“Laurie has learned to glue down a nail, and we think this is a life skill.”
WHO: Bronagh Leneghan
WHAT: “‘What’s the worst thing that’s ever made you feel like a woman?’ Nothing More to Say’s award-nominated debut is an ‘experimental’ and ‘audacious’ **** (BroadwayWorld.com) hour of verbatim and cabaret theatre. We sat down with other trans women to get sleepover-honest about bodies, sex, and love. Now, armed with killer dance moves and lots of baby oil, we’re leading you through a fever dream of hilarious and gut-wrenching confession. We’re going from pleasure to pagan ritual, from Barbara Streisand to BDSM. And no – there are no actual monologues…”
WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – The Attic (Venue 33)
WHEN: 15:20 (60 min)
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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
The two of us first came up to Edinburgh – unwittingly – as a duo. It wasn’t until we met and started devising together four years later that we were like – oh, you saw that show too? It turned out we basically had the exact same reference points for what we wanted 52 Monologues to be. It was kind of creepy, actually! We’ve all taken up different shows to Edinburgh before, but this is our first time coming up as a whole company to the Fringe.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Charli has learned to dance! Laurie is a really sickening dancer, and since we premiered the show last year Charli has been desperately trying to catch up. One year on, and Charli is finally learning to truly pop her pussy out, too. Laurie has learned to glue down a nail, and we think this is a life skill. We’ve also learned the power of like – self love? And like – feminism, maybe?
Tell us about your show.
Usually when people hear the title 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals they usually go – oh, like The Vagina Monologues? And we have to be like – well, not quite. It actually isn’t a piece of monologue theatre at all. We took the name from those tedious monologue books you read when you’re applying to drama school, which are always titled like ’52 Monologues for Young Men’ and ’52 Monologues for Young Women’. We both had this memory of reading them at age sixteen and being like – f*ck, I can’t do either!
We do this whole bit in the show about how we met on this awful double date. Both of us were writing failing one-woman shows and finally were like – well, why don’t we just do a two-woman show? Somehow, it actually worked.
At the time, we were both trying to exorcise a certain grief. So we did this the only way we knew how – through a bubblegum pink extravaganza. We conducted interviews with trans women in the London and Cambridge area, and that formed the foundation of the show. 52 Monologues is still dedicated to them.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
We’re sharing the Pleasance Attic with the delightful Trash Salad – who we are gagging to see. Trash Salad (@trash_salad_) was at VAULT Festival with us this year, but we didn’t get time to see them because we were performing! It is basically a campy queer cabaret, and we just love that. There is lettuce everywhere. We gag for like – an abundance of food items and a pink colour scheme.
Liv Ello (of SWARM) is also doing a show with Frankie Thompson (of Catz) (@liv_ello, @FrankieThomp1). They’re both so epic. Liv Ello does a really hot kind of queer anarchist theatre – SWARM was this incredibly scathing satire of conservative Britain as a swarm of flies. Catz – well we didn’t get to see Catz, but we heard it was crazy. We gag for crazy. To see them team up and do a show together just sounds inimitably exciting.
On the queer theme – Cowboys and Lesbians (@cowboysplay) are at Pleasance with us too, and we’re excited to see them. It’s a show about Sapphic angst – so, honestly, what’s new? But we love a little angst.
We are also desperate and shameless fans of Lucy McCormick (@lucy_muck). We saw her do a work in progress of her upcoming Mystery Plays, where she did the story of Salomé and John the Baptist. When it came to the Salomé dance – the like, world-famous historical dance of inimitable beauty – we all did this absolutely brilliantly passé dance number to Britney Spears’ ‘Gimme More’.
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