Drag artists Hannibal Lickeder and Queera Bang come to the Halifax Fringe Festival with My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture, an exploration of the trans day-to-day experience through the lens of IKEA furniture.
If you’re looking for a great way to reflect on gender and queer identity, this show is for you.
We learn more in this Q&A with creators Hannibal Lickeder and Queera Bang.
My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture plays as part of the 2023 Halifax Fringe Festival at the Bus Stop Theatre on August 31. Visit the Halifax Fringe ticket outlet for tickets and information.
This interview has been edited.
Tell us about My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture. What can audiences expect?
My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture explores self-creation and identity building through the metaphor of IKEA furniture. Featuring a gender-diverse cast, the show consists of individual performances exploring the theme. It will be campy, emotional and full of humour. If you’re looking for a great way to reflect on gender and queer identity, this show is for you.
What inspired My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture?
Producers Queera Bang and Hannibal Lickeder are both trans drag performers. While the idea originally stemmed from jokes of frustration about identity and the struggles of building furniture, it became very clear that what we were really talking about was gender presentation and the experience of being trans. We wanted a space to delve into the pain that comes from daily experiences of violence that was fun and brought joy back into the conversation.
Why this particular show now?
With the rise of the alt-right and anti-trans, queer and drag rhetoric, it’s important for there to be trans visibility. More than that, though, it’s important for a larger public to witness and hold space for the ways trans people experience things that cis people might take for granted. Our art form is being challenged; friends are being doxed, and lives are being threatened. Drag is a political art form and a way for many of us to heal.
What do you hope audiences leave My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture talking about?
We want the audience to have fun. We hope they leave with a better understanding of how trans and gender-diverse people have to work to create themselves and be perceived as themselves. We hope audience members can relate, feel seen, and feel empowered.
Why should someone come to see My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture?
This show is going to be fun. It is a space to feel seen, to laugh and cry along with us. This show will make our experience accessible to a wide audience. It is an opportunity to feel and learn. It is a way of showing support for the drag performers who work hard on the front lines to protect our community. It is an opportunity to see us be vulnerable and to connect with performers and trans experiences while also laughing and having a good time.
My Queer Audacity: IKEA Furniture plays as part of the 2023 Halifax Fringe Festival at the Bus Stop Theatre on August 31. Visit the Halifax Fringe ticket outlet for tickets and information.
The Halifax Fringe Festival returns from August 31 through September 10, with more than 60 productions taking place at venues across the city.