In the Renaissance, the arts and sciences were deeply interconnected. The creativity required to envision a work of art was understood to be inseparable from that needed for philosophy, physics and mathematics. Generative and impactful outcomes were not only recognised but expected across all forms of arts and sciences. To me, this seems logical; each way of thinking and problem solving produced insight and growth. Late-stage capitalism has gradually forced the Da Vincis of the world to silo the fields they explore. Our current economic framework values growth above all else, and more specifically, the individual accumulation of wealth. These values are expansive and extractive rather than cyclical, rhizomatic or generative. Over time, they have performed a conceptual amputation, severing the arts from the sciences to the point that we now falsely imagine them as fundamentally different in their outcomes, methods and forms of intelligence. The reality however, is that arts and sciences are deeply interconnected at many levels, but importantly, each is PRODUCTIVE. 

The growth offered by theatre making - or in the case of The Irreducible, live art, installation and movement based practice - is socially introspective. The generative work it does is analytical; simultaneously symbolic and metaphorical in a way that challenges dominant systems and power structures. When considered in this light, theatre is doing similar work to journalism, but the power structure under investigation is the implicit social licence that we have inherited and navigate alongside each other as we move through the world. We examine the ways we interact with each other and with the systems of power that shape our lives — the ways we condone, celebrate or resist particular modes of being. Capitalism, as a system that centralises power and values economic productivity above all else, does not benefit from forms of growth that demand self-reflection and structural analysis.

The Irreducible reorganises concepts of power into slippery, interconnected cycles of transformation and tangential change. As a collective of 17 designers, dramaturgs and makers, we are creating a work that questions the readability of a body. It interrogates the assumption of a binary identity in relation to transgender bodies, but more than that asks, ‘How can we create an environment where transformation and change are understood to bind us together?’ The ‘us’ extends beyond human entities, into the organic, non-organic; the chemical, industrial and environmental systems that mediate our existence.

Transgender identities and experiences have increasingly been reduced to political point scoring. As a minority community, our bodies and identities have become topics of debate by largely uninformed and unempathetic governments, legislators and cis-gendered commentators. Across many contexts, trans people have been legislated against, denied pathways to exist safely as ourselves and excluded from communities and spaces. Public literacy about trans lives is frequently shaped by this polarised debate, its buzz words and divided thinking. Less commonly from being, knowing, respecting and loving a trans friend, family member, partner or neighbour. 

The Irreducible offers up an environment to explore a state of transformation that cannot be articulated through conversation or explanation - but must be embodied. Our bodies - all of our bodies - and the structures around us exist in constant transformation across differing timelines. This is often messy and amorphous: a gooey, unstable state that none of us can avoid. While trans identities are not defined by physical change, transformation is often made visible through trans bodies. Our timelines can be asynchronous with normative expectations around growth, parenting and ageing. As a result, the state of transformation that all humans share becomes particularly visible within our community. In this way the trans body becomes a starting point for exploring the universal state of flux that we all experience. 

Creating, producing and funding this work has also forced me to think about power through the intersection of political agendas and funding systems. Over the past eight years I have been fortunate to receive state funding for my work. The Irreducible, however, has not received that support. Of course there are many practical explanations for this, and I recognise that assessment panels work within complex constraints. But the question of why carries a larger importance. Why do I need to make The Irreducible now, and why this time, in this place, have I not been supported to make it? These questions force me to think about this literacy. How do we articulate the urgency of exploring trans-formation — not as a traditional written play with legible characters and a clear political narrative, but as an interconnected environment that seeps through states of being? A porous, sensory work that reaches out to the audience and says: this is me, but you are also in this process. This is you, too. And everyone you love. Through this space can you recognise your own state of flux? Are we legible? Do we have something to offer that can justify allocating a government grant? Possibly? Do we offer a perspective that is generative, curious and productive? I believe we do. 

Right now, however, belief alone does not build the work. As we find ourselves — trans artists creating work within an underfunded and increasingly risk-averse performing arts ecology — we cannot make The Irreducible without fundraising. Which means we cannot make it without you. 

Our ambition is not only to premiere the work here, but to tour The Irreducible internationally. A contribution now does more than support a single season of performance. It invests in a work that can travel, expanding how many audiences encounter this conversation about embodiment, transformation and trans perspectives. If lifting up this conversation, and the existence of The Irreducible matters to you, please consider making a contribution. If a literal crowd each donated the cost of a coffee, this project could become viable today. Your support transforms something small - a handful of the capitalist bargaining chips that you worked for - into something connective and generative. It allows this work, and the conversations it holds, to move out into the world. If this project resonates with you, please consider making a donation and helping The Irreducible come to life.

If lifting up this conversation, and the existence of The Irreducible, matters to you, please consider making a contribution. If a literal crowd each donated the cost of a coffee, this project could become viable today. Your support transforms something small - a handful of the capitalist bargaining chips you have worked for - into something connective and generative. It helps build an environment where bodies shift, identities slip and transformation is allowed to be visible in all its messy, gooey instability.

With your support, The Irreducible can exist - carrying this conversation out to audiences, spaces and conversations as a living, shifting, oozing invitation to connect. 

Cohan 

10.03.2026