Overflow

by Travis Alabanza

"Club toilets have taught me more about sisterhood than any book."

Cornered into a flooding toilet cubicle and determined not to be rescued again, Rosie distracts herself with memories of bathroom encounters. Drunken heart-to-hearts by dirty sinks, friendships forged in front of crowded mirrors, and hiding together from trouble.

But with her panic rising and no help on its way, can she keep her head above water?

From internationally acclaimed writer and one of the UK's most prominent trans voices, Travis Alabanza ( Burgerz ), comes a hilarious and devastating tour of women's bathrooms, who is allowed in and who is kept out.

This edition was published to coincide with its premiere at the Bush Theatre, London in December 2020. The production was the first play to reopen the theatre following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Genres: Plays, Queer, Transgender, LGBT

48 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2020

About the author

Travis Alabanza is a performance artist, theatre maker, poet and writer that works and survives in London, via Bristol. Their multidisciplinary practice uses a combination of poetry, theatre, sounscapes, projection and body-focussed performance art to scream about their survival as a Black, trans, gender-non-conforming person in the UK. Growing up on a council estate in the outskirts of a city, Alabanza prides themselves on a practice that is messy, abrupt, confrontation, atypical and self-taught, often using performance to provoke a strong emotion [and action] from their audiences. In the last two years Alabanza has cemented themselves as one of the most prominent emerging queer artists in the UK (As noted by Dazed, Prancing Through Life and MOBO) and has performed, talked and toured across numerous UK venues as well as internationally, to acclaim reviews.

First appearing in Poetry circles and becoming Published in the Black and Gay in the UK Anthology in 2015, Alabanza then toured and showcased their debut show ‘Stories of a Queer Brown Muddy kid’ across queer clubs and venues such as the RVT, Hackney Attic, Keble arts Festival and selling out Housman’s bookstore. In 2016 Alabanza continued to perform across multiple events and venues across the UK and abroad, touring lectures and performances to over 40 UK universities during LGBTQ+ and Black History month, as well as giving national talks on issues surrounding Blackness and Queerness at places such as the V&A and Bristol Watershed.
Their work was programmed at events such as Duckie, Bar Wotever, And What! Festival, Late at Tate, The V&A and Transmission Gallery. Alabanza also starred in Scottee’s Five Star, Roundhouse production ‘Putting Words in Your Mouth’, as well as becoming one of the 2016/17 Artist in Residences at the Tate Britain. In 2017 Alabanza is working on their solo exhibition ‘The Other’d Artist’ for Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, the sold out opening of their new show BURGERZ at Hackney showroom, supporting artists such as mykki blanco and aloe vaid-menon and has just finished completing a short US college tour with their work. Outside of making art, Alabanza enjoys discussing internet culture, memes, hair braiding, and dancing with other black people.

Reviews

[wanderlustlost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this felt like drowning and like breathing fearlessly all at once.

[Eilidh Fyfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

only sorry it was so short ! should be mandatory reading for the terf communities

[kiara skene · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow
this play grabbed me by the wrists and wrung me out to dry - holy fuck

[Rediz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A one-actor play dealing with topics of trans identity and womanhood.
"In horrors it's always about what the monster represents, never the monster itself. Something that feels so scary we have to put all these other things in front of it, because if you look directly at it maybe you will feel just too hopeless from the fear. . . You've all forgotten what you were even afraid of in the first place. You think it has something to do with me, but you can't remember. You just remember the feeling of fear and you've put it onto something you can hold. . . Easier to burn the people already on fire than try and figure out how to extinguish the flames in the first place" (24).

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would love to see this as a play to see how the physicality of it and the set played out.
For a one person play located in a bathroom stall it felt much larger in terms of characters and space.

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

if youve ever made a friend or an enemy in a public bathroom this is a must. would love to see this performed on stage

[Cara Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this play. I've never seen it live but I'd love to at some point.

It's essentially a monologue requiring only one actor, and a single set, so would be ideal for a company during social distancing. The main character is a trans woman, and this so poiniantly looks into the female experience. I would recommend this for all genders to read, because I think everyone can get something out of this.

The whole thing takes place in a public bathroom, and there's a maintained sense of urgency and dread, as we are told there are a group of men ready to attack the main character when she leaves the cubicle. She re-counts other experiences that she's had in bathrooms, and through that explores themes of transphobia, performative activism, hate crime, finding your people, and facing those that look down on you.

Overall quite a short play but it packs quite a punch.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this even more second time around. BEYOND excited to direct this show 🌟

[zcc]

another I would have loved to have seen live. interesting thoughts on set lx and sound design when reading too.