Brian Merriman, artistic director of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, introduced Who Does She Think She Is? as one of the most radical productions on offer in the festival: the first transgender musical in Ireland. It was a one-off show, on in the back of the Front Lounge, free to all, and done in the best possible community spirit. There was no programme, so forgive me for not knowing anyone’s names. When the excellent keyboard player, a zany man with hairy legs and a skirt, played everyone in with a little Brechtian number, with a quip that the show was going to be a bit like “spot the pre-op”, I thought I was going to be in for a comic treat. In the end, I was disappointed, and more than a little annoyed.I know I should not be overly critical about this show. It was basically a group of people from a minority that has a very hard time of it in Ireland, who decided to put a lot of time and effort into putting on some free entertainment. I have enjoyed amateur shows before, very much, and I invariably leave cheered up because, like karaoke, the experience is not really about talent, but heart.
But what a cold, twisted heart was beating in this show. The central storyline: a woman, suffering from post-natal depression, left her five-week-old baby, Karl, in the care of her husband, and emigrated to the US, married again, and never saw them again. We see her returning, nearly twenty-one years later, in search of the child she abandoned, who has just got a job as a security guard in McBirney’s department store. In her main monologue, set bizarrely in a church, she is bitter at how her second husband “tried to suppress her spirit too”, so she took him to the cleaners in the divorce court; despite the fact that she was still married to her first husband. But she is unapologetic. She’s glad she went to America, otherwise she’d have ended up like her – and she points with disgust at a woman scrubbing the church floor. “At least she speaks English” she says, in a “comic” aside. “These non-nationals are everywhere, they’re taking over the place”. In the reunion with her enraged husband, she sings in explanation how she walked out the door, not wanting to “live a lie”. She hurls abuse at Karl’s stepmother. When she is just about to meet her son, she says that she’s not worried that he won’t like her, it’s more that she mightn’t like him. When she sees that he’s a mawkish melancholy lad, she snaps at him, “why can’t you grow up, and think about me?” It’s a funny line, but by then I’d long ceased to see the joke.
If only this Frankenstein’s monster of a human being, this cruel, snide, narcissistic, victimy, fraudulent, self-aggrandizing, child-abandoning, xenophobic, bigoted bigamist bitch was being sent up in this show, I would have found it funny. But, to my horror, I think this heartless woman was being celebrated, in this poorly thought-out script. Or, whoever was playing her was being celebrated – for in amateur theatre, of course, the personalities of the players are known by the audience, which adds to the in-joke. The curious thing is that the character was played so defiantly and earnestly, without a hint of irony, but with a sour sort of pettiness, that it wasn’t camp. A monstrous bitch can be a fabulous comic creation, but only if she’s camp, and knowing, pace the ballsy Joan Collins in Dynasty.
There were plenty of other characters played by an energetic cast of six, and whoever played Mr Jay, manager of McBirney’s, is a little singing and dancing bundle of talent, reminiscent of Stubby Kaye in Sweet Charity. The rest acquitted themselves admirably, although they could have done with a microphone between them.
In this show, the jokes, the cultural references, were oddly, pervily, heterosexual; a leering Mr Jay sniffs the coat collar of Jenny, a woman who is hoping he’ll employ her, Karl’s buxom stepmother tries to have her wicked way with her little balding husband, Karl’s Dad, who has difficulty saying “no” to her. It’s The Benny Hill Show. Unreconstructed. From the 1970s. Please don’t tell me that I should make any allowances for the quality of a script because the writers are transgendered. And making cheap jokes about foreigners? I couldn’t believe my ears. Do I need to point out, as if it mattered, that, among others, there were Polish and Dutch people in the audience? (Including a newlywed lesbian couple from Amsterdam, here on honeymoon at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.) I was embarrassed.
Only two or three of the six actors would “pass” on the street in their chosen gender; the rest would raise questions or doubts, which does of course put them in danger. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a catwalk or a freak show, it was an exercise in community morale-boosting, visibility and solidarity, and it must have done them a power of good. In principle they have every right to be included in the festival, as Brian Merriman’s interpretation of the word “gay” includes everyone in the rainbow alphabet of LGBTQ. Next time, however, I’m not sure I’ll be so willing to extend my support to this group, Shopfloor Productions, unless they can at least show some heart, some irony, and the barest minimum of respect for the sensitivity of others.
