Review: Alex Franklin: Gurl Code, Soho Theatre

One of the wonderful things about reviewing fringe theatre is that you’re often there at the start of something magical. It was two years ago that I first reviewed Alex Franklin at the Edinburgh Fringe [was MY quote the accidental ADHD diagnosis???], and although a little haphazardly constructed back then, it was clear that this girl has talent. Now she’s back with Gurl Code at Soho Theatre – and back with a bang!

Let’s get this out there from the start: Franklin is a trans woman. And over the last couple of years not only has her body transitioned into a new form, her comedy has too, retaining its signature frenetic absurdity, but moulding the material into a flexing, energetic organism. As she’s found her shape through medical transition, the show has too; it evokes the character Barbapapa, polymorphous, intriguing and adorable. It’s as if she’s putting her brain on display in the very shape of the performance, which resembles controlled chaos but is packed with intelligent, entertaining and fresh insight.

Franklin is electrifyingly confident and charismatic. She enters the stage at speed, claiming the room and then expanding to fit it with a huge warmth and self-deprecating honesty, bringing an action-packed hour of humour along with her. At first glance it’s a stream of consciousness, releasing randomly interconnected stories into the wild that are heavily laden with nonsense and laugh out loud thoughts. We hear of Alex’s main reason for transitioning being to play Olympic level women’s rugby, and of her friends claiming she’s transitioned into a white person; there’s also a hilarious section on werewolves being sent to the moon. It’s clear she has an uncontrollable curiosity, and a brain that collects and questions a multiplicity of stories and ideas, which are then distorted in her own uniquely ridiculous thought process.

The audience are very much a welcomed part of the evening, involved in polls or random discussions that carve out space for personal opinion and making choices. With the aid of a lo-tech PowerPoint, we play a game of ‘guess the regular man’, consider which direction to send trains to kill people (or vote Green), enjoy pictures of raccoons, and see text conversations about acquiring large furniture to give as gifts. Crap at online gaming she may be, but this kid’s clever. Throughout, there are themes of identity, questioning who we are, how we define ourselves, and what it means to understand individual identity. Even in the mayhem of the train game there’s reference to Theseus’ ship – a boat that was changed so much over time it’s questionable if it’s still the same ship or now a completely different one. That’s a trans issue if ever I heard one!

And when that PowerPoint examines Alex’s relationship with their dad – well, it’s a big thumbs up from me. Beautifully executed, this gag left everyone in the audience gobsmacked and choking back tears of amazement and love. You don’t often get that at a standup gig.

This performance warps the boundaries between audience and performer in hugely unexpected and surprising ways. It brings the colour of intersectionality and trans-ness to the stage and gloriously celebrates being an individual who may have many shapes. The end result is not only a night of exceptional laughter and playful nonsense, but an understanding of Alex as a woman that is searingly insightful and beautifully moving.

I was right: Alex Franklin is definitely one to watch!

Devised by Alex Franklin
Directed by Dom Stephens

Alex Franklin: Gurl Code has now completed its run at Soho Theatre. She will be in Mothman a Romance Musical at the Hen & Chickens on Monday 21 April.