Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Trans People Are Awful
Ros Watt
Genre: Dark Comedy, LGBTQIA+, New Writing
Venue: Pleasance
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A well-thought-out and incredibly topical piece, Trans People are Awful delves into transphobia and what it means to be a man in the modern day through the lens of a trans serial killer. Well, not a serial killer, per se, as they doesn’t really see it like that – they’re just trying to assemble all the parts to make a perfect specimen of masculinity, and then become the man they were always meant to be.
Review
Every Fringe, there’s always a couple of shows that get buzzier as the month goes along. To begin with, there’s some slight whispers – a word of mouth rec here and there, and then a couple of sold out shows – and before you know it, it’s nearly impossible to get tickets. That seems to have been the trajectory for Trans People are Awful, the debut show from theatre-maker Ros Watt, and the hype has been entirely well-founded. With a Stage Fringe Five and a slew of other awards to their name by the end of August, it’s clear that they’ve had an excellent run, and with a transfer to London in the near future, it looks like their career can only go up from here.
A well-thought-out and incredibly topical piece, Trans People are Awful delves into transphobia and what it means to be a man in the modern day through the lens of a trans serial killer. Well, not a serial killer, per se, as they doesn’t really see it like that – they’re just trying to assemble all the parts to make a perfect specimen of masculinity, and then become the man they were always meant to be. With prosthetic body parts and surgical horror galore, including, as Watt notes early on, a pesto jar full of “cum” (if you’re not comfortable with that, you should leave now, they suggest), it’s a gleefully satiric take on the waves of transphobia that are currently rocking our society. You should be afraid, after all, of Watt’s Frankenstein-esque intentions.
But as any modern reader versed in Mary Shelley’s magnum opus would attest, the creature is the sympathetic one, and it’s the scientist who is actually the villain of the book. Likewise, Watt’s serial killer encompasses both the mad scientist and the creature, given their intention to build a perfect man and then transform themself into said specimen. In doing so, they perfectly balance audience aversions and sympathy to create a nuanced portrayal of a trans person for a community so in need of uplifting in these trying times. Even the setting, Pleasance Courtyard’s Bunker One, works well to suit the ambience of the play, with a slightly dingy feel and whiff of formaldehyde that has seemingly stepped straight out of a mad scientist’s laboratory.
It’s certainly something different from the typical Fringe fare, but that’s why the Festival is so fantastic – you really can create anything you want in the name of artistic impression. I, for one, am certainly excited to see what they do next.
