Shay Mace
Freddie Haberfellner was the first ever recipient of Binge Fringe’s Queer Performer’s Award back in 2024 for his one-man show F*ckboy, exploring gender dysphoria through a journey along London’s District Line with a pair of scissors in hand. Since, Freddie has set up No Tits Theatre with producer Ella Bowsher, director Isobel Jacob, & designer Oli Fuller, and now the team are bringing their new piece boobytrapped to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, supporting a new team of creatives in tandem.
The show sees a cis man and a trans man caught in a magical role reversal, where after a heated encounter they swap bodies with one another, and have to navigate one another’s lives and prejudices. We caught up with Freddie, who wrote the script and is co-starring alongside Ermis Makides, to find out what’s inspired the show and what the audience can expect.
You can catch previews of boobytrapped at VAULT Creative Arts’ HIGHLIGHT Festival at The Glitch, Waterloo, London on July 16th & 19th from 17:30 (50mins). Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office.
Catch boobytrapped as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile on August 7th – 29th (not the 16th or 23rd) from 21:30 (50mins). Tickets are available through theSpaceUK’s Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi team! We last caught up with you all after the wild success of F*ckboy, which has since been on a European tour. Tell us about what you’ve been up to since you won our Queer Performer’s Award back in 2024?
Freddie: Helloooo, thank you so much for having us! We’ve definitely had a very exciting couple of years since EdFringe 2024. Last year, we got to bring F*ckboy to Prague Fringe which was No Tits’ first venture into performing outside the UK. And this year we were part of Wilde Stages, the Dublin Queer Fringe festival where I won the Best Performer Award – that was a wild(e) ride! We were a brand new company in 2024 – we didn’t even have our name (No Tits Theatre) yet, so since then we’ve put a lot of thought and work into figuring out what type of work we want to make going forward. As part of that, we’ve recently started hosting workshops for trans+ creatives in London and we’re hoping to build on this further and create more opportunities and community for trans+ artists.
Over the past year, we’ve been working towards producing our new play, boobytrapped, which has included bringing some incredible new people on board and that’s felt like a really big step for our company.
Shay: The new show is a body swap comedy exploring a trans man and a cis men forced to navigate one another’s lives and anatomies – tell us about what inspired the show, and why you’ve decided to tell the story now.
Freddie: I started my medical transition about a year and a half ago and, around the same time, started spending more time around cis gay men which really made me think about gender roles, taught behaviour, preconceived ideas we all have about each other… Transitioning is a really magical experience because you really get to view life from a whole new perspective as people start to treat you differently based on how they perceive you, but it also feels like a bit of a minefield because you’re suddenly expected to know this whole new set of social rules that you weren’t taught growing up.
The body swap takes that experience to another level; the trans character is suddenly in a cis man’s body. But does that change how he feels about himself and how the world treats him? Meanwhile, the cis man now has to search for his sense of self whilst in a body he has termed ‘not a real man’; so the play asks what makes us who we are – our bodies, how the world perceives us, or who we know ourselves to be.
Also, with the current attack on trans rights in the UK and globally there is just so much debate about our bodies and our existence so it was really important to me to write another play specifically about being trans. But I think because the situation feels so bleak I was really eager to create something that’s uplifting and fun whilst addressing the issues we’re facing, and a body swap romcom felt like the perfect vessel for that. Plus, the body swap concept has been so much fun to explore; what’s it like suddenly being in a bigger or smaller body, having your senses react differently… we’ve found some really silly moments but also so much depth that I think everyone will be able to relate to on some level.
Shay: The show had some previews in Prague and will shortly do a few more in London – how has it evolved since you first created the piece, and where are you hoping it ends up before you arrive in Edinburgh?
Freddie: The story has mostly stayed the same since the first draft, which has been quite surprising, but the themes and characters have definitely been refined and I think especially the cis man’s arc has really deepened throughout the process. He’s probably not a guy I’d be friends with in real life, but I still needed to find the empathy to make him human and understand where he’s coming from as well. Early on, I got to workshop a scene from the play with my wonderful friend Josh Sanchez and we had some brilliant conversations that really impacted the character’s development.
