11 - 16 November 

CASTRATI

Created by Kit Spencer

Directed by Sheanna Russon

The castrati avoid puberty entirely. Kit, a transman, has been through two. Explore the story of the intriguing resonance between two disparate voices.

Since opera's inception in 1607, castrati—male singers, castrated before puberty to retain their high voices—were the stage's greatest stars. Their unique timbre, range and flexibility were unrivaled across Europe. The grisly techniques of the era unearth a lot of ethical quandaries, and leave a trail of bloody spectacle through the Renaissance and into the modern era. 

The castrato’s voice went extinct in 1922, and there are only a few grainy recordings that give us the merest glimpse of its astonishing beauty. The HRT trans-masculine voice did not exist until 1940. This voice is awkward and uncelebrated, most often its largest ambition is to merely pass unnoticed into history. These two voices never stood on the same stage.

Weaving classical arias with hyper-pop, Castrati delves into the unlikely parallels and resonances between two eras, and poses the question: What if the transmasculine voice is just as remarkable as the castrato? Exploring history, biology, musicology, and transition, follow Kit as he re-learns how to sing through his second puberty, and watch him negotiate tradition, legibility and joy.