A woman created her own theatre company in Thailand after not being able to enjoy her hobby.
Natalie Taylor, who lives in the city centre, founded Dark Horse Theatre Chiang Mai alongside three other drama and music teachers whilst she was living in the Asian country teaching drama.The 42-year-old, originally from Huddersfield, said the group was "created out of a love for dark-humoured, engaging and progressive theatre” but also a need for more creative arts in the North of Thailand.
The group’s productions quickly gained a “cult following” for their quirky style and interesting performance spaces with one story playing out in an old ice factory.
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When the pandemic hit, some of the founders, including Natalie returned home. However, Kelly Holliday stayed in Thailand and wrote a very relevant and current play titled Transistor.
The two-hour-long dark comedy focuses on a radical feminist mother who has been estranged from her youngest since they began their transitioning journey.
Natalie, a former Liverpool John Moores student, told the ECHO: “It's so important to us to make a theatre that's relevant to an audience. And I think the trans debate is highly fueled at the moment and that’s why Kelly wrote the play.
“She wanted to write a story about a family - a family who was topical. It’s not about trans people being an issue - that’s not the case, it's about trans people having issues within a family and being not accepted.”
Transistor “exposes and explores” some of the conflicts and issues that a Trans person might experience both within modern society and also within the LGBTQIA+ community. It is specifically focused on the very current debate that explores the space between the Trans experience and second-wave radical feminism.
Natalie, who now works for the BBC, said: “Thailand has a different culture to the UK with its own subtleties and complexities, particularly in its approach to and treatment of trans and queer culture.
“Whilst Transistor is set in America and explores these issues from a Western perspective, many of the issues in Transistor can be thought of universally - family complexity and conflict, shame, trauma, grief and of course transphobia.”
Transistor will be performed at Hope Street Theatre for the week of July, 25 - the same week as Liverpool celebrates Pride.
The play does contain strong language throughout and scenes some may find upsetting: because of this, it is suitable for audiences of ages 16 and above. Tickets are priced between £11.25 - £13.50 and can be bought online.
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