acting legend Ian McKellen will introduce a special, one-night-only reading of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by and starring trans and non-binary theatre performers.
The new company, called Trans What You Will, is pushing against the current tidal wave of bigotry that has descended on trans and non-binary individuals in both the United States and the United Kingdom. This performance will play London's Space Theatre July 25, on the eve of London Trans Pride, with a live stream available for supporters across the globe.
"Twelfth Night is perhaps the funniest and most moving of Shakespeare's plays," said McKellen. "This is achieved through the complexity of gender and sexuality from first to last. I'm really looking forward to the impact of this latest version of the play at The Space. I hope to see you there!"
A tale of unrequited love that is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Twelfth Night starts with a shipwreck. Viola is washed ashore but her twin brother, Sebastian, is lost. Determined to survive on her own, she steps out to explore a new land, disguising herself as a man to work for a wealthy Duke, with whom she soon falls in love. So begins a whirlwind of mistaken identity where music is the food of love, and nobody is quite what they seem.
鈥�Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance鈥攊t feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us,鈥� says director Phoebe Kemp. 鈥淭his reading is about joy, solidarity, and showing what鈥檚 possible when trans and nonbinary artists are at the centre of the story.鈥�
All the proceeds from the evening will be donated to , a U.K.-based charity that supports trans and gender-diverse people.
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