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F*ckboy

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 4 Published: 14 Mar 2026 Camden People's Theatre Show Dates: 11 Mar 2026-11 Mar 2026

The District Line will never be the same again, having passed through so many stations with writer/performer Freddie Haberfellner as Frankie on his frenetic ride home from a night of partying.

A kaleidoscopic, movement-intense and relentlessly action-packed journey

This was an opportunistic one-off performance at Camden People’s Theatre of his show F*ckboy that has travelled to fringe festivals in Prague and Edinburgh and graced venues around the country. Having just used that word, it occurs to me that we talk about gracing somewhere with our presence, which implies not just being there but making a significant contribution to the surroundings, enhancing the setting and making it better than it might otherwise have been. And that is precisely what Haberfellner does, even as Frankie just poses in the corner of the stage waiting for us to take our seats. Dressed in fishnet tights, a low-cut black top and a green jacket, their pale face has glitter-embedded make-up in all the right places that sparkles under the lights. Is this a hooker waiting for passing trade or simply a reveller waiting innocently for the last train?

Then blackout, rapidly followed by bright lights and Frankie has come to life on the other side of the stage in an acrobatic freeze-frame. The blackout repeats. They’ve moved again, this time legs spread wide in the air, lying with their back on a chair. It happens twice more and then, alert and gripped by their physicality, we are set to go on a kaleidoscopic, movement-intense and relentlessly action-packed journey with someone who is anything but innocent.

Under the imaginative direction of Isobel Jacob every inch of space is used and the high-octane tempo is enhanced by compositions from Marta Miranda and sound design by Gareth Swindail-Parry, while Rowan West’s lighting design colourfully matches the pace and settings.

You’re going to be drawn into the story without being picked on, but you might just become a latter-day personification of their fixation with Andrew Garfield or be chosen for a meta-theatrical engagement because it’s time they involved the audience more intimately as one of the characters in the narrative. Just keep your eye on the pair of scissors that hang aloft like the sword of Damocles for symbolic rather than surgical reasons. Although the two come together in what follows, for, like Dionysius, this partygoer who seemingly has everything also has a weighty issue hanging over them.

Underpinning all the events is Haberfellner’s existence as a person en route to transitioning, someone in a female body longing to be the man they truly are. Meanwhile life has done anything but grind to a halt for Frankie. On the contrary, like any queer person they are immersed in the scene and every excess it offers. This is not an inward-looking, self-indulgent piece of navel gazing, but rather a celebration of discovery, of gender dysphoria turned on its head, of realising who you are and what you want to be, of knowing that a process, no matter how complex, radical and maybe even dangerous, can set you free and give you a lifetime of being the person you know you should always have been.

For those wondering about the name, Haberfellner is Austrian, whose impeccably enunciated English combined with the occasional quaint alien intonation gives his voice a cute charm and turns him into a forceful yet endearing storyteller who relishes all things queer in a performance that gives a whole new meaning to a Viennese whirl!

Amir Nisi

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

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The Blurb:

F*ckboy, a dark comedy exploring gender dysphoria, bodily autonomy and celebrity crushes from a trans perspective, is coming to CPT for one night only.

Frankie is on the District Line, drunk, with a pair of scissors in their coat pocket. Meanwhile, their past self is in a club struggling to find a hair tie, their future self is in therapy insisting they’re not insane, and their imaginary self is having a passionate love affair with Andrew Garfield. As these four realities come together, Frankie learns who they are and who they want to be, and ultimately decides whether or not to put those scissors to good use. F*ckboy is written and performed by Freddie Haberfellner and produced by No Tits Theatre. 

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