Performance Poet, Alice d’Lumiere, is an experienced writer and comedienne; however for someone working as a communicator she is, like many British people, embarrassingly monolingual. In 2023 Alice was invited to take her Transgender themed show ‘Speaking Out and Fitting In!’ to Le Printemps Anglophone Festival in Avignon, where despite performing a solo work in English, she found herself unable to even order a coffee in French!
The Literal Translation is her playful, silly, but absurdly honest response to this failure; a piece about late life learning, shifting identity, non-conforming voices and romanticizing the exotic.
For Alice’s last show she learned opera to overcome a childhood fear of singing, this time her challenge is speaking in another language. Will Alice learn her Aller from her Avoir, or must she resort to dance?
A bilingual, autobiographical show combining gender-fluid prose, verse, comedy and song with some foolhardy attempts at actual French!
Age recommendation: 16+
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: £8
Languages: English, French
Countries: France, UK
Show accessibility: None
Content warnings: Contains some mild swearing
Cast & Creatives
Writer / Performer: Alice d'Lumiere
Movement Director: Angelica Bangs
Composer: Tina Gooding
Translation Consultant: Katy Salmon
Production: Supported using public funding by the NationalLottery through Arts Council England
Reviews
‘A show that, for me, had two main strengths. The first is the voice itself... second point is kindness. It’s a show created with care and compassion.’ – BritishTheatre.com ★★★★
‘Playful, kind, occasionally bawdy, but always considerate... Alice d'Lumiere wears their contradictions and complexity with verve and style.’ - Oxford Daily Info
'Pure entertainment and inspiring on many levels!' - Audience response