John Fitzpatrick is the writer of Fringe theatre piece 'This Much (or An Act of Violence Towards the Institution of Marriage)'. Here, he discusses the difficulties of staging an LGBT production at the Fringe, and picks out a few of his favourites.
There are a little over 50 shows identifying as LGBT in the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That’s 50 out of nearly three thousand shows. It’s a double edged sword: in identifying your show as LGBT you might end up just preaching to the choir or worse, commodifying a supposed guaranteed audience. On the other side, producers might be wary of limiting their audiences who might presume that, because it’s an LGBT show, it’s not for them.
The question of identity is such a difficult issue. As someone who identifies as LGBT I think it’s important to visibility and to the history of our struggle against repression and criminalisation that we stand proud, like the brave trans people who stood up to the police at Stonewall back in 1969. The trouble is, nobody wants to be left out, nobody really wants to be labeled as different. People in general just want to be seen as how they truly feel they are.
People don’t go through what can be a difficult life as a gay, bisexual, lesbian or trans person just because they want attention. Everybody wants to belong, they just want to do it with an amount of self authenticity that they can live with. Nothing has brought these ideas harder home than 'Trans Scripts' at the Pleasance Courtyard. This is a classic piece of verbatim theatre delivered with truth and love in some of the most compelling performances you’re likely to see at the Fringe. There is a generosity to their performance which though it isn’t always an easy watch, makes it unmissable theatre. If you believe that theatre is about sitting in a room and collectively reflecting on our ideals as a society then this show is about as important as they come. If you believe we need to move past labels into personal authenticity and put our stock in brave acceptance rather than fear then go and see this show.
'Swallow' by Stef Smith at the Traverse is on the more upmarket end of theatre at the Fringe. While there is a trans character in the play it feels to me like a play that is more about trying to connect to other humans through walls of fear and guilt. It’s an impressive piece of theatre with finely sculpted performances and stunning design. I think I’d be a little turned off by the slickness of the production if it weren’t for the poetry and deep connection in the writing.
'Divas' by Fine Mess at Pleasance Dome is a clever piece of theatre and the cast are charming and heart-breaking in equal measure. It’s the story of a relationship told by the two men involved. One starts from the end of the affair and the other from the beginning. As they meet in the middle and then veer back towards their separate lives we get an intriguing structure that opens up our ideas about relationships and how we may compromise our identities and truths for fear of not being good enough or for fear our partner might not be good enough for us. Again I’m not sure this is what one could define as an LGBT play. I think the fear of not being good enough or of compromising our identities for love is universal.
'This Much (or An Act of Violence Towards the Institution of Marriage)', Zoo, until Aug 31 (not 24), 7.45pm.
'Trans Scripts', Pleasance Courtyard, Aug 19-31, 3pm.
'Swallow', Traverse Theatre, until Aug 30 (not 24), times vary.
'Divas', Pleasance Dome, until Aug 31, 2.40pm.
See more about the Edinburgh Festivals on Time Out Edinburgh.