Review: Burgerz - Travis Alabanza
Burgerz - Travis Alabanza
★★★★★
(5 out of 5 stars)
Warning: Some spoilers but not many, I promise!
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the first showing of Travis Alabanza's show, Burgerz. I last saw Travis perform in Brighton at their show 'Before I Step Outside (You Love Me)' which was incredible. I have followed their work on Instagram and Twitter for a while now and am constantly inspired by their strength, fight, power, creativity, passion, the list goes on. So when I heard about this show I knew I needed to see it.
In classic Travis style, the piece made you want to laugh and cry, the perfect balance of comedy and seriousness. The show, inspired and named after a hate crime, in which a man threw a burger at Travis in the middle of the day and shouted a transphobic slur while over 100 people saw and did nothing, this show couldn't be anymore important. Performed and written by a black trans artist, this is the art we need to be seeing, hearing and going to.
And Travis took the burger theme seriously while actually cooking a burger from scratch in front of us. The show flowed perfectly between monologues and the cooking segments along with audience participation. In the era of mobile phones we know are attention spans are shortening and regardless of what I'm doing I find myself drifting but not last night. Although the scene changes were shaky but can be forgiven due to it being the first night but mainly thanks to Travis' charm, which carried them through, and erased any doubt in your head. Travis's stage presents is admirable and very engaging. Along with the set and the lighting which were both brilliantly beautiful, everybody that worked on this show should be extremely proud. The writing was raw but elegant, at the end of the day there isn't anyone more qualified to make the point of transphobia then a trans person!
Finally, the ending was perfect, the point was obvious and Travis had been telling it since the start of the show but at the end of the show they broke it down for us one last time, making you think, question and realise.
This show is perfect, get tickets.
Burgerz is showing at Hackney Showroom until 3rd November, tickets available here
Travis is also on the front cover of my friend Jamie's magazine Fruitcake! An article about privilege that I wrote will also be featured in the magazine. You can preorder it here