TESTOSTERONE is a new collaboration between acclaimed transgender actor and writer Kit Redstone and award-winning company Rhum and Clay at the New Diorama Theatre, mixing the visual theatre skills of Rhum and Clay with Redstone’s direct storytelling.
This is the true story of Redstone’s first experience of a male gym changing room at the age of 33. One year after his first injection of testosterone, Kit is perceived completely as a man by the world around him. He knows the exact date and time he became a man, but what kind of man is he and what happens to the woman he used to be?
The show begins with four men getting changed after a workout and soon develops into a spectacle of song, dance, movement and an honest look at what it means to be a man, from the standpoint of someone not born as one. The tale fills a fast paced, often funny and very truthful hour with some darker moments and some excellent song choices.
Kit Redstone tells his tale with clever asides and sometimes disarming honesty. He’s ably supported by the artistic directors of Rhum and Clay, Julian Spooner and Matthew Wells as the manly men in the changing room that Redstone watches for clues and the fabulous performer Daniel Jacob embracing a very different kind of man.
The play showcases voices rarely heard on stage. It will make you hear ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ from The Jungle Book in a very different way. TESTOSTERONE has a short run until 3rd December; I hope it gets the longer run it deserves as this is a story that should be heard.
Reviewed by Rhiannon Evans
TESTOSTERONE plays at the New Diorama Theatre until 3 December 2016
