoury burlesque - feathers and fans, sequins and boas - and then they watch someone staple their face during an act, or perform as Mr Bean.”
No Apologies, an acclaimed theatre show by award-winning writer and performer Emma Frankland, is another feature in Out There’s programme that rewrites the rules of performance by conjuring a radical misremembering of Nirvana’s iconic MTV Unplugged 1992 concert. In the show, Emma celebrates Kurt Cobain, whose memory and cultural legacy has often been reinterpreted by queer and trans communities, sometimes suggesting that Kurt could have been a trans woman; as Emma says, “to imagine different narratives for Kurt’s personal identity is not unusual - we actually don’t know how Kurt identified so to imagine him as a cis man is as speculative as to imagine her as a trans woman!”
Such a concept speaks to the magic of the show, the potential to reimagine, to ask ‘what if?’, and thus expand the cultural identity, and legacy, of one of rock’s biggest icons. I asked Emma if her intention with No Apologies was to convey how liberating it can be to cast a trans light on cultural history - how can the power of the trans imaginary help us to better understand our own pasts, presents and futures, the ways in which certain stories have been manipulated and erased? Emma responded: “centering a transfeminine body in such a recognisable and beloved setting as the Unplugged gig helps us to rewrite the past as a place where trans people have always existed, even if they weren’t always visible.” I can’t help but think of all the younger transfemmes who would have been empowered to be who they are, by seeing themselves represented not just on a culturally iconic stage, but as one of rock’s biggest legends.
There is also the realm of theatre itself as a tool for identity exploration. Mx Violent reminisces on their own experience: “not long after Covid, I started performing at drag shows, and that actually gave me a space to explore my gender in a public environment. Since coming out, my acts have developed a lot: they are a lot more character-based. And by putting your character out there, you are showing yourself.”
Theatre has always been a celebrated medium by trans folk, because it allows you to be whoever you want to be. Such daringness can result in the most transformative self-empowerment. As Mx Violent says, “the stage gives me the choice of wearing what I want to, of the music I dance to and how I’m going to move my body. There is something so incredibly powerful in that.”
Emma rightfully adds that “when we are seeing the rise of censorship across the media - film, television and commercial theatre - the performance art, punk rock and cabaret stages remain places of radical resistance for queer and trans people. My hope is that the myths of the future are inclusive of trans people.”
No Apologies will be performed at Barnfield Theatre in Exeter on Fri 2nd October 2026.
Follow Emma Frankland: @notyetarobot / emmafrankland.co.uk
No Apologies is commissioned by Marlborough Productions. Supported by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, The Old Electric, Northumbria University and Arts Council England.
Untamed Burlesque are performing as part of EXTRAVAGANZA Club Night on Sat 17th October 2026.
Follow Untamed Burlesque: @violentmay / @untamedburlesque
Out There Fringe Fest’26 is a queer arts and culture festival taking place across Exeter from the 18th September - 17th October, 2026.
View the Out There Fringe Fest’26 programme, consisting of theatre, drag, cabaret, workshops, and much more at outthere.org.uk
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