FILTER WORK BY:
PERFORMANCE // WRITING // VOICE WORK // WORKSHOPS // VISUAL ART // ACTING // DIRECTING // FILMS
The Gender Roadshow
Through performances, workshops and conversation The Gender Roadshow was a project that celebrated trans, non-binary and genderfluid identities, with Emma’s ‘euphoric’ Rituals for Change performed each night at East Street Arts.
This performance was preceded daily by daytime talks at Wharf Chambers and post show events at Live Art Bistro completing a programme of dynamic and engaging activities to elevate the discussion around trans identity.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust
TDoR Sao Paolo
This is an edited speech I gave several years ago at a Trans Day of Remembrance ceremony in Sao Paolo where I had been invited to hold a ritual space.
Some local trans people spoke - beautifully - about their lost friends and about the intersection between Black persecution and trans persecution (in Brazil Nov 20th is also Black Awareness Day) and then we collectively read the names and wrote them in chalk across the building.
“TDoR is about reflecting on the past 12 months and of recognising with love our trans siblings who have been murdered for being themselves. Reflecting on the vulnerability of trans bodies, particularly acknowledging the vulnerability of femme trans bodies and of Black and Brown trans bodies.
A note on the names every year.
You will see lists of names of some of the people who have been murdered in the last 12 months for being or being thought to be transgender.
The names we remember today have been compiled by various agencies on the internet and exist in various forms. I am grateful to the people who do the work of ensuring these deaths are noticed, because it is important that we notice them. Especially because disproportionately the people we remember today were often marginalised or excluded by society - so noticing them is important.
Often their exact method of death is also cited, but we have removed this. I'd like to explain why.
These murders were mostly committed by cisgender men.
The violent methods used are shocking and unreal.
Shocking and unreal.
But if we attach forever these names to the methods of their death then we are defining these people not by their beautiful selves, but by the violence imposed on them at the time of their death. We are defining them by the violence imposed on them by cisgender men. And we should not wish to do that.
We remember their names. And where we do not have names (many countries do not register these statistics) we acknowledge a person's existence with a pause and silence.
Continues in comments: Image of Emma and @renatacarvalhoteatro taken by @dani_villar_ at @ssexbbo
Calabai Jangen
Emma’s first collaboration with Indonesian performance artist, Tamarra, was in January 2019, when they travelled together to South Sulawesi to spend time with members of the Bissu community there.
Bissu are often cited as celebrating multiple genders, and held as examples that trans people “have always been here” but spending time with Bissu shamans, being welcomed, tolerated and embraced by them was incredible.
There is danger in assuming a universal trans experience - the Bissu have long celebrated multiple gender identities but their history of veneration, persecution and survival is unique.
It was a life changing trip and the small group (including Emma’s child Joey) were allowed to witness far more than expected
Tamarra and Emma made a subsequent shared ritual performance and documentary of the trip named Calabai Jangeng (literally - Crazy Trans Women) a term of beautiful endearment that was shouted loudly throughout our 10 day road trip!
The trip was supported by British Council Indonesia.
Adventures in Time and Gender
“There’s a direct line through time connecting the ideas formulated by the sexologists to the way trans people seeking medical interventions are treated today. So, say you were going through a Gender Identity Clinic in 2020, you are part of a system of medicalisation and diagnosis with its origins in the late 19th century. And here’s the thing, I wonder..if you understand why the system works in the way it does, where the thinking came from, then maybe you can critique it.”
-suitcase
Emma plays the voice of a Time Travelling Suitcase in this time travelling podcast drama series exploring how sexologists from late 19th/early 20th century Europe shaped the western system of medicalisation and diagnosis navigated by trans and non-binary people in the present day.
written by Jason Barker and directed by Krisha Istha
Summer In London
★★★★
'This funny, romantic, optimistic play will still bring on the tears. It’s easy to fall in love with Summer in London.'
