The Tagalog word baklâ can be used in multiple ways: anything from a noun describing gender non-conformity to a slur. Max Percy’s one-person show uses this as a jumping-off point, taking inspiration from the way words shift, move, reflect and shape our world to explore ideas of belonging, colonisation, identity and sexuality. 

Moving between 1521 (the beginning of Spanish colonial rule in what’s now known as the Philippines) to a non-consensual sexual encounter in the present, Percy’s performance switches between direct address, balletic physicality and moments of jaw-breaking tension in the intimacy of Summerhall’s Demonstration Room. A lesser performer might let their audience off the hook; Percy compels us to not look away. But there’s humour, and gentle poetry too; for example, in describing a difficult relationship with a grandparent: ‘separated by seven kitchen tiles’. Ultimately this is a story of survival, told through a beautifully human and committed performance.

Baklâ, Summerhall, until 27 August, 1pm.