He was being called “transphobic” simply because he’d accepted the part. When he checked his Instagram account that day in November, Sheridan had an “out-of-body” experience. The band, stage crew, set designers, props, lighting workers and wig and make-up staff (including a trans woman) all lost work. “We wish to assure the Trans and LGBTQIA+ community that the issues raised are respected and taken very seriously,” said Showtune in a statement. But the Australian producers, Showtune Productions, cancelled the show. The letter prompted the American creators of Hedwig, John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, to issue a statement saying they did not believe that Hedwig was trans, and that anyone could play the role. The choice of Sheridan was “offensive and damaging to the trans community” and “continues to cause genuine stress and frustration amongst trans and gender non-conforming performers”. Hedwig was a transgender character, and a male who was not transgender should not be “the gatekeeper of a trans story”. ![]() The letter, signed by more than 1700 people, said only a trans actor could play the role. Four trans advocates had organised an open letter demanding he be dropped from the role. One day in November, just weeks into rehearsals for Hedwig, Sheridan opened his Instagram account to read some “horrific messages”. He wanted to take the more daring part, and to show a mainstream audience – the kind that had watched Packed to the Rafters – “a queer love story”. To play Hedwig, he even gave up the lead in Pippin, a show that would play at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre for two months. His mother told him he’d been preparing for it since he first wore dresses at the age of three. But the surgery is botched and later the soldier leaves, pitching Hedwig into a life of sorrow, crazy bravery, fabulous wigs and rock ‘n’ roll.įor Sheridan, it was the role of a lifetime. ![]() Hedwig is born Hansel, a boy from communist East Germany who falls in love with an American soldier and has a sex-change operation so they can marry and flee to the US. But in Hedwig, a highly demanding role that requires the actor to play a handful of characters, he had the chance to act, sing and dance, skills he’d trained in since a boy. Sheridan, now 36, had won four Logies playing Ben Rafter, the goofy suburban boy in Channel 7’s comedy-drama, Packed to the Rafters. Six months before the show was due to open, Sheridan left his home in Los Angeles, leased a house in Sydney, and began walking around it in high heels and a denim miniskirt, excited, reciting his lines. ![]() Early last year, the actor Hugh Sheridan was confirmed in the lead role for the musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, scheduled for the 2021 Sydney Festival.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |