JosephineAllison.com

Cabaret and Performance Arts:

(The Cosmopolitan Cabaret troupe 2004)

As a result of some initial performances at Club Wotever, I have become involved with Cabaret Wotever and other cabaret and performance arts related groups. After performing Gender Violence at the London "On All Fours" festival in April 2004, I was one of five performers who were asked to put together a show for the 2004 Stockholm Pride. We put together a feature length show incorporating all our individual performances and also new work that we started to do together.

(Cosmopolitan Cabaret, 30 July, 2004 at Stockholm Pride Picture (picture: Pavel Maira))

The event was a huge success and we were all bowled over by the response that has led to the launch of Cabaret Wotever, which puts on shows, workshops and club nights all around the world. In 2005 we performed in Warsaw at a club night organised by local promoters Kash and Lukas with Club Wotever. This was an absolutely magical experience on so many levels. The club night alone pulled in over 600 people and our work there with Kash and Lukas received huge amounts of national mainstream and queer press coverage.

(Front cover of the national Polish newspaper, Metropol)

We also played queer 'super-club' Smack regularly throughout 2005 which brings in a massive 900 people each time. In the summer of 2005 we very excited to play the fabulous Hackney Empire, a 1200 capacity London venue, with a newly expanded Cabaret Wotever for the Hackney Spice Festival. Another huge success, so much so that we we were back at the Hackney Empire twice in 2006 alone.

(The Wotever Cabaret troupe 2005)

(Wotever Empire reviewed in The Pink Paper)

The group has changed and morphed over the years, but we still continually to collectively plann many more shows in the UK and around the world. Click here for more information.

More Cabaret...

Since performing with the Cabaret Wotever group I have been getting more and more into doing different kinds of performance arts and cabaret style shows. This started with doing some short performances with Dyke Marilyn - with characters like Miss File and Penelope Precocious - but is blosoming into other kinds of performances. These cabaret and spoken word style performances have expanded since then and in 2006 I was able to put many of the pieces together in my first one-woman show. In 2007 I was honoured to be given the opportunity to put together my own cabaret-style show at Transfabulous 2007, "The Genderqueer Playhouse" (which was repeated and filmed in 2008), and my second one-woman show. These pereformances are now many and varied and I won't include all the details here, but some of them include:

"Miss File"

Miss File is a stern and repressed british psychologist in training who muses over her queer patients, and is clearly much more neurotic than any of them. She started out life as a character I suggested for a musical that Dyke Marilyn was writing. However, since then she has somewhat expanded out on her own. At first, I saw her as something of a purely comedic character but as I have performed her more and more, I have realised that though she can be comedic, she also has quite a serious side. I use her character as a way of demonstrating the masks that we wear as we try to perform ourselves in the social world. This can become quite personal and hopefully people can relate to what she is going through. I am very fond of Miss File, and I think one day she will "get it". I have performed her in large and small venues and will continue to write short pieces for her.

(Miss File, photo by Sam Nightingale)

Most often she performs lectures on many subjects relating to queer people, which she studies thoroughly but does not in any way identify as (oh no, she is not a raging queer filth-kitten). Of course she has been know to get carried away - for example when discussing the "evils" of burlesque (see some of the photos at the bottom of this page for the results). She has also recently been giving lectures alongside Professor Debonair on the subject of "boxes" (see picture).

Miss File and Professor Debonair at Agenda 2007

(Miss File and Professor Debonair, at Agenda January 2007)

"Penelope Precocious"

Penelope, is in complete contrast to Miss File. She represents the most free girlish side of myself. Though she does get herself into heaps and heaps of trouble. She is thoroughly contrary. She will literally do the exact opposite of what she is told. Not in a mean way. Most often it is to get herself in as much (fun) trouble as possible. I have performed her a couple of times, most regularly with Dyke Marilyn (though in these instances, Dyke Marily plays a character called "Sadie Strap-it-on") but I am putting together some more short pieces with her soon. One involving young Penelope going for a ballet lesson.

Shows...

Following on from this Cabaret work, I have been able to be part of and even produce myself some really amazing shows. Here are details of some of those...

"Being Me, Performing Myself"

I was commissioned to write and perform this one-woman show by Stockholm Pride 2006 Festival to such success I was asked to repeat the show at the Gothenburg World Culture Museum for the Queer Festival in Göteborg, at the Stockholm University and at the ANSO Students for Transgender Conference in Århus, Denmark in 2007, and produce a brand new show for Stockholm Pride each year since.

