The perfect image of youth and boyhood is projected onto the mirror-like panels which hang from the ceiling as Jo Clifford gazes thoughtfully the photo of herself. Clifford speaks with deliberate resonance, commanding the stage with the presence of her lone-voice.
old with such passion and honesty, Jo Clifford emotive and poetic storytelling stays with you long after the show has ended.
Jo pieces together her journey throughout life with the discovery of photographs of her as a little boy, a young man, and a loving father. The audience are given an honest insight into what it is like to be born into a body that does not reflect your gender. Speaking slowly, painting vivid images in our minds of the places and the people who made a lasting impact on her life, we are drawn in to Jo’s story.
Addressing her younger self with love, and acceptance, Jo Clifford does not deny her life as a boy, instead she celebrates it. She admires his strength and gentle persistence while at school, going through gender therapy, and finding a gender neutral toilet at the opera in New York, and within the normal mundane experience of day-to-day life. Clifford does not use Eve as a war-cry against transphobia alone, but as a call for compassion encompassing the whole of humanity, celebrating bravery and strength of identity. Jo fell deeply in love with her girlfriend, they married and had two daughters, and lived as a man because her wife needed her to be a man.
Jo Clifford expresses herself candidly through her thoughts and experiences of coming into herself as a woman. Her story naturally encourages audiences to be proud of the people they are, and to highlight how fortunate they are if they’re born into the gender they are. Told with such passion and honesty, Jo Clifford emotive and poetic storytelling stays with you long after the show has ended.