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Shopfloor productions, did an admirable job in The Front Lounge last Sunday..
It was witty, if you were quick enough to get the jokes. It was brisk and at times a good mike might have helped, but in the context of the Front Lounge and the odd bit of bar noise, it was performed extremely well.. The cast is made up from the transgendered community and there is a broad mix including a guy from Poland. From what I saw, amateur musical is alive and well in Dublin city..
Not to be taken too seriously.. The audience seemed to enjoy it immensely.
shopfloor productions, gay theatre festival transgender
I would have to disagree completely. Although the play was an amateur production I found it to be witty, entertaining and a good all rounder- and from what I gathered from speaking to the cast afterwards- put on and produced by more of a social group, rather than a theatre group. The main character (who’s name escapes) me was, in my opinion supposed to be shocking- hence the title. I got from the play that she was the villain- the enemy. How on earth you came to the conclusion that she was celebrated for leaving her five month old baby and coming home twenty one years later, expecting her child (now a man) to ‘think about her’, baffles me. I mean how more obvious can you get?
Considering some of the lines were ‘dodgy’, regarding race- they were all saved and turned into a joke about the ignorance of this woman. Why you mention specific nationalities when none were referred to is childish. I happened to be sitting at a table with two foreign people, who were more than amused at these lines, finding the intended humour- something that I think reviewers should strive to do.
And as a closing statement, I am shocked and appalled at your throw-away remark about members of the cast ‘passing’ as their ‘chosen’ gender. What kind of a person says this- something that is blatantly disrespectful and then goes on to say that if you were to see another production you would expect ‘the barest minimum of respect for the sensitivity of others’. Your ignorance is also spilling from every letter you type- Just like how gay people don’t ‘choose’ their sexuality- transgendered people don’t choose their gender, I would wholeheartedly recommend knowing about what you type, before you actually type it- I spoke to the extremely friendly cast afterwards, which filled a lot of gaps in my own knowledge- something I gather you did not…?
Perhaps, like the play- you too are an amateur, but unlike this group, without prospect- so I shouldn’t be expecting so much from you, although a little sense would have been very much welcomed.
Kind regards, a most satisfied viewer- Louis.
Dear Louis,
I’m grateful that you have pointed out my use of the word “chosen” is problematic, and I take the point that being transgendered is not a choice. I was thinking theatrically rather than personally – ie what gender role the actors had chosen to play on stage, as well as on the street. I was also bearing in mind notions of the performativity of gender, ie the difference between an internal sense of gender, and the choice made to express that externally, out on the street or indeed up on stage. Being a gay man is not a choice, if one is 100% homosexual – but how one expresses oneself, dresses oneself, and conforms to established notions of masculinity is, to a large degree, a matter of choice. I realise it is different for transgendered people. Beginning a process of transition from one sex to another is a choice, and when a transgendered person is brave enough to decide to start this process, they risk all sorts of danger, as I said – including ridicule, such as the keyboard player’s “spot the pre-op” gag, which is painfully close to the truth. I know very well the battles that transgendered people have to face; it’s no joke.
My criticism is mostly around the script, and if I don’t find that a dramatic line makes sense, I can’t pretend otherwise. Of course she’s a villain – but, dramatically, if a villain gets away without any challenge or retribution, then it’s curiously ambiguous. There is an attempt to give reasons why she behaved so badly – post natal depression – but that’s really not funny. Yes she was the enemy – but we were expected to laugh at her mean little jokes, and she wasn’t defeated! By the eponymous last line in the show, she’s beaming triumphantly with pleasure.
As for you thinking that reviewers should strive to find the intended humour – please, give me a break. If I don’t find something funny, I just don’t, and no matter how much it’s explained to me, I’m not suddenly going to start laughing. My bewilderment is real – I don’t see how making an ignorant racist unpleasant character the centre of a musical can be funny in itself.
By the way, I’m very glad to get comments like this here. I welcome debate, even if it’s uncomfortable!
