Julio Marcelino

Harlem, 1926. A “sweetman” Zeddy, living off a woman, brings a country girl he’s trying to impress to a gay-owned cabaret. There he meets a friend, Jake, whose girlfriend, Congo Rose, is the singer there. Drama swirls around the characters as Zeddy confronts the cabaret owner, about his sexuality. Congo Rose, seeking to reignite her man’s fading interest, puts on a performance, with her Pansy Dancer, of a Bessie Smith song that seduces the whole room, especially Zeddy.

An experimental take on the traditional operatic diva which replaces them with queer and trans performers. Their lip-syncing to Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas from 1689 infuses energy and meaning to the iconic myth-which receives a radical update for 2018.