Combining performances and thoughts on the distinction between fact and fiction, I present this show as a reflection on performance and the construction of queer self on and off stage. The show moves from my first nervous attempts to communicate something performatively, to the freedom I now feel showing my queer trans(gendered) self in a multiplicity of ways on stage through all kinds of performances. The show is made up of 4 short performance pieces drawn together in a narrative in which I talk/perform in and out of character (slipping between "fiction" and "reality"); changing costumes and using song, dance, movement, comedy and spoken word - smoothly transitioning throughout. Here are some photos from Anita Westin and Del Lagrace Volcano taken in Stockholm 2006.

(Miss File in Being Me, Performing Myself, 2006 - by Anita Westin

(Miss File in Being Me, Performing Myself, 2006 - by Del Lagrace Volcano)

"How to be a happy trans femme lesbian in 28 easy years"

In 2007 I wrote my second one-person show, which was commissioned for Stockholm Pride 2007. It is based upon the inter-relation of sex, sexuality, romance and gender identity. Having a rather a specific identity i.e. being trans femme lesbian - I attempt to explore the ways in which the issues that I have faced becoming one are common to everyone. I try to show that in a fun and hopefully interesting way with song, dance and spoken word and more. Here's the official blurb:

"Josephine Wilson attempts to answer the universal question that equalises all peoples, 'how to be happy trans femme lesbian'. She presents her own answer here, arguing that in 28 simple years, one can easily become a happy, contented, well-adjusted trans-femme-lesbian.

Using song, dance, and spoken word (in a fun way) Josephine talks through the issues of a fluid gender sexual identity. She covers all the important topics, like sex, romance and... well,... sex, to show that these issues trans-lesbian-femme-inity are more universal than they first appear."

How to be a happy trans femme lesbian in 28 easy years

(Performing "How to be a happy..." 2007 - by AbsolutQueer )

"The Genderqueer Playhouse"

I was overjoyed to be asked to put together a show for Transfabulous 2007 which eventually got called The Genderqueer Playhouse and included the amazing performances by Jet, Jane, Jason, Ingo, Thomas, Jessica, and myself. It was an utter joy to do and I was so proud to be part of a production with so many close friends and amazing performers. It was the first time that I organised a show like that by myself, even though I have been in so many. We got a great response from a sell-out crowd and the show has moved on from there. We filmed "The Genderqueer Playhouse" in March 2008, now in postproduction. For more details ee film. The show is also being restaged for Stockholm Europride 2008.

Genderqueer Playhouse

(Performing at the Genderqueer Playhouse at Transfabulous 2007, photo by Alison Henry)

Glada Änkan

Me playing "Josephine" in Glada Ankan at the Folkoperan Stockholm

(Performing as "Josephine" - press photo by Markus Gårder)

It was my distinct pleasure and great honour to be part of a unique production of Franz Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe ("The Merry Widow in English" and "Glada Änkan" in Swedish) directed by the renowned Suzanne Osten. It played from September 2008 all the way through to January 2009, 5 nights a week at Stockholm's Folkoperan Opera House. I was truly honoured to have my part written into the show (and have the character named after me - "Josephine"). The show was a queer and feminist reworking of the 100 year old opera. It was such a special time in my life and I find it hard to describe for those who weren't there what the 2 1/2 hour operatta was like - as I chased around my love-interest, tried to mess with the plot (it was what my character was supposed to do - not me being a Diva), and play along with the fabulous Grisettes (the "can can" dancers gone queer) and other amazing characters re-done to create a new "sense and sensibility". I have summarised my thoughts in a special section of the site that you can find here. It would be a delight to one day work with any of the cast or crew again. In the mean time, I will look back on this time as one of the most special in my life and cherish the relationships I have forged through it.

Sex Education

Me and Jet Moon promotional photo

(Myself and Jet Moon, photo by Kit Isaac)

This show I premiered at the Wotever Sex series in April 2009 at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London. It is a feature length show I put together, featuring a fabulous guest appearance of Miss Jet Moon. The official blurb:

"Sex Education" is a series of scenes that charts Josephine's growing up and "learning about sex" and the lack of relevant sex education for gender queer people. Using a combination of spoken word, comedy, performance art, dance and music, she presents a series of "lectures" on subjects like: "Early Encounters of the Sexual Kind", "University: The Age of Experimentation", "Politics of Sexuality: Becoming a Master of Gender" and "Revelation and Revolution: Coming of Age"

It was an absolute delight to produce this brand new show for the Wotever Sex series and very much hope to be able to put it on again soon somewhere. Plans are afoot!

