"Yas made the audience go crazy with delight, much as Tarkan himself does" - Queer Arts Projects

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Yas Necati first stepped up to a mic at aged 17, on a little night called Spoken Word London. Since then they have performed their poetry at venues across the city, and also run an array of poetry workshops. They are part of London Queer Writers and help host the monthly performance night Speak=. As well as poetry, Yas performs as their drag king alter ego, Turkish pop phenomenon Tarkan. Recently they have been blending poetry and drag to create performances that tell a story of shifting identity and transience. They have performed at The Jago, The Glory, The Yard Theatre and Stratford's old town hall for nights including Turkish Delight, Queer Cinema, Queer Newham and Speak=

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"It has been great pleasure working with Yas as part of LGBTQI+ drop-ins and all participants found the spell of Yas’s work very charming" - Niranjan Kamatkar, Wise Thoughts

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To see the process of Yas' transformation into Tarkan, see their work featured on the online exhibition Work in Progress by Queer Arts Projects

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Angela Christofilou photographs the transformation into Tarkan, featured in The Independent

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