We’re Weird for Other Reasons is an honest and frequently humorous theatrical take on what it can mean to be an A.
That is the last classification of LGBQTIA+ Rainbow acronym, where the A refers to asexual or aromantic. People of any gender (and that can also be fluid) who do not experience any strong sexual or romantic desires.
Presented by Ace-ssential Workers and Theatre of Love
Director and script editor: James Wenley (Doctor Drama trilogy)
These are strong forces of attraction which govern people’s behaviour in fundamental ways. Humans are essentially herd animals who need social connection and community to survive and thrive. Monks and genuine solitary recluses are extremely rare.
There is a fanzine Aspec Guide to Life: Rule Book, given out to the audience at the end of the show which has an extensive appraisal of this aspect of the human condition. Rule Book is crossed out and the theatrical title is added below. Generally essential reading of the deeper and myriad aspects of what it means to identify as aspec.
The first thing to realise is that being aspec comes in many shades and nuances and trying to confine it in neat pigeonholes to those that identify this way is near impossible.
The collective that came up with this theatre production held a series of workshops last year which culminated in this evening’s premiere, made exclusively by aspec community members, so this may be a world’s first.
We are introduced to the players as they all parade in front of the audience and introduce themselves. Austin Harrison (also the producer), Jamie Sayers, Susan Williams, Nasya Gilbert, Shem Dixon, Ana Clarke, Rosemary Boulton, Emily Brown, Shiq Ren.
There are some brief explanations from the cast as to what they understand as being aspec, but the stories are brought together by a fast-paced series of sketches and vignettes, to give us a far more complex and broader view of how they grew up and what led to their eventual realisation of their identities.
All the players are women (or female-presenting people), except for Harrison. He reinforces this by admitting that he is addicted to sitting out in a field for five days and watching test match cricket.
The women are all different sizes. Some Girls Are Bigger than Other Girls by The Smiths. I am hit by the realisation that lead singer and lyricist Morrissey is an aspec!
Short vignettes on primary school classrooms and the behaviour of children when they are at their most undifferentiated. As they get older, the rules of attraction suddenly come into stark prominence.
A highlight is the fashion parade midway through the show. Highly inventive and stylised costumes in the fashion of the celebrated Works of Wearable Art. Wardrobes change continually over the whole production, from costume designer Holly Kennedy with maybe some assistance from Sayers as set designer.
One of the players tells us they is visually impaired and neuro divergent. The booklet expands on this aspect, but disabilities do not play a large part in this production.
The hardest part for the audience, many of which probably don’t identify like this, is understanding and being able to see people in a different light.
This is one of the major shows of Pride Month.
An ongoing sketch is the LGBTQ boutique, where the proprietors try and match up the personality type by their outward appearances. Categorisation is not easy at all.
The players enter a game show where tokens are awarded for occupation choice, if you choose a partner, if you want to buy a house. The aspec person finds themselves often excluded and they have failed the game of life.
Romance and sexual attraction is certainly not excluded completely. But parents fail to understand how the dynamics of a relationship works when their adult offspring try and explain that they don’t swing that way. We can easily recognise the stereotyped provincial parents
Coming from allosxeual/ alloromantic perspectives, that is how many of us are described as in the booklet. This production is then an eye-opener for us in what it means to be aspec.
We do realise that there are probably more people who likely do identify in this way. They may not realise it yet.
Over the course of an hour, We’re Weird at first gently digs out these differences. It also has a hilarious crack at them and often jumps around in gay abandon with their own unfolding stories.
This may not be the most coherent review, but it is well worth catching at the Basement theatre. With a final ironic Valentine’s Day soiree as a conclusion.
Rev. Orange Peel
We’re Weird for Other Reasons is on at the Basement Theatre until 14 February 2026. Tickets are available HERE.