Parental Guidance

Flyer for "Parental Guidance" Show

Parental Guidance is our new show in production so to speak. Miss Jet and I are currently writing and hoping to produce the show in a bigger and brighter fashion in a city near you soon. In the mean time we have been previewing elements of it at Stockholm Pride 2009 and at GFest 2009. These have been going really well and we are looking forward very much to bringing ya'll the full show soon...


			Cabaret and Performance Arts: (The Cosmopolitan Cabaret troupe 2004) As a result of some initial performances at Club Wotever, I have become involved with Cabaret Wotever and other cabaret and performance arts related groups. After performing Gender Violence at the London "On All Fours" festival in April 2004, I was one of five performers who were asked to put together a show for the 2004 Stockholm Pride. We put together a feature length show incorporating all our individual performances and also new work that we started to do together. (Cosmopolitan Cabaret, 30 July, 2004 at Stockholm Pride Picture (picture: Pavel Maira)) The event was a huge success and we were all bowled over by the response that has led to the launch of Cabaret Wotever, which puts on shows, workshops and club nights all around the world. In 2005 we performed in Warsaw at a club night organised by local promoters Kash and Lukas with Club Wotever. This was an absolutely magical experience on so many levels. The club night alone pulled in over 600 people and our work there with Kash and Lukas received huge amounts of national mainstream and queer press coverage. (Front cover of the national Polish newspaper, Metropol) We also played queer 'super-club' Smack regularly throughout 2005 which brings in a massive 900 people each time. In the summer of 2005 we very excited to play the fabulous Hackney Empire, a 1200 capacity London venue, with a newly expanded Cabaret Wotever for the Hackney Spice Festival. Another huge success, so much so that we we were back at the Hackney Empire twice in 2006 alone. (The Wotever Cabaret troupe 2005) (Wotever Empire reviewed in The Pink Paper) The group has changed and morphed over the years, but we still continually to collectively plann many more shows in the UK and around the world. Click here for more information. More Cabaret... Since performing with the Cabaret Wotever group I have been getting more and more into doing different kinds of performance arts and cabaret style shows. This started with doing some short performances with Dyke Marilyn - with characters like Miss File and Penelope Precocious - but is blosoming into other kinds of performances. These cabaret and spoken word style performances have expanded since then and in 2006 I was able to put many of the pieces together in my first one-woman show. In 2007 I was honoured to be given the opportunity to put together my own cabaret-style show at Transfabulous 2007, "The Genderqueer Playhouse" (which was repeated and filmed in 2008), and my second one-woman show. These pereformances are now many and varied and I won't include all the details here, but some of them include: "Miss File" Miss File is a stern and repressed british psychologist in training who muses over her queer patients, and is clearly much more neurotic than any of them. She started out life as a character I suggested for a musical that Dyke Marilyn was writing. However, since then she has somewhat expanded out on her own. At first, I saw her as something of a purely comedic character but as I have performed her more and more, I have realised that though she can be comedic, she also has quite a serious side. I use her character as a way of demonstrating the masks that we wear as we try to perform ourselves in the social world. This can become quite personal and hopefully people can relate to what she is going through. I am very fond of Miss File, and I think one day she will "get it". I have performed her in large and small venues and will continue to write short pieces for her. (Miss File, photo by Sam Nightingale) Most often she performs lectures on many subjects relating to queer people, which she studies thoroughly but does not in any way identify as (oh no, she is not a raging queer filth-kitten). Of course she has been know to get carried away - for example when discussing the "evils" of burlesque (see some of the photos at the bottom of this page for the results). She has also recently been giving lectures alongside Professor Debonair on the subject of "boxes" (see picture). (Miss File and Professor Debonair, at Agenda January 2007) "Penelope Precocious" Penelope, is in complete contrast to Miss File. She represents the most free girlish side of myself. Though she does get herself into heaps and heaps of trouble. She is thoroughly contrary. She will literally do the exact opposite of what she is told. Not in a mean way. Most often it is to get herself in as much (fun) trouble as possible. I have performed her a couple of times, most regularly with Dyke Marilyn (though in these instances, Dyke Marily plays a character called "Sadie Strap-it-on") but I am putting together some more short pieces with her soon. One involving young Penelope going for a ballet lesson. Shows... Following on from this Cabaret work, I have been able to be part of and even produce myself some really amazing shows. Here are details of some of those... "Being Me, Performing Myself" I was commissioned to write and perform this one-woman show by Stockholm Pride 2006 Festival to such success I was asked to repeat the show at the Gothenburg World Culture Museum for the Queer Festival in Göteborg, at the Stockholm University and at the ANSO Students for