Then, once we found our incredible director Romeo Lau, and cast Ermis Makides, rehearsing and workshopping the play with these two thoughtful and talented queer creatives has really opened up a new understanding of the story we’re telling. In previews so far, performing the show and seeing how the audience reacts has been so invaluable in figuring out what works, what resonates and what still needs refining. I’m just making some final changes to the script before we go into our final rehearsal period. I just hope that the play will be a fast-paced, hilarious but heartfelt experience that everyone can relate to in one way or another.
Shay: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Freddie: If you’ve seen F*ckboy you’ll know I love a bit of a pre-show, a bit of audience immersion. The first scene of boobytrapped takes place in a gay club so that is what the audience enters as they take their seats: music – created by the fantastic Callie O’Brien – thumping, colourful lights, a pride flag and graffiti on the walls. The characters are already on stage. If you’re paying attention I think you can get quite a good idea of who they are and how they feel in this environment. Kevin, the cis man, is comfortable, in his element, he might even try to chat you up if you get lucky. Simon, the trans guy, is keeping to himself in a corner, observing, still figuring out what to do with himself. Our hope is that through this set-up, the audience feel like they’re in the club with us and they may or may not be asked to participate later on in the show.
Shay: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Freddie: I genuinely hope everyone leaves the theatre feeling uplifted and having had a good laugh, but also that especially our cis audience members may have learnt a thing or two about what being a trans man can be like. During our previews in Prague, I already got to have some brilliant conversations after the show. One comes to mind where a fellow transmasc person expressed how much it meant to see a trans man pre-top-surgery on stage.
I also had some great conversations with cis men in the audience; we talked about gender roles and the pressures – especially on young men – to adhere to societal standards of masculinity. I’ve been equally horrified and fascinated by incel culture and looksmaxxing, and I also see the pressure cis gay men put on themselves to look a certain way, have a certain kind of life. Whilst my original aim with this play was to highlight the experience of a trans man mid-transition, I’m really hoping that this play can start more conversations about modern masculinity in general and perhaps let people know that there’s a million ways to be a man.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to find itself at EdFringe 2026?
Freddie: It all started with a rehearsed reading at Omnibus Theatre in Clapham as part of their Engine Room series. We are honoured to be bringing the show to EdFringe in association with theSpaceUK; we’ve been completely self-funded up until now so receiving this support has been a gamechanger. So then, we returned to Prague Fringe to share our first three previews of the show, and we’re about to do two more Preview shows in London at the Glitch’s Highlight Festival. I feel really touched by and very grateful for the amount of people who are championing this play and our work, and I’m really excited to get stuck into Edinburgh in August!
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Freddie: ALL OF IT! (Except flyering. I’m very neurospicy and talking to strangers is probably the most stressful thing I can think of, but we do what we gotta do). But, genuinely, I’m so ready to spend August thinking about nothing but theatre, seeing lots of queer shows, meeting fellow creatives, getting to perform and tell a story really close to my heart every night… I can’t wait. I’m also so excited to be back in Edinburgh, it’s such a beautiful city that I want to explore more, plus I didn’t get to climb Arthur’s Seat last time I was there so that’s top of my list for this year.
Shay: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Freddie: Butterfly pea flower tea, also known as blue tea! As the name suggests, it’s blue (which is my favourite colour, very gender of me). Depending on the pH balance, it changes colour. For example, if you add lemon juice, the tea turns purple which is also a great colour! boobytrapped is all about change. Plus, if you fancy something stronger, you could add a shot of something to the tea (in pursuit of science, of course).
A reminder, you can catch boobytrapped as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile on August 7th – 29th (not the 16th or 23rd) from 21:30 (50mins). Tickets are available through theSpaceUK’s Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Valeria Semenova
