Priscilla Queen Of The Desert - UK Tour

One of the issues the idea of an international search is that you might not get a work permit for them to do a national tour.

Miss Saigon was an original cast west end production with a lot of money behind it. This is Priscilla tour number 768 and will probably start in Skegness. I get the sentiment but where’s the money for an international search?

Edit: it starts in Cheltenham but you get the point

For goodness sake.

If someone who is Trans auditions for a role and they are the best person who auditions, then sure give the Trans person the role.

This is the same as the subsidised theatre, saying they will have a quota for females or BAME writers, which is equally appalling.

Theatre is about seeing the best available, I have no issues if they’re Trans, BAME or Female, as long as they are the best available, but I have problems with quotas.

Nobody should be cast because they’re solely ‘Trans,’ theatre is all about talent and should be judged solely on that alone.

The idea they plan to bring it into the west end at some point.. hilarious!

I'm sorry but this is kinda appalling to read: If a member of a community, THIS community, tells you that someone's actions actively worry them, make them feel unsafe and put them in danger, why are so many kneejerk reactions on here sceptical and stuffed with bluster rather than "Oh god, that sounds awful, how can we help?". 

Violence against trans individuals is substantial – that's an objective fact.

This casting move doesn't help – when it could have. 

Fair point, but can I again play devil's advocate and point out that this was very likely the attitude held by many when it came to actors like Olivier donning dark make-up to play Othello?  They wanted to see the best possible performance by an actor and didn't care about his background, right?  That's what an actor does, right?  So there's no problem, right?

We would never accept non black actors playing black roles now, even an actor of Olivier's calibre, but we will accept non trans actors playing trans roles.  What's difference here apart from the obvious visual aspect?  The arguments bot for and against are parallel.

I don't know what the right answer is, or where the "line" is when an actor's experience needs to match with the role they're playing - it's far too big a debate - but I do believe it's a matter which needs to be discussed just like racial depictions needed to be discussed in the past.

Linked to this, my biggest issue here is with the producers being unwilling to engage with the discussion and fanning away the criticism they received (justified, in my opinion) by saying "We believe that inclusivity extends to all members of the company and that all roles are open to everyone."  That's very disingenuous and patronising, because OBVIOUSLY not all roles are suitable for all people and I daresay they wouldn't use that argument in other situations.

I think achieving better representation for trans actors will be easier for plays, film, TV and radio productions than it will be for musicals and opera.

This is not to say it will be easy. But it will be easier because the vocal demands of a singing role don't have to be taken into account.

Looking at the world of opera briefly, we still see Caucasian singers in non Caucasian roles. Butterfly is frequently sung by a white soprano. Otello is frequently still sung by a white tenor. Monostatos in Die Zauberflote is rarely sung by a singer of colour. We are seeing growing demands for this sort of casting to stop. And the situation is improving. But the demands of certain roles require specific vocal skills and there is a limited number of singers capable of performing them in a major house. The choice to be made is whether to stop performing that sort of repertoire until the number of suitable singers increases, find a different artistic interpretation that does away with the 'traditional' setting/casting demands or accept that you are casting a voice that can sing a role that deserves to be heard. Many in the Opera community say that voice is everything. One area I haven't seem much comment on is whether audio recordings should be subject to the same scrutiny as staged productions. Would it still be OK for a white soprano to include Un Bel Di in her concert repertoire if she stopped performing the role in full productions?

There are a small number of trans opera singers who are working internationally so they are blazing the trail for what will work for them.


As we have seen this week with more details about The Danish Girl musical, new works are being created to give trans performers platforms to tell trans stories. And that, for me, is where the breakthroughs will happen. New pieces will showcase talents and add works to the repertoire that will provide future opportunities for those who follow after.

But there will continue to be roles like Bernadette where there is currently only a very small number of possible viable candidates where producers and audiences will have to make difficult choices. Is it better to let this character live on stage and for their story (and the stories of the other marginalised characters in the piece) to be told with dignity and respect or to effectively ban the piece until casting 'perfection can be achieved?

Acting is about one person taking on the role of portraying another. That is how it works. You don't actually become that other person. You are speaking lines written to create an honest interpretation of them in such a way as that character comes to life for those 2 to 3 hours on stage/screen.

Genuine question as I don't know the show, and I very much hope this isn't offensive, but are the characters in the show trans? I always (maybe wrongly) assumed they were drag queens.

I think you are wrong to seek to dismiss those who have already played the role of Bernadette as just having been a man in a dress. They have been professional actors who have worked hard to create an interpretation of a complex character. They have, to my knowledge, never sought to diminish or underplay the trans part of Bernadette. And certainly never to make fun of Bernadette.

You and others disagree with the decision to cast them. But it is wrong to dismiss their performances as just being a man in a dress.

I don't believe that a gay character always has to be played by a gay actor. As a gay man and theatre maker, I don't believe that is always an absolute necessity. I suspect that the overwhelming majority of theatregoers don't care about the sexuality of the actors on stage. They do care about the quality of the performances.

Does having a gay actor play a gay character mean you get greater 'authenticity? Not necessarily. I remember one production I reviewed that featured a gay character and I felt the performance was forced to the point of parody. That actor was gay. Just not right for the role or badly directed.

Yes representation matters. I get that and I work in my own casting to do that but never at the expense of the overall quality/feel of the piece. But I don't set myself quotas or rules.

I want to work with actors who will do the research about the lives of their character. Who will seek to understand the world of the play and how their character fits into that environment. That combined with the work in the rehearsal room will lead to satisfying performances that engage audiences.

I will never cast a gay actor to play a gay character just because they are gay. And should I direct a project involving trans characters, I would adopt the same approach. Casting should never be a tick box exercise. I would work to find the best candidates for the roles and go from there. No-one would automatically be excluded but no-one would automatically be given priority.

Does that make me a bad gay because I am not automatically uplifting trans performers? I don't believe so. Others will have their own opinions. Though I would ask that you think carefully before expressing those opinions.

I would argue that a trans actor who isn’t very good playing the role would do more damage to the trans community than a cis man playing it, and bringing out all of the humanity , humour and life etc of the character.

I simply defy anyone to play that role better than Tony Sheldon.

This ^^^^
I’m wondering how many of the letter signatures have seen the show.
If their takeaway from it is that Bernadette is portrayed as just a ‘man in a dress’ then they have missed the point of the show which is tolerance, inclusivity and love. The part of Bernadette is never played for cheap laughs, poignantly and the role enhances positive understanding of the struggles the trans community face. I didn’t feel it was any less authentic watching a man playing it. In fact having not bought a programme I would’ve had no idea of who was playing the role much less the background or the sexual orientation or gender of any of the actors. Again, I would be interested in how many triple threat trans actors there are over 50 suitable to play the role? The work starts now with drama schools/casting directors and agents and even writers to start focusing on modern society in all its beautiful diversity. But it’s naive to think this will happen overnight working with a tiny pool of trans performers.