The Stage
SUMMER IN LONDON, 2017, was the first large-scale play to feature an all-trans cast on a mainstream stage in the UK. The play is a love letter to London and a story of friendship, love and finding yourself.
Cast: Tigger Blaize, Mzz Kimberley, Tyler Luke Cunningham, Emma Frankland, Victoria Gigante, Ash Palmisciano and Kamari Romeo.
Written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair
It was an honour to be a part of the ground breaking SUMMER IN LONDON and I’m grateful to have been part of the wonderful cast of trans actors, who are now like family! It’s very telling however, that this production was four years ago and no shows since have featured a trans cast of this size or even with multiple trans actors working at this scale. SUMMER IN LONDON may have been a significant moment, but we are yet to see serious and sustained commitment towards employing trans actors, directors and writers in the UK theatre industry.
Trans Time
Emma was invited to display work as part of the Trans Time exhibition in Paris. She performed scenes from ‘Rituals for Change’, leaving the performance traces as a dynamic installation.
Voiceover Project
VoiceOver is a closed network of ‘radio boxes’ distributed to a small community of people that enables them to communicate with each other and share experiences.
VoiceOver is a hyperlocal social radio network built on 3g or 4g network that everyone in a community can listen in on and contribute to. By enabling participants to connect to, discover and engage with their communities, VoiceOver reduces loneliness and social isolation and reimagines what a 21st century community radio could be. It combines a state-of-the-art technology with a user-friendly, accessible and familiar object.
The tool is similar to a normal radio - a companion that is always there - broadcasting the voices of the neighbourhood, local news, event updates or general community chit-chat. But unlike normal radios, the members themselves respond to each others’ messages, and eventually even can create their own radio programme for their community.
Over four weeks in summer of 2018, artist Emma Frankland invited twenty-five members of Brighton’s trans (including non binary) community to archive their thoughts and feelings using VoiceOver radio boxes.
Commissioned by Brighton Digital Festival, we were invited to work with over four weeks in summer of 2018 with local artist Emma Frankland. She invited twenty-five members of Brighton’s trans (including
Each week Emma would send some provocations or questions – Who are you? What is community? What would you say to your younger self? And once a week they would listen to a specially recorded broadcast, made by a trans artist. These broadcasts themselves served as prompts on the themes of pride, love and existing outside our front door; on trans history; on the nature of community and on what it is to be a young trans person.
VoiceOver Brighton demonstrated one of Brighton Digital Festival’s core beliefs, which is that technology can, in the right hands, provide spaces for marginalised and precarious communities to make their voices heard.
— Laurence Hill, Director, Brighton Digital Festival
The participants were asked to share words and music that they would like to be heard by other trans identified people and also to share words for the world to hear. Whenever anyone at home recorded something on their radio box, a banner embedded with LED lights located outside the Marlborough Pub & Theatre responded in real-time by displaying their chosen colour. As participation grew, the banner filled with coloured lights – symbolising all their growing contributions. Each colour in the banner represents a specific participant. Over four weeks, 374 pieces of audio content were generated.
The content was featured in a solo exhibition at Brighton Pop Up Gallery from 28th September to 13th October. Two audio pieces were created from the recordings by Emma and her collaborator, Juan Carlos Otero. One is an audio landscape which is for members of the public to hear. Another one for anyone who identify themselves as trans (including non binary).
VoiceOver Brighton is a project by Umbrellium in collaboration with Emma Frankland. Commissioned by Brighton Digital Festival.
We Will Have Guns
Part of the Young Vic ‘Five Plays’ project, Emma played the role of Renata, an assassin, in this play written by Jo Clifford.
Transition, 2017
Newlyn Art Gallery
Emma was invited, along with co creator Myriddin Pharo, to a residency at Newlyn Art Gallery to further explore elements of their production ‘Rituals for Change’ as an art installation.
Liszt
Part of JAKOB FICHERT's project focussing on the first two volumes of Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage).
