by Kim Tatum dreams of playing Norma Desmond, the beautiful former star of the silent film Sunset Boulevard. Mariah Louca wants to perform as the evil schemer of the Dangerous Liaisons Marquise de Merteuil. And for Reece Lyons, Lady Macbeth’s terrifying ambition makes her the ideal role. But, until attitudes change within the British theatre, it is unlikely that these talented performers will be able to play their dream characters. Despite their skill, training and respect, transgender women do not seem to be cast in cisgender roles.
“I’ve never seen a trans woman on stage playing a mother or a love interest,” says Offie-winning Lyons. “Why don’t we remember that?” Lyons is sitting on a low couch in a light-flooded room across from Tatum and Louca. Frustrated with the constant hurdles they face in the industry, the three actors want trans women to be given equal footing for CIS roles.
In 2019, the performing arts and entertainment union Equity asked more casting directors to consider trans actors for non-trans parts. But from the experiences of these three intergenerational people – and from the anecdotal accounts of their transcommunity activist friends – that did not happen. “We want the opportunity to audition,” explains Tatum, who also performs under the name Mzz Kimberley, “to prove we’re as good as our CIS counterparts. Things have changed a lot since I started my career in the 90s, but the industry is reluctant to take a chance on us.”
Ten years ago, it was not uncommon to see cis performers playing trans roles on stage and screen. The industry has now largely acknowledged that this is unacceptable. But for many, this is where the conversation gets stuck. “The formalities have been ticked, like respecting pronouns,” Lyons explains. “But transphobia still comes out in resolution processes. We are never invited except under very specific terms and conditions to play transgender women.”
As a result, transformative performers struggle to find consistent work. “You can’t have a sustainable career in theater if you’re only going to play trans roles,” says Lyons. It’s not just that there are a lot of parts. Failing to cross-examine women for CIS roles is a refusal to actually see them as women.
For a long time, this was not something that Louca had to deal with. Until the age of 40, she did not reveal that she was transitioning to the industry. “I didn’t want the world to ever pigeonhole me as a trans woman rather than just a woman,” she says. “Obviously, it has its perils and drawbacks, but it’s been great to be seen as the woman I’ve always known myself to be.” On stage, Louca was cast in roles that were widely emancipated. “I was playing with mothers and queens and wives,” she says, “and I didn’t want that to change.”
In 2019, around the time Equity made its statement and there was a two-day cross-resolution conference at the National Theatre, the conversation seemed to be changing. The casting directors Louca spoke to said the industry was actively seeking trans voices, so she made the tough decision to reveal. “I got busy very quickly,” she says carefully, “but it’s already late. And it has moved into the casting range of trans-exclusive roles for me.
Auditions for CIS parts are rare, according to Louca, and most of the trans roles she’s seen have been trans-skinned. None of the three are against playing crossover roles, as long as that’s not all they’re into. Lyons speaks with pride about performing in Travis