Despite the magnificent response from the audience to our production of ‘Who the hell does she think she is?! in The Front Lounge as part of The 2007 Dublin Gay Theatre Festival Free Events the online response was alarming. Dermod Moore, a self styled theatre critic on what we can only surmise is an ironically titled blog, let us have it. Not sated by his rant on our production and performance he took time to attack each performer’s physical appearance and perceived identities. Shame on you Dermod.
In his spare time Mr Moore ranted about the central character of Poppy and her unrepentant nastiness. Dermod, in repsonse we can only refer you to the title of the production! According to Mr Moore female characters can only be nasty if they are also camp, an attitude favourable with the aging gay man (two can play at that game, Dermod.). It seems the full spectrum of human experience is to be denied the female character who must wiggle her shoulder pads and curl her lip as she tells Dex Dexter to mix her a martini and reload her lip-liner.
Gordon Farrell on Queer I.D was less openly insulting although at times we did wonder if he was confusing the production with a visit to Guatannamo Bay, and we quote:
“At times there was racism, human insensitivity, discrimination in the dialogue – challenging in that is what those who experience all of that, chose to say – when they get an opportunity to speak.”
Dear Gordon many of us having been speaking for quite some time, in fact the youngest member of Shopfloor is a full 20 years of age!
As for our alleged ‘racism’ which so offended both these good men, in the show a character makes the following comment:
“Since I came back to this country (Ireland) I can’t believe the number of non-nationals everywhere. I mean i’d go abroad again but they’re over there too!”
It is an ignorant statement made by a self-obsessed unrepentant character. We devised this character and all characters together through workshops. However, unlike both Dermod and Gordon we have the ability and intelligence to distinguish between ourselves and the characters we have created. And if either gentleman thinks Poppy’s comments are not representative of some members of our society then we need only refer them to the dismal results of the 2004 Citizenship Referendum in this country.
Shopfloor was tagged by the festival as Ireland’s ‘First Transgendered Musical.’ Not everyone involved in Shopfloor is Transgendered although more than half of us are. The focus of the group, however, is dramatic. We are amateurs and we are learning together in the spirity of ‘Fun, Friendship and Freedom.’ Both men spent a lot of time discussing the ‘voice’ of the transgendered as they percieved it in our production. Boys,
between the two of you you have displayed more ignorance on the nature and experience of the Transgendered Individual than the sum of each word of your ‘reviews’ put together. However, it is not our duty to educate you here or indeed on stage. Come to our next show if you are interested in how our fledgling theatrical talents have developed. But if it truly is the voice of the transgendered you’re interested in, go forth into the world, engage and listen.
Thanks for your comments.
If a show starts with the self-mocking quip “Spot the pre-op” – the question of personal appearance has been raised. I then commented with that in mind. I also acknowledged the risks that failing to pass after transition can cause – the transgendered people that I know cite this as one of their main worries, that affects them every time they go out in public. I did not “attack each performer’s physical appearance”. Indeed, I praised the performance of the actor who played Mr Jay.
I did criticize, passionately, the script, which was, in my opinion, flawed, in particular the role of the title character in the story. I am at a loss to think of a successful story where the central character is a similar unremitting monster. Especially in a comedy. This villain met no tragic or comic end. She just triumphed. Unchallenged. That just doesn’t do it for me in a story, it sets my teeth on edge. Camp, as a comic style, serves to send up obnoxious behaviour, make it funny. Just being a cruel vindictive person, without irony, isn’t funny.
Saying Poppy exists in our society is precisely the point – if you choose to write a musical about the sort of character who spoke out with bigotry at the time of the Citizenship Referendum, then send her up, or attack her, or do something dramatically with her. Don’t just put her on stage and have everyone dance to her tune without her views or attitude or behaviour being challenged by anyone else in the story.
If it’s not your duty to educate an audience on the nature and experience of the Transgendered Individual, then whose it? If you choose not to, which of course is your right, and you decide to put on a musical that isn’t about being transgendered, then it has to be judged on its merits as dramatic entertainment. If I hate the script, that doesn’t mean I hate or am ignorant of transgendered people – why on Earth should it?
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