One Regency novel. Three 21st-century lives.
1812. An Irish noblewoman loses herself in the glittering whirl of fashionable London. To save her, and find himself, her son must go back to the old country.
2018. A trans woman, a cis gay man, and a Muslim drag queen stand proudly on a stage. But how did they get here?
Sometimes the only way forward
Is back.
Pop, opera, comedy, history, tragedy, and multiple bonnets collide in this work-in-progress queer cabaret retelling of Maria Edgeworth’s The Absentee, starring and inspired by the lives of three of London’s most dynamic cabaret artists. As Le Strange, Mzz Kimberley, and The Nightbus take on the multiple characters of the novel, their own twenty-first century stories of social struggle and metamorphosis unfold.
Part-commissioned by the University of York to mark the 250th anniversary of Edgeworth’s birth, Adam Perchard’s debut solo-author play prances across the centuries to ask questions about prejudice & Pride, about race, gender, & queer identity, and about how many Madonna songs you can fit into a period drama.
Contains references to sex and drugs - may be unsuitable for young children.