With Edinburgh Fringe 2026 underway we speak to Freddie Haberfellner who has written and also stars in boobytrapped. ”Bodyswap romcom chaos erupts when Simon, a trans man, and Kevin, a cis man, meet in a gay club and are instantly drawn to each other. Their hookup derails when Kevin realises Simon is trans, but before things turn ugly, a magical twist traps them in each other’s bodies. Forced to navigate insecurities and prejudice, they must work together to reverse the swap – whether they understand each other or not.”
How would you describe your show to someone discovering it for the first time at the Fringe?
boobytrapped is a body swap romcom. Think Freaky Friday but queer (and the characters aren’t related). It starts with two guys meeting in a gay club; they sneak into the access loo to… you know, but things start going sideways when one of them realises the other is trans. Next thing they know, they’ve magically swapped bodies and, for the rest of they show, they have to work together to find a way to swap back. So it’s quite a silly premise but also touches on deeper questions around identity, masculinity and our relationships with our bodies…
What moment, idea or frustration first sparked this show into existence?
Transitioning! Going from being perceived as a woman to (more and more often) a man is such a joyful yet bizarre experience you can’t really prepare yourself for. There are new social rules, new expectations, new toilets to use… going through that process made me wonder; what if I woke up in a cis man’s body tomorrow? Would it be a dream come true or an absolute nightmare? And what about the reverse? What if a cis man suddenly woke up in my body? What would that do to his sense of masculinity, how would he navigate the changes, what questions would he have? Add to that the debate around gay people dating trans people and you get… boobytrapped.
How has the show evolved from its earliest idea to what audiences will see now?
The plot has stayed mostly the same which has really surprised me, but it’s definitely become a lot more nuanced, and the cis man especially had to go through several drafts before he was a three-dimensional character rather than a caricature. I’ve been very lucky to have had brilliant conversations with my AMAB friends throughout this process which helped me find the compassion and understanding needed to make the cis man more well-rounded. It also helped me in continuing to explore my own understanding of and relationship with my masculinity. In that way, the creation of the play feels deeply connected to my transition and gender journey, and from the feedback we’ve received so far trans audiences especially can find a lot to relate to within the show because of that personal connection.
What makes Edinburgh Fringe the right place for this show right now?
The UK has reached a real low-point with regards to trans rights and putting on a show that celebrates transness in the home city of the most famous TERF feels… pretty good and also very necessary. I have already watched a few other queer shows since arriving at fringe. Bi-Curious George had me BAWLING in the best way, come see both our shows! and I just keep thinking how incredible, powerful and beautiful it is that so many of us are here making art despite the relentless attack on our basic human rights. Ed Fringe is a brilliant place for people who might not be as familiar with ‘the trans debate’ to stumble across our little show, have a big laugh but also leave having learnt a thing or two about the trans experience.
What does bringing this particular show to the Fringe represent for you personally?
It feels like a really important step in my career; it’s my second EdFringe with my second play and I can really see how far we’ve come. Two years ago, my company No Tits Theatre was only in the process of being formed, we were completely self-funded and didn’t really know what we were doing. This time round, we’re a well-oiled machine as they say, we’re bringing a show in collaboration with theSpaceUK and have received so much support with covering upfront costs etc… plus I get to do all these cool interviews (thank you so much for having me)! So whilst we still have a long way to go, all this progress is super exciting. Aside from that, getting to tell a trans story in the current climate feels really powerful, and even more so because it’s a really uplifting, fun and heartwarming play. As in, it would be very easy to be pessimistic and angry but instead we get to have a lot of fun and make people laugh whilst advocating for trans rights and that genuinely means the world to me.
What has been the most unexpectedly challenging part of getting this show to Edinburgh?
Oh, I have a very overly anxious brain so I expect every single challenge even ones that will never, ever actually happen. So perhaps it wasn’t unexpected, but it is definitely shocking just how much money is needed to bring a show to the fringe. Despite the support we’ve had from theSpaceUK there is absolutely no guarantee we’ll make any sort of profit so we’re basically all choosing to not make any money for a month which is a wild choice in this economy. Some of us are spending the month volunteering in a hostel in exchange for a place to stay (yours truly is giving this interview from his hostel bed) whilst another team member is commuting from Glasgow because that’s cheaper than staying in Edinburgh. Something really has to change when it comes to the finances around Ed Fringe (and the arts in general) because the current state of affairs is appalling.
If audiences leave the venue holding onto one thing, what do you hope it is?
That they themselves and the bodies they live in are right just as they are. As someone who is mid-transition and less than two months from top surgery (weeeee!) I do have to clarify here that I don’t mean someone shouldn’t want to change their bodies through gender-affirming care etc, but rather that needing that care doesn’t mean your body is wrong, or worth less, or that you’re inherently broken. And whether we’re cis or trans, I hope we all find more ways of appreciating and celebrating our bodies instead of constantly comparing them to others or wishing they were different.
How do you think performing this show during a Fringe run will shape it?
We’re only four performances in but already every night we find something new; the real gift of a longer run is getting to really play with the material and have a lot of fun with it. My co-star Ermis has incredible improv and physical comedy skills which is such a joy to work with (though it also keeps me on my toes because it’s genuinely hard not to break into laughter when they throw something new at me). Plus, because our fringe venue is so intimate, the audience’s reactions really influence each performance as well, sometimes there’s laughter where we didn’t expect it, or I can see someone’s face and how they’re reacting and that will have an impact on me… So I think it’ll be a mixture of finding new jokes as well as digging even deeper into our understanding of the characters and what they represent.
Who do you hope this show finds at the Fringe?
Most of all, it’s for trans people. It’s for the queers, as is everything I do. I think with every show I make there’s an element of ‘I would have needed this when I was younger’, so I hope it finds the people who need to see it now, or would have needed to see it when they were younger too. But it’s also for everyone who needs a good laugh, who perhaps has some questions about the transmasc experience. I promise the show is not a TedTalk but you will come away knowing about binders, packers and bottom growth…
Finally, if this show came with a warning label, what would it say?
BEWARE THE PIZZA METAPHOR TWISTER SCENE – it gets hotter than you think!
boobytrapped runs at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 10th – 29th August 2026 (Except 16th & 23rd).