Thu 5 Feb 2026
REAL BOY, the trans play, written by Finn Evans and Ramonah N. J. Gibson, is the Lakeside Theatre’s latest ‘Homegrown’ production to find its feet on their stage after first seeing audiences in Norwich in 2022 and 2023. For one night only on 27 February, the original actor of the ‘Real Boy’ – Jesse Smith – brings his tragic story to Colchester in their directorial debut.
REAL BOY moved Norwich’s trans and queer community with its youthful desperation to embrace who you are and the hurt from a society that fights against it. In this tragic adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, when our trans teen meets a tough classmate who’ll teach him ‘how to be a boy’, he steamrolls into a confident and masculine new self – but in every corner of his life lies disapproval, from school bullies to ‘gender exploratory’ therapists. Colchester’s audience will see fights and nightmares among the comedy and tragedy.
Jesse Smith, who is directing this new take on the play, said “It’s heart-warming of Lakeside Theatre to give a trans story not just a voice but a whole body – the stage, the tech, and the support to bring it all together and find its audience. Providing this opportunity to members of Essex’s trans community to both tell an authentic trans story and see it is an immense privilege, and one I wish I’d had when I was a young transmasc too. There is tragedy but not before so much joy.”
REAL BOY headlines the line-up for the Lakeside Theatre’s LGBTQ+ History Month season, where LGBTQ+ voices are championed through compelling storytelling, comedy and performance.
Tickets for the performance on 27 February are on sale now via the Lakeside Theatre website. Early booking is strongly advised.