This was an evening of music and poetry with myself and pianist Jakob Fichert.
“The title Années de Pèlerinage, Years of Pilgrimage, evokes many associations and these works radiate a sense of a radical inner journey. The creation of Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage span across almost his whole adult life, and range from the youthful virtuoso to his late experimental style.
Here, Fichert and Frankland respond to Liszt’s music and words, with a playful but faithful interpretation of the piece for contemporary audience. One thing is for sure, it speaks to much more urgent issues than simply being a homage to the Swiss Alps!
Natural History Museum
This activity involved two performers grabbing children from the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum and their subsequent categorisation (ie: fossil / pterodactyl / fungus / gorilla).
Using a toolbelt of string, balloons, gaffatape and ping pong balls, along with an assortment of charity shop clothing and found objects, the specimen were constructed, followed by display in either a human-sized display case or display draw (as per the professional etymologists at the NHM). A massive pin was driven through the child’s thorax at which point the families were invited to photograph the strange creations as a keep-sake.
Specimen Preparation ran for a few consecutive half terms and holidays at the museum as it proved a popular offer and a hands-on activity.
(Specimen Preparation was initially created as part of ‘The Campsite’ take-over of the Natural History Museum for Autumn Half Term, 2012. ‘The Campsite’ was a pop up venue co-curated by Emma between 2012 - 2016 and also seen at the Cambridge Museum Consortium, Latitude Festival and The New Wolsey, Ipswich. The team also facilitated an artists retreat for two years in West Cornwall.
Cuncrete
Cuncrete is an act of deceptively sophisticated insurrection against the Man - in every sense. From the buildings the Man builds, to the language the Man uses, to the music the Man plays. It is also weepingly funny and dark and deadly. Of all the shows I saw in Edinburgh in 2016, it stands out as knowing what it’s about. And it’s about now. And it’s about time.
- Tim Crouch
A drag king punk gig about architecture and idealism!
A dysto-utopian noise about The Man!
A no-wave musical about how we ended up in this mess!
Hosted by washed up architect/proto-god figure Archibald Tactful and accompanied by anti-virtuoso punk band The Great White Males - Cuncrete is a gratuitously sleazy and joyfully noisy critique of alpha-masculinity and the built environment. Expect original music, grotesque posturing, sharp suits and cement.
“An exhilaratingly bleak swansong for the grey, hard dreams of powerful men." ★★★★
The Stage
“Politically vital... somewhere between a howl of rage and a rallying cry."
Exeunt
Created by Rachael Clerke, I worked closely as Dramaturg throughout the creation of this fantastic show.
https://www.rachaelclerke.com/Cuncrete
Welcome to Nightvale
Emma plays the voice of Sheriff Sam in this iconic and much loved podcast.
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.
Turn on your radio and hide.
“With its uncanny blend of the macabre and the mundane, the news out of Night Vale sounds like what might occur if Stephen King or David Lynch was a guest producer at your local public radio station.”
NY Times
Orlando
Virginia Woolf's Orlando re-imagined by five poets for BBC Radio 3
An exhilarating, inventive, comedic odyssey spanning four centuries. A journey of self-discovery and transformation, unravelling gender expectations, identity and sexuality.
Chapter 1 & 6: by Amanda Dalton
Chapter 2: by Caroline Bird
Chapter 3: by Zena Edwards
Chapter 4: by Karen McCarthy Woolf
Chapter 5: by Hannah Silva
ORLANDO.....Emma Frankland
OAK TREE.....Claire Benedict
QUEEN ELIZABETH I / THE BLACKAMOOR.....Nina Sosanya
MRS GRIMSDITCH.....Kate Rutter
EUPHROSYNE / SASHA / MAID.....Natalie Grady
NICHOLAS GREEN / CAPTAIN.....Rupert Hill
GRACE......Leonie Elliott
RUSTUM / NARRATOR.....Stephen Marzella
SHELMERDINE/ BOW STREET RUNNER .....Cesare Taurasi
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Cut The Wires
In collaboration with Open Barbers and Gwen Scott, Emma presented an immersive barbering experience for CUT Festival audiences. Replacing a traditional barbershop mirror with the London skyline, let the sound of scissors fade away and allow yourself to eavesdrop on the lives, loves and style choices of East London’s ever evolving queer scene.
