“boobytrapped,” a play about a trans man who swaps bodies with a gay man, only succeeds if you focus on the points it’s trying to make about the realities of trans life rather than on the overused plot it employs to make them. This is not a production that would make it to New York (although not because of the subject matter.) But it is one of five plays involving transgender people at the Edinburgh Fringe this year that in one important way beat out Broadway.
Simon (Freddie Haberfellner) and Kevin (Ermis Makides) meet in a gay bar, attempt to talk to one another, but it’s too loud so they dance and kiss – until Kevin learns that Simon is trans, and reacts harshly. Suddenly, inexplicably, Simon has Kevin’s body and Kevin has Simon’s.
Unlike the “Freaky Friday” movies (of 1976, 2003, and 2018; plus the 2025 “Freakier Friday,” and dozens of other such movies) there is no effort to explain this supernatural occurrence – as if the creative team is saying “Well, you’ve seen this many times before; why should we have to work it out?”
They do craft some set pieces that are comic, or at least memorable, the most vivid of which is Kevin’s reaction to having boobs, freeing them from Simon’s binder and bouncing them in the open air (a scene that made the bad pun of the title seem even worse.) At one point, Kevin (now in Simon’s body) tries to teach Simon (now in Kevin’s body) how to act more masculine, by enlisting a male member of the audience to stand up, to show Simon how a man stands. The bulk of the play involves Simon and Kevin debating or just discussing masculinity, attraction, and pizza, while getting to know about each other’s insecurities. And (spoiler alert, but surely not a surprise to anyone), Kevin comes to a more empathetic understanding of what Simon has to go through.
“boobytrapped” has gotten an enthusiastic reception judging from reviews on its Fringe page from audience members and professional critics alike, as have four other plays at the Fringe. Like “boobytrapped,” they are not just about trans characters. All of them feature trans performers — and are written by trans playwrights (Haberfellner wrote “boobytrapped.”) The other four are:
My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram (through August 30) written and performed by Yoz Mensch, autobiographical solo show, about a road trip Mensch took with their grandfather, ‘Pa’, through the Scottish Highlands to see where their grandmother had her ashes scattered
Trans People are Awful, (completely sold out), written and performed by Ros Watt, who portrays a young trans man with an unconventional method for transitioning — killing cis men and stealing their body parts, which does bypass the waiting time for operations at the National Health Service
Transmission (closed) written and performed by Nelly Kelly, exploring Scotland’s shift from world-leading on LGBT+ rights, to fertile ground for the anti-trans movement.
Trans Butch: Glorious Dog Woman (through August 28), written and performed by Ash Routh, a show about finding community, identity and an insatiable love for the moon.
There have been transgender characters on Broadway at least since 1993 (Luis Molina in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”) and Broadway actors who identify as trans since 2018 (just that year alone: Peppermint in “Head Over Heels,” Kate Bornstein in “Straight White Men, and Alexandra Billings in ”The Nap” ) But, though there is a world full of playwrights who are trans (some anthologized in the three volumes of The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays), and some already established in New York, such as MJ Kaufman, none have ever had a play produced on Broadway.
***“boobytrapped” is running through August 29 at Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile, as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
