16 November 2020
Newsdesk
The Bush Theatre has today announced that transgender actress, writer, and poet Reece Lyons will perform the role of Rosie in Overflow, a new monologue by acclaimed writer and performer Travis Alabanza (Jubilee, Burgerz). Directed by Debbie Hannan and the first production at the Bush following national restrictions, Overflow opens on 8 December (press night 9 December) in the Bush’s Holloway Theatre.
The Bush has also announced that they will be filming Overflow and with more details about the digital release in the coming weeks.
Reece Lyons is a transgender actress, writer, and poet. She is a Roundhouse resident artist where her work has previously gone viral and has been watched by over 4 million people online. Select credits include HANNA (Amazon Prime); Life & Rhymes (Sky Arts); Fierce Sisters (Mimbre).
Writer Travis Alabanza said, ‘I feel so excited to have my next show ‘Overflow' at a theatre like the Bush, with a director as incredible as Debbie and a lead as talented as Reece Lyons. The last five years have seen such a horrifying increase in how this country treats trans people, so it feels deeply important to create work and art that allows us to take up space on main stages, and tell our own stories. With so much of the media, political landscape, and online sphere dominated by people speaking for us, art and performance is a place for us to take back the mic and speak on our terms - with all the different shades and textures that comes with. I am so excited for ‘Overflow’ to be part of the ever-growing and vibrant trans theatrical canon’.
‘Club toilets have taught me more about sisterhood than any book’.
Cornered into a flooding toilet cubicle and determined not to be rescued again, Rosie distracts herself with memories of bathroom encounters, drunken heart-to-hearts by dirty sinks, friendships forged in front of crowded mirrors, and hiding from trouble.
But with her panic rising and no help on its way, can she keep her head above water?
From internationally acclaimed writer and one of the UK's most prominent trans voices, Travis Alabanza (Burgerz), comes a hilarious and devastating tour of women’s bathrooms.
The charity Stonewall estimates that around 1 percent of the population might identify as trans or non-binary. That would mean about 600,000 trans and non-binary people in Britain, out of a population of over 60 million. Transgender Awareness Week, which began on Friday 13 November, helps raise the visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming people and address the issues the community faces. The week ends on 20 November with the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Travis Alabanza is an award-winning theatre maker, writer, and performer. A previous member of the Royal Court Young Writers group and Barbican young poets, their recent show Burgerz, which explored the intersections of transness and harassment, toured internationally to sold-out crowds including Sao Paolo's Mostra Internacional de Teatro, Southbank Centre, Bristol Old Vic, Smock Alley Dublin, HAU Berlin, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Total Theatre award. Alabanza’s work featured in My White Best Friend (Bunker Theatre), The Bush Theatre’s Monday Monologues series as well as Paines Plough's recent season, In Tandem.
In 2018/19, Alabanza was listed on the Dazed100 - 100 people defining culture, awarded a Gay Times Honours award for their work in the LGBT+ community, and listed in The Evening Standard’s ‘25 Influential people under 25’. Recently in The Times Style, Bernadine Evaristo picked Alabanza as a ‘trailblazer of the future’.
Overflow is made possible thanks to the support of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, which will enable the venue to produce live theatre over the next six months.
Performances
8 - 22 December at 5 pm and 8 pm (no 5 pm performance on 9 or 10 December)
Saturday matinee on 12 December and 19 December at 2 pm
Post Show Q&A - Thursday 10 December. Hear from the cast and creatives of Overflow after the show. Free to ticket holders on the night.
Captioned Performance - 17 December at 8 pm
Audio Described Performance - 19 December at 2 pm
Tickets priced from £20 (concessions available) can be booked at bushtheatre.co.uk or at the Box Office on 020 8743 5050
Priority Booking Opens - 12 November
Public Booking Opens - 16 November