Featuring a time travelling pigeon and plenty of poetic licence this audio adventure will suggest how things might once have been and celebrate how they are today.
Public Speaking
Trans Women Exist - This is Not A Debate
A protest performance given at the Brighton Dome in response to their refusal to cancel an event featuring a well known transphobe, despite receiving a 17,000 name petition requesting they do so. I read the following statement and then sat in silence for 45 minutes on the main stage of the Dome.
When I was a child I loved to watch a film called The Tale of the Bunny Picnic. It was made by Jim Henson. It tells the story of a village of little bunnies who are terrorised by a giant dog, (who is in turn terrorised by a farmer). At the end of the film, the bunnies stand united against the farmer and they sing. - One voice becomes many and the farmer is scared away. - The bunnies unite with the dog against their common enemy.
I was invited here today, for International Women’s Day, to respond to the hateful things about trans women that have been said by one of the Dome’s guest speakers. To protest the invitation of someone who has continuously slandered trans women – contributing directly to the matrix of oppression that continues to cause harm, hatred and discrimination against an extremely vulnerable group of women. - I realised in contemplating a performance to present here today what a profound effect the tale of the bunny picnic has had upon my perception of activism, of protest. - That the image of many voices standing together is powerful. - So I imagined inviting many trans women to stand here with me today - I would stand here and sing and slowly other voices would join in – Trans women of all ages and backgrounds step out of the wings and from the auditorium and we all stand here together. - Those women are then joined by other trans including non binary people. Until the stage is full with beautiful, proud, trans bodies. - Like the bunnies. - Strong. - Existing. - Proud. - And the farmer, the guest speaker, is scared away – or maybe the farmer isn’t the Guest Speaker. Maybe the farmer is the Patriarchy. - And the guest speaker is the giant dog and we would unite together to face our common enemy. - This would be a nice thought – to stand united and work together – like the bunnies and the dog. - Rather than in opposition, allowing the farmer to beat the dog and make rabbit stew.
But.
I realise this is a film for children. - That the world we live in is not like the one in the bunny picnic. - It is more violent – more dangerous for trans women than it is for bunnies. - And when publicly funded, supposedly progressive spaces like the Brighton Dome invite perpetrators of violence and hatred to speak on their stage. - They reveal that they are not safe for us either. - So I did not invite other trans women into this space - I did not invite people to stand here in danger - Because we are vulnerable and to stand here is to be named and to be named provides opportunity for attack. And the attacks are getting worse. The situation is getting worse. - Today I do not believe visibility is our best course of action. - I was invited here to respond creatively, beautifully to the hateful rhetoric of the Dome’s honoured guest speaker. - But I do not think it is our responsibility to convince you that our lives are valid - I do not think it is our responsibility to fight - To persuade you That Trans Rights are Human Rights - To plead with you to recognise that Trans Lives Matter - To twist your arm into supposing that trans people deserve to live peacefully. - I do not think it is the responsibility of a minority to provide justification for not being attacked - So I reject the invitation. - You can imagine me standing there, imagine the beautiful trans women, imagine the powerful song.
But we will sit here in silence because there is nothing to say - I do not debate this - I withdraw artistic services - And we will use our time. all 45 remaining minutes – not debating.
Pride
I have had the honour to co-present the Trans Pride Brighton stage for 5 of the past 6 years, as well as participating in pride events around the world.
In 2019 I helped organise the #LwiththeT group who marched at the front of the London Pride parade that year.