DEADLY SERIOUS, TRANS(FORMATIVE) ENTERTAINMENT
Transplantation is a life-affirming variety show about identity and existence, inspired by a bone marrow transplant.
In 2019, Charlotte Engelkes underwent a bone marrow transplant. In order to save her life, her entire immune system had to be snuffed out. Gradually, she made room for the unknown donor’s life-giving stem cells, and she asked herself: Where do I end and the other person begin?
From this experience, Transplantation took shape; it is a rich gesamtkunstwerk in which philosophical thoughts about Engelkes’ new Y-chromosome are pondered by the performance artist herself, along with choreographer and drag king artist Sofia Södergård.
Dance, stand-up, opera and comedy all come together to portray Charlotte’s rebirth as…well…as what? A man? What percentage of the body’s genetic material needs to be replaced for you to become a different person?
Transplantation is a celebration of life – a brutal reality accompanied by musical history’s greatest love story, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.