Transgender Conference in Århus, Denmark in 2007, and produce a brand new show for Stockholm Pride each year since. Combining performances and thoughts on the distinction between fact and fiction, I present this show as a reflection on performance and the construction of queer self on and off stage. The show moves from my first nervous attempts to communicate something performatively, to the freedom I now feel showing my queer trans(gendered) self in a multiplicity of ways on stage through all kinds of performances. The show is made up of 4 short performance pieces drawn together in a narrative in which I talk/perform in and out of character (slipping between "fiction" and "reality"); changing costumes and using song, dance, movement, comedy and spoken word - smoothly transitioning throughout. Here are some photos from Anita Westin and Del Lagrace Volcano taken in Stockholm 2006. (Miss File in Being Me, Performing Myself, 2006 - by Anita Westin (Miss File in Being Me, Performing Myself, 2006 - by Del Lagrace Volcano) "How to be a happy trans femme lesbian in 28 easy years" In 2007 I wrote my second one-person show, which was commissioned for Stockholm Pride 2007. It is based upon the inter-relation of sex, sexuality, romance and gender identity. Having a rather a specific identity i.e. being trans femme lesbian - I attempt to explore the ways in which the issues that I have faced becoming one are common to everyone. I try to show that in a fun and hopefully interesting way with song, dance and spoken word and more. Here's the official blurb: "Josephine Wilson attempts to answer the universal question that equalises all peoples, 'how to be happy trans femme lesbian'. She presents her own answer here, arguing that in 28 simple years, one can easily become a happy, contented, well-adjusted trans-femme-lesbian. Using song, dance, and spoken word (in a fun way) Josephine talks through the issues of a fluid gender sexual identity. She covers all the important topics, like sex, romance and... well,... sex, to show that these issues trans-lesbian-femme-inity are more universal than they first appear." (Performing "How to be a happy..." 2007 - by AbsolutQueer ) "The Genderqueer Playhouse" I was overjoyed to be asked to put together a show for Transfabulous 2007 which eventually got called The Genderqueer Playhouse and included the amazing performances by Jet, Jane, Jason, Ingo, Thomas, Jessica, and myself. It was an utter joy to do and I was so proud to be part of a production with so many close friends and amazing performers. It was the first time that I organised a show like that by myself, even though I have been in so many. We got a great response from a sell-out crowd and the show has moved on from there. We filmed "The Genderqueer Playhouse" in March 2008, now in postproduction. For more details ee film. The show is also being restaged for Stockholm Europride 2008. (Performing at the Genderqueer Playhouse at Transfabulous 2007, photo by Alison Henry) Glada Änkan (Performing as "Josephine" - press photo by Markus Gårder) It was my distinct pleasure and great honour to be part of a unique production of Franz Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe ("The Merry Widow in English" and "Glada Änkan" in Swedish) directed by the renowned Suzanne Osten. It played from September 2008 all the way through to January 2009, 5 nights a week at Stockholm's Folkoperan Opera House. I was truly honoured to have my part written into the show (and have the character named after me - "Josephine"). The show was a queer and feminist reworking of the 100 year old opera. It was such a special time in my life and I find it hard to describe for those who weren't there what the 2 1/2 hour operatta was like - as I chased around my love-interest, tried to mess with the plot (it was what my character was supposed to do - not me being a Diva), and play along with the fabulous Grisettes (the "can can" dancers gone queer) and other amazing characters re-done to create a new "sense and sensibility". I have summarised my thoughts in a special section of the site that you can find here. It would be a delight to one day work with any of the cast or crew again. In the mean time, I will look back on this time as one of the most special in my life and cherish the relationships I have forged through it. Sex Education (Myself and Jet Moon, photo by Kit Isaac) This show I premiered at the Wotever Sex series in April 2009 at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London. It is a feature length show I put together, featuring a fabulous guest appearance of Miss Jet Moon. The official blurb: "Sex Education" is a series of scenes that charts Josephine's growing up and "learning about sex" and the lack of relevant sex education for gender queer people. Using a combination of spoken word, comedy, performance art, dance and music, she presents a series of "lectures" on subjects like: "Early Encounters of the Sexual Kind", "University: The Age of Experimentation", "Politics of Sexuality: Becoming a Master of Gender" and "Revelation and Revolution: Coming of Age" It was an absolute delight to produce this brand new show for the Wotever Sex series and very much hope to be able to put it on again soon somewhere. Plans are afoot! Parental Guidance Parental Guidance is our new show in production so to speak. Miss Jet and I are currently writing and hoping to produce the show in a bigger and brighter fashion in a city near you soon. In the mean time we have been previewing elements of it at Stockholm Pride 2009 and at GFest 2009. These have been going really well and we are looking forward very much to bringing ya'll the full show soon...