This event is wheelchair accessible.
Language: English
Witty, maudlin, superior, vulnerable, angry, scared and drained, ALOK Vaid-Menon certainly goes through the emotions over their 60 minutes on stage. But in this layered and heartfelt "cri de coeur", the author of Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020) and Your Wound/My Garden (2021), is never less than an uplifting, inspirational advocate for anyone outside the gender binary. At times in the show, it feels like the audience could break out into animated discussion groups, so numerous and urgent are the talking points raised. As a mixed-media artist, their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition.
«Jaw-dropping celestial event» (To Do List London)
DASHA will provide the sound for the evening.
Biography
Alok Vaid-Menon
Alok (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020), and Your Wound/My Garden (2021) and the creator of #DeGenderFashion: an initiative to degender fashion and beauty industries. In recognition of their work, they have been honored as the inaugural LGBTQ Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and awarded a GLAAD Media Award and Stonewall Foundation Visionary Award. Over the past decade, they have toured in more than 40 countries, most recently selling out their runs at the Soho Theatre in London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center. Their show has been described as "provocative and powerful" (CHORTLE), a "potent combination of comedy and poetry" (THE SCOTSMAN), and a "Jaw-dropping celestial event" (TO DO LIST LONDON). On screen, they will make their feature film debut in Absolute Dominion opposite Patton Oswalt and next can be seen in Emmie Lichtenberg’s film Complicated Order opposite Midori Francis that premiered at OutFest Film Festival in July 2023. On television, they can next be seen in the critically acclaimed MAX series SORT OF opposite Bilal Baig. They have also appeared on Hulu’s Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, ABC’s PRIDE: To Be Seen – A Soul of A Nation, Netflix’s Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and The Trans List.
Travis Alabanza
Travis is an award winning writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. For stage, Travis wrote and performed in their debut show Burgerz which won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, sold out at Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre and toured internationally. Their play Overflow, which premiered at and streamed from The Bush, was met with critical acclaim including numerous four-star reviews and was shortlisted for the George Devine Award, as well as their recent play Soiund of the Underground recieving critical acclaim. Their Debut book None of the Above was released in 2022, and was the winner of the Jhalak Literary Prize, Somerset Maugham Award and a Waterstones best seller