Showing @ Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh until Mon 25 Aug @ 11:50

Belarus Free Theatre are renowned for their uncompromising, in-your-face performances that put a spotlight on various issues of inequality or social wrongs. This is no different. It begins with a distressing description of male teacher Mr Upton, who after having a sex change to Ms Meadows, was later found dead; despite the school’s support she was never fully accepted by parents and the right-wing media. What follows is a series of hard-hitting scenes addressing cases from across the globe of transgender people having been discriminated against. It’s an intense hour and a half.

The trouble is, the show is so relentless in it’s angry cascade of people being victimised, it doesn’t give you time to listen to and digest all the information. This becomes especially difficult as the piece is performed in Belarusian and keeping up with the surtitles is at times impossible. When the pace slows however, it becomes possible to appreciate the real talent they have for stagecraft. The imagery they create often has just as powerful an impact as the content of their script; the actress who has various male body parts on phones and tablets, held in front of her own. This is their real strength. Although the topic of the piece is undoubtedly important and it’s fine – perhaps even encouraged – to make the audience feel uncomfortable, the frenzied bombardment of statistics and personal stories make it too challenging to engage with.

Showing as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014