Award-winning theatre maker Emma Frankland brings her award-winning show No Apologies, a radical reimagining of Nirvana’s iconic MTV Unplugged gig, to Newcastle’s Live Theatre on the 16-17 October. Damian Robinson caught up with Emma to find out more.

Nirvana’s MTV unplugged gig is an iconic show – what prompted the idea of you looking to create something with it’s legacy?

The MTV Unplugged gig has always been an important show for me – I was 14 when I heard it for the first time and I think that what you hear at that age forms you and your musical taste. So for me, it’s totally iconic – the songs, the outfits, the staging – even the banter between the band. Some people want to restage Hamlet – for me, it was this gig.

You’ve worked at reimagining the original gig – without giving too much away – what parts have you reimagined and why?  

I think that centring a trans feminine body in such a recognisable setting helps us rewrite the past as a place where trans people have existed – even if they weren’t always visible. We’ve always been here, we always will be. 

People might be interested in the creative process of a reimagining – how were you able to piece together how you wanted to keep some elements of the show whilst ammending other parts? 

The show actually began as a short cabaret piece, commissioned for Marlborough Productions for Trans Pride Brighton – one of the oldest and largest trans protest marches in Europe. Just as grunge grew out of resistance to the mainstream music industry, No Apologies grew out of resistance and a refusal to be defined by expectations of autobiographical performance and, as a queer and trans performer, my resistance to the expectations of gender. 

You’ve been out on the road with the show – how have you found the response and, again without giving too much away, what parts of the show do people most seem to connect to?

It’s been a phenomenal experience – this year we’ll have toured the show to ten different countries, from Germany to Brasil and from the Balkans to my home town in Cornwall! I have found it incredible that despite very different cultural settings the piece has still resonated with audiences. Part of that, I think, is a relatable experience of growing up as an outsider – and also of people’s love for the music of Kurt Cobain. In a lot of countries, grunge was the soundtrack of revolution and change and that’s powerful to invoke.

No apologies shows at the Live Theatre 16-17 October.