Transgender comedian Sarah Franken on performing her first show at the Edinburgh Fringe
'I thought I had to wear jeans and a t-shirt to perform comedy'
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It's the day before her show opens at Edinburgh and Sarah Franken is “nervous, terrified, consumed with doubt.” Nothing unusual there, but Franken is feeling extra pressure because this is her first Fringe performing as a woman.
Franken came out as transgender in March. She lived as a woman in San Francisco 15 years ago for five months but went back in the closet when she started gaining recognition as character comedian Will Franken. “I was more obsessed with my career at that point and felt being out as transgender would limit me,” she said. When she started living as Sarah in March, following a move to Bethnal Green in east London, she remained Will Franken on the comedy circuit for fear of alienating her fanbase.
“I was living as Sarah and then on the day of a gig, I'd have to put on the t-shirt and jeans to perform - because I thought I had to,” she says. Then on 22 May, she played her first gig as Sarah in Lancaster. “It was an experiment - and nobody batted an eye.”
Since then she has performed several more gigs ahead of a month-long run at the Fringe. Though there are other trans comedians, such as Bethany Black, Franken is the first to transition mid-career. Not everyone has coped well with it. “I had one promoter tell me I had to get changed because he had my old photo on the poster. I said, 'I'm the same person.' I did five minutes for him and then he got it, but 10 people walked out.
“And one promoter told me, 'I think that was too much Sarah, too soon.' I said, 'What do you do when a regular performer has a bad night and isn't transgender? What do you pin it on then?' I don't feel that much of a difference. When I'm done with a show, I just feel I'm living more authentically when I get off stage.”
Her Edinburgh show will be the customary whistlestop tour through satirical comedy characters, although the first 15 minutes will be dedicated to transgenderism and anecdotes about what it's like to be out in public in 2015. “The truth is when you're out as a transgender person you incorporate more fear and resentment than you've ever had in your life... I get stared at all the time. I also do a transgender Simon Schama and a character who is transitioning into five different people.”
There's another significant difference too. “I come out cold and say, 'Hello, I'm Sarah and I'm going to do some character comedy for you tonight. And this is not a character by the way... It's the first time I've ever come on not in character.'”
Sarah Franken: Who Keeps Making All These People is at The Stand in Edinburgh until 30 August (edfringe.com)
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