Fizzing with star quality, Dian Cathal will make you laugh, cry and thank the theatre gods for fringe fests
Deadnamed kicks off with a really good bit – award winning writer, stand-up comedian, and actor Dian Cathal bursting from a cardboard coffin centre stage. He struggles to get out, acknowledging that they’re not usually meant to be gotten out of. What follows is an hour of mesmerising theatre, throughout which Dian’s bright, charismatic comedy shines.
Deadnamed is part of London’s South East Fest, hosted by two venues known for supporting innovative new work, The Bridge House Theatre in Penge and the Jack Studio Theatre in Crofton Park. The first half of September will see 24 performances of eight different productions across the festival, and as a South East girlie it’s glorious to see such a vibrant programme of performance this side of the river.
Dian frames the show as a funeral meets a queer circus, with the aim of unpicking the fact that much ‘mainstream language around coming out as transgender is about loss for the person’s family and friends, as if the person they knew had, well, you know…’ Dian decided to throw his own funeral – well, a funeral for his old self – and everybody’s invited. While the play was originally written and performed in 2021, discourse in the UK surrounding trans people has since festered into a maelstrom of toxicity, with Dian’s sharp, endearing humour exploring trans experiences re-emerging at a prescient time. ‘The trans debate with an actual trans person, can you imagine?’ he quips in the show’s bio.
Dian is an exquisite actor, and holds the audience in a steely grip as he plays the fictional character of his mother, delivering a chilling tirade taken near-verbatim from a true coming out story. Dian challenges our need for ‘drama, trauma, tears’; what people are really seeking when they ask questions like ‘how did your parents react?’. It’s important to remember that amidst the sordid spectacle of the culture wars, where inflammatory ‘debate’ is staged for entertainment purposes, mainstream media would have us forget that it’s the rights and lives of real human beings that are being debated.
Stories from Irish mythology and folklore are utilised as metaphors for moving through the world as a trans person, and complement the piece of theatre’s brushes with magic. Dian (in character) tells us he felt he must have been a changeling child growing up, with the dark reality of such folk tales giving scope for the justification of horrific treatment of autistic and disabled children. He speaks of the power of a name, that it is said you must never give a faery your name, for they would be able to control you. Telling a stranger your dead name is an act of great trust, he explains – you must trust that they will know it, and never use it; else to be run through with one’s own sword, handed over willingly.
Despite tackling such weighty material, the piece is light hearted, warm, and hilarious more often than not – a testament to Dian’s talent for scriptwriting and performance, along with bucketfuls of natural charm and wit. It concludes with an audience Q and A, inviting thoughtful reflection and engendering real connection. SE Fest is providing a vital space for powerful, fresh voices and queer joy in London’s theatre scene, and you don’t want to miss a minute of it.