Manipulate Festival: Double Bill: Elke / Ratkin

Elke by Sarah Farrell

A devised, interactive piece of theatre exploring the life and work of pioneering lichenologist and Trans woman Elke Mackenzie. We will draw the audience through her microscope and into a queer lichen cabaret where questions of legacy, the queerness of nature and Trans joy are explored. Like lichen, which exists in a liminal space between organisms, this show will be a meeting point of forms: live micro-cinema, drag, cabaret, and music.

Ratkin by Ruben San Roman Gamez

Ratkin finds us in a speculative future where human civilisation is nowhere to be found. Living below the tattered dark sky, and amidst the junkyard piles are the scampering, scratching Ratkin, a mutant species of rodent humanoids. Fusing slapstick with versatile scenography and projections, we utilise moveable fixtures of the set to create dynamic and acrobatic choreographies that interact with the architecture of the world.

Double Bill: Elke / Ratkin is part of the Traverse's £1 Ticket Project.

Image courtesy of Sarah Farrell.

Sarah Farrell and Ruben San Roman Gamez have received bursaries and mentoring from SURGE to develop these new works, in association with Manipulate Festival. SURGE run projects to develop street arts, physical theatre and circus in Scotland.

The Traverse is funded by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council.

If you have access requirements, please contact our Sales and Welcome Team on boxoffice@traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404 so we can arrange reserved seating for you and discuss how else we can best support your visit.