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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Emma John

Otherland review – touchingly relatable trans drama

Jade Anouka as Jo in Otherland.
Uncontainable energy … Jade Anouka as Jo in Otherland. Photograph: Marc Brenner

Harry and Jo are breaking up. We have glimpsed them, fleetingly, as a perfect couple – surrounded by a chorus of friends on their wedding day. Five years on, Harry wants to live out her transgender identity and Jo just wants to escape.

Chris Bush’s new play brims with humour and compassion. She describes it as “the most personal thing I’ve ever written” but this is not a mere “trans play” and for women it will be touchingly relatable. The ex-couple’s stories take us in diverging directions: we watch Harry navigating her new life, from bathroom politics and passport difficulties to her own mother’s microaggressions. Meanwhile, Jo heads to the Inca Trail like “Beyoncé in hiking boots” only to fall – literally – for Gabby, who wants to have children with her.

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