Traumboy

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Theatre (lgbt, solo show)

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  • Venue 26
    Summerhall - Old Lab
  • 20:10
  • Aug 24
  • 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Suitability: 16+ (Guideline)
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Group: Daniel Hellman, Swiss Selection Edinburgh
  • Warnings and additional info: Audience Participation, Scenes of a Sexual Nature
  • Accessibility:
    Captioning
    May not apply to all performances. You'll find more information about accessibile performances and how to book tickets in the accessibility tab below.
  • Babes in arms policy: Babies do not require a ticket
  • Policy applies to: Children under 2 years

Description

Daniel is an artist. He is also a sex worker. Through accounts of clients and their desires, Traumboy explores why he chose this profession and why having sex for money is still considered taboo. Told with humour and honesty, this interactive performance challenges audiences to scrutinise their own sexual ideals and appetites, as Daniel performs different roles for his customers – and the audience. Where do your boundaries lie? Traumboy is performed in response to Anne Welenc's Traumgirl: a performance from the perspective of a female sex worker. Part of Pro Helvetia's Swiss Selection Edinburgh.

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General venue access

  • Captioning
  • Accessible entry: Once in the courtyard, go through the double doors at ground level next to the shop shed, past the Anatomy Lecture Theatre and through the double doors, take a right; down to the end of the corridor.

    • Wheelchair access type: Level Access

  • Stairs: Information not supplied

Each venue can contain several space with different accessibly information. Visit the venue page for full venue accessibility info

Captioned performances

  • Dates: 18 August
  • Type: Closed (Tablet)
  • Booking options: You can book independently online, or contact our access team to book your tickets and request any specific seating locations or if booking a unit is required.

How and when to make an access booking

Our access tickets service is available to anyone who:

  • Would like to book specific accessibility services, e.g. a hearing loop, audio description headsets, captioning units, seating in relation to the location of the BSL interpreter
  • Requires extra assistance when at a venue
  • Has specific seating requirements
  • Is a wheelchair user
  • Requires a complimentary personal assistant ticket to attend a performance

Sean Davis 127 days ago

Traumboy (***)
A real 29-year old Swiss gay prostitute talks a little about his life, and a lot about his work. The show works well because his approach to sex and work is open, clear, and sincere. Though he trained as an opera singer for a while, his costumed finale felt like a bittersweet delusion to me.

This was the 29th most enjoyable of the 48 shows I have seen so far this year. You may see my other three-sentence reviews, in order from most enjoyable to worst, at my non-commercial website: www.fringefan.com.

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Participants - for further details on our audience and published review policies, including how to add or opt out of reviews, please click here.

Theatre Reviews Design (5/5 stars) 113 days ago

Ever wanted to have a heart to heart CHAT with a rent boy? Well here’s your chance. Part performance, part meet and greet, Daniel Hellmann is here to reveal the inside skinny on being a professional sex worker.

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Edinburgh Festivals Magazine (4/5 stars) 114 days ago

Daniel Hellman has been a sex worker for nine years now. It started with a dating profile, a much older match followed by a sloppy blowjob and scrubbing in the shower. Or so he tells us. There is ambiguity in...

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The Wee Review (3/5 stars) 119 days ago

In Traumgirl performance artist Anne Welenc presented a show that took a personal look at sex work from a female perspective. Traumboy carries on the investigation, but from a gay male point of view.  Daniel Hellman is a former opera singer and is currently a sex worker. The performance begins...

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Miro Magazine (3/5 stars) 121 days ago

The main intrigue with Traumboy lies in the layers and layers of dichotomy. It’s an intellectual meta-exercise – Hellmann becomes Phil in his profession (after trying Leo and Antonio on for size) but reveals more of his true self than his character in the show. Traumboy is fundamentally about his sex work, so the performance then becomes Hellmann playing Phil who is really Hellmann. And that quandary – where one persona stops, where a new one begins and who the real person within all of this is – that’s the nugget that keeps the audience engaged.

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Total Theatre 124 days ago

Traumboy and Traumgirl have been created in response to one another by Daniel Hellmann and Anne Welenc, and although programmed separately, playing on alternate days in Summerhall’s Old Lab, they are best viewed (and reviewed) with the relationship between them acknowledged. Both pieces present an open and unashamed view into...

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The Skinny (4/5 stars) 125 days ago

Performed by Swiss sex worker and performance artist Daniel Hellman, Traumboy is a blend of autobiography and activisim, aiming to shatter negative stigmas around sex work in the Western world. Hellman composes his argument through a skilled combination of intimate storytelling, movement sequences and interactions with the audience. This is a...

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Broadway Baby (4/5 stars) 127 days ago

In Traumboy, his one-man show about his experiences as a gay male prostitute, Daniel Hellmann emerges as a performer that is as eloquent with his voice as he is with his body. The show’s engrossing, effortless oscillation between cheeky comedy, unrelenting honesty and cathartic sexuality sets the stage for the...

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Participants - for further details on our audience and published review policies, including how to add or opt out of reviews, please click here.

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Participants - for further details on our audience and published review policies, including how to add or opt out of reviews, please click here.