★★★★★
OMG! Alex Franklin, where have you been all my life! At first glance, Franklin gives the energy of many Gen Z stand-ups, knowingly egotistical in a funny, Tik-Tok, meta way. Yet she manages to use that superficiality to drill down into serious subject matter. “I’m trans, is that a problem?” Is the first thing out of her mouth. In the current climate, with transphobes and fascists emboldened, it takes serious self-belief, and even a risk to one’s safety, to tackle the possibility of opposition head on. But that’s Franklins art. She manages to repeat a sensitive line of topic till it becomes trivial.
She sings songs about beavers being reintroduced to the UK, with the same wit and silliness as she confronts online hate. So at ease with herself and the audience, she makes the central idea of her show, that of kissing, unthreatening and faintly sentimental.
Alex’s other great achievement in this show, is to completely trash the bigotry levelled and trans people. She does this in an irreverent and silly way; there’s no harsh polemic (which she’d be entitled to), but yet she managed to completely disarm the absurd prejudices of TERFS with such ease, it’s a marvel to watch.
The show’s climax is beautifully observed, and despite being singled out as being part of ‘a really old front row’, it pays off beautifully.
Alex Franklin: Kiss Me x is on at Underbelly Cowgate, Jelly Belly until August 31st
