Shiyi Redpath is better known as Lily Catastrophe, a burlesque performer whose debut solo theatre show, Bottom Surgery was a critical hit at this year's New Zealand and Dunedin fringe festivals. It returns this month in Pōneke Wellington for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival.
Brave, honest and, at turns raucous and funny, Bottom Surgery is a mix of burlesque, storytelling and cabaret. It is both memoir and glitter-soaked celebration of the body.
And the title is no joke. Through performance Redpath has found a way to introduce others to the complexities of the transgender experience today and, what she describes as "the wins, losses, and absurdities" of her journey navigating gender-affirming surgery.
Redpath is calling for more accessible trans healthcare in Aotearoa, and created Bottom Surgery to tell her own story through the system, which saw her ultimately getting surgery privately overseas, after years on the public waitlist.
Before that in 2023 she was one of 412 people with referrals for a first specialist assessment for gender-affirming surgery. There were however - and remain only 14 publicly funded surgeries budgeted a year - a quota set when the service was funded in the 2019 government budget.
In 2024, Lily Catastrophe was runner-up in the national burlesque competition, Starlet of New Zealand, and performed internationally as a featured performer at the Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival.
Bottom Surgery is on at BATS Theatre Pōneke Wellington from May 13 to 17.
