The absolute cream of queer theatre-making assembled in Brighton as part of The Coast Is Queer literary festival.
Olivier Award-winners Debbie Hannan and Matilda Feyisayo Ibini were joined by multi-talented actor, writer, director Alexis Gregory and trans actor/writer Charlie Josephine in a panel discussion called It’s Just A Stage.
Debbie, National Theatre of Scotland Associate Director, moderated the panel and kicked off by saying: ”queer writers and performers are at the vanguard of untold stories.”
The panel was asked when queer themes first showed up in their writings. Matilda said it was their third play: “I’m a late bloomer. I came out on my 30th birthday, but queerness has always been an underlying theme – like my play about a girl being bullied and I only hinted why.
“Often my queer plays didn’t go anywhere, and my plays with hetero characters got performed. I bridged the gap by writing about the journey towards queerness, coming out stories are actually really boring. We have rich histories and intersections which are much more interesting. Queer writers are ahead of the game.”
Charlie Josephine, writer of Cowbois for the RSC and I, Joan for Shakespeare’s Globe, said: “I was writing about queerness long before I spotted it. I was feeling feminine angst and still do. It took me a while to come into alignment with myself. My subconscious writing is way smarter than myself. The art got better when it was queer; and then I got caught up in the cultural wars about being trans and the art got better.”
Alexis Gregory, actor-creator of monodramas Riot Act and FutureQueer, said queerness had always been in his writing. When his child acting became adolescent acting it was the ’90s and ’00s. “It was difficult to be an out actor at that time. You were trapped. Now drama students graduate and are already out. It wasn’t till 2018/19 that queer stories became more mainstream.”
Debbie then asked what the queer form meant to the writers/performers. Matilda described her form as “magical realism. It’s to challenge the binaries of life. I grew up in a Christian Nigerian household with a fixed view about disability (Matilda is now in a wheelchair due to a form of muscular dystrophy).
“Challenge what you see and the narratives we are given. I need to get out of the real world of imposed ideologies,” she explained as her reason for writing magical stories.
Alexis added that he had consciously chosen to write in different forms – including Ted talk and stand-up. “My plays have a form which is queer.”
Charlie added: “I write in different forms: it’s a bit of a mess to be honest. I’m learning still. I take a rich classic structure and then break the rules and queer them with confidence. I’m confused about what form is – if writing is eggs, then are they fried, or scrambled? – sorry for the vegans in the room.”
Charlie cited Pinter’s pay Betrayal which goes backwards – they said because when betrayed you go backwards over your life. In their play Cowbois, the central character is a trans masc gunslinger who everybody wants and then they don’t when they find out the truth.
Alexis suggested a reluctance to produce gay stories, the attitude being “oh we’ve done that story, and we don’t need to do it again.”
Charlie also revealed they write for five specific people and what they think about the work: “I can’t invest in what everyone cares about it.”
Matilda said: “I’m clear on everything I write who it’s for. I’m saying it’s not all hopelessness living in a black, queer disabled body. I tell the story first to myself and ask can I defend the story? I don’t want to write about stereotypes or have harmful narratives.”
Asked if there needs to be broad audience appeal in queer theatre, Alexis promptly said no. “there’s a queer audience and a straight audience at my shows and that’s happened organically. Why be restrained by the need for respectability? A show doesn’t have to be for everyone. I don’t want to beg for acceptance.”
Asked for their wishes and hopes for the future of queer theatre, Charlie said: “shit hot theatre made with kindness and curiosity.” Matilda was looking for theatre managements to speak up and protect their artists and look after their wellbeing and safeguarding. “Theatre can’t be a neutral space.” Debbie wanted arts funding to be restored and for queer stories to be out there. “It’s culturally acceptable not to be warm to trans people but trans people are here.”
Prompted by that I asked from my audience seat why there’s a growing number of trans characters and performers in films but not on the stage – with the notable exception of Charlie’s Cowbois.
And there was no great answer from the panel – Charlie admitted they didn’t know the reason and Debbie said the breakthrough hadn’t come yet.
It’s Just A Stage was at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts.
Look out for my preview of Alexis’s new queer play Smoke coming soon to Scene magazine.
