Queer performance brings together theatre, performance art, activism and interdisciplinary creative practice to explore identity, challenge social conventions and create space for underrepresented voices. Through writing, live performance, installation and visual art, queer artists continue to shape contemporary culture and expand the possibilities of artistic expression.
Rose Bruford College has worked with two internationally recognised artists, award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker Travis Alabanza, and multidisciplinary artist, curator and activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT), as Associate Artists supporting the College’s former MA/MFA Queer Performance programme.
Both artists brought significant experience of queer creative practice, sharing their expertise with students through workshops, lectures and ongoing mentorship. Their work explores themes including gender identity, race, representation, social justice and the role of performance in challenging established narratives.
Travis Alabanza: Queer theatre, writing and performance
Travis Alabanza is an award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker from Bristol. Their writing, performance and public discourse centre on trans and Black identities, exploring questions of audience, risk and ambiguity.
Their debut stage show, Burgerz, which they wrote and performed, won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production also sold out at Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre before touring internationally.
Their play Overflow, which premiered at and was streamed by The Bush Theatre, received critical acclaim, including numerous four-star reviews, and was shortlisted for the George Devine Award. Their subsequent play, Sound of the Underground, also received critical acclaim.
Travis’s debut book, None of the Above, was published in 2022 and went on to win the Jhalak Literary Prize and Somerset Maugham Award, as well as becoming a Waterstones bestseller.
Across theatre, literature and public discussion, their work continues to explore trans identity, queer experience and the possibilities of contemporary performance.
Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT): Performance art, activism and identity
Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT) is an internationally working multidisciplinary artist, curator, mentor and activist based in Kumasi, Ghana. Their practice explores gender stereotypes, prejudice, queerness, identity politics, sexual stigma and the experiences of marginalised communities.
Fiatsi is the founder and artistic director of crazinisT artisT studio and perfocraZe International Artists Residency (pIAR), an initiative established to encourage exchange between international and local artists, activists, researchers, curators and thinkers.
Working across performance, photography, video and installation, Fiatsi uses their own body as a powerful artistic medium. Their practice confronts issues including social injustice, violence, objectification, internalised oppression, anti-Blackness and systemic indoctrination.
Describing their approach as ‘life-and-live-art’, Fiatsi combines ritual and a gender-fluid artistic persona to challenge audiences and question established ideas about identity, representation and power.
Their performances and exhibitions have taken place internationally, including in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Cape Verde, the USA, Spain, Brazil, France and the UK.
Exploring the future of queer performance
The work of Travis Alabanza and Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi demonstrates the breadth of contemporary queer performance, from theatre and writing to live art, installation and activism.
Their practices highlight the importance of creating opportunities for queer artists to experiment, challenge conventions and explore the social and political questions that shape contemporary life.
Through its engagement with artists and practitioners across the performing arts, Rose Bruford College continues to recognise the contribution of diverse creative voices to contemporary theatre and performance.
Photos by Griff Townsend and Julian Salinas.
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