She’s here, she’s queer, so you’d better get used to it. Fempaths: Transistor Radio Hour is an unashamedly political piece that uses LGBTQ+ history set to music to give voice to those that are often overlooked.
Kicking off with the radio style implied by the title, Fempath (Mari Moriarty), cellist Carolina Lopez Del-Nero and Bebhinn Todd on saxophone and flute are introduced by an amusing voice over that sets the tone for the piece. Blending live music, storytelling and comedy, this is an unapologetically political show that is at turns hilarious and deeply moving.
Setting the speeches of trans activists and luminaries to original music, Moriarty and her band reinvigorate Marsha P. Johnson’s poem “Soul” and the words of then 12-year old Ari Bowman, when he challenged his local school board on exclusionary treatment. Other songs reveal aspects of Moriarty’s own life, from the hilarious and sex-positive “Throat Goat” to a heartbreaking recording of a sexual assault report that was not taken further. The decision to relocate to the UK from the US with her now husband because trans people are no longer safe there was both sobering and sadly recognisable. The letter from Moriarty’s grandfather to her grandmother surely left not a dry eye in the house, while the final number is both highly personal and impactful.
Fempaths: Transistor Radio Hour can be a little messy at times, but so is life, and the duality of this piece is encapsulated within that. There is a raw intensity to Moriarty’s performance which is extremely compelling, from her soulful and sorrowful vocals to her deadpan jokes and ad-hoc tarot reading. When she slowly removes her makeup at the end of the piece, she presents such vulnerability and sincerity, the audience cannot help but hang on her every word.
By Deborah Klayman
Fempaths: Transistor Radio Hour plays at Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh until August 30th 2026.
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