Bi-Curious George brings the wildly entertaining show Queer Planet to the Edinburgh Fringe. In this exclusive interview, George discusses the inspiration behind the show, which explores the queer identities found in the animal kingdom and challenges societal norms.
Queer Planet takes audiences on a raucous romp through the natural world, highlighting fascinating facts about queer behaviour in animals, from gay giraffes to intersex snails. Directed by Liv Ello, the show combines parody songs, monologues, dance routines, and even a fungi-cabaret striptease, making it both hilarious and informative.
Don’t miss Queer Planet at Pleasance Dome (10Dome) from July 31 to August 26, 2024 (excluding August 12). Book your tickets now here.
You’re bringing your new show, Queer Planet, to the Edinburgh Fringe. What can you tell us about this exploration of queerness in the animal kingdom?
Queer Planet is camp, it’s uplifting, it’s educational, it’s raunchy. Think David Attenborough but make it gay and maybe add some glitter and fishnets.
This new version of the show is also being directed by Liv Ello, who you might remember from Body Show, Catts or Swarm at previous Fringe’s. They’re a complete genius, and I’m so lucky to have their wit and their wisdom in the rehearsal room with me.
The show aims to reframe how we view queer identities by looking at examples from nature like dolphin orgies and intersex snails. What made you want to take this perspective?
Conversations around identity, and especially queerness and trans-ness, have become so vicious in recent years. I wanted to talk about being queer in a joyful uplifting way that centres trans voices and, most importantly, makes queer people feel really f**ing good about being queer.
Nature documentaries are such a clear cultural reference – they’re like comfort food. They’re wholesome, they’re a-political, they’re exciting story-telling. David Attenborough can explicitly describe animals killing each other, having sex, fighting for power – and there’s no moral judgement put on it. So, no one’s going to get angry at a fish for changing from male to female – right?
Well, that’s what I thought anyway when I started making this show. Turns out people do get angry, but that just proves that we need to keep talking about this.
You mention being taught gender was innate and immovable, but finding freedom in nature’s fluidity. How has examining the natural world challenged or affirmed your own queer identity?
Wow, big question. I started out looking to debunk this bizarre idea that queerness is something man made, something that we choose to be, something unnatural. But when I started deep-diving into other animals and plants, queer doesn’t even cut it! No two creatures operate within the same rules, there’s no ‘normal’ when it comes to social structures or courting or even sex. I sort of ended up losing sight of what the word queer even means – because it implies ‘other’ and the spectrum was just so overwhelmingly huge.
Honestly, the main thing I’ve learned is to stop trying so hard to define myself. When you share a planet with animals as wacky as eels and clownfish and whiptail lizards, the idea of being able to sum yourself up in a few neat words just seems silly.
But then of course, the difference between humans and other animals is that we’ve built this society and these rules. So, I’m starting to see my queerness more as a language that I use to relate to other people, as a way to build community.
With parody songs, dance routines, and even a fungi cabaret striptease, the show seems to blend many creative elements. Can you tell us about your approach to this multidisciplinary piece?
Queer Planet was born out of my work in the London queer cabaret scene and most of the show was developed, bit by bit as individual drag numbers. The drag scene that I’m lucky enough to call home is so unbelievably rich and people are constantly pushing boundaries, playing with new forms and genres and disciplines. It’s pushed me to play with so many things I would never have dared try before – burlesque for example. If you’d told me 5 years ago that I’d be voluntarily doing a burlesque number at Edinburgh Fringe I’d have laughed in your face!
I wanted the show to be as exciting and uplifting as possible, whilst still talking about the important stuff, and all those elements help me to do that.
What impact do you hope the show has on audiences?
I want everybody to be injected with a little bit of compassion and respect for animals. I want all of us to stop underestimating animals’ complexity and to de-centre ourselves. I want the audience to get swept up in the fluidity and the freedom in the natural world. I want trans-ness and queerness to be accepted for what it is; entirely natural and inevitable. I want all queer people to feel the liberation I have found in connecting to my queer family in the more than human world. I want everyone to leave with an enormous grin on their face.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Queer Planet at Edinburgh Fringe?
If you think there’s something in this show for you – then I promise you, there is. It’s not just for queer people either, it’s a conversation that involves everyone.
It’s fun, it’s energetic, it’s empowering and at the very very least, you’ll leave with an arsenal of great facts to impress your friends with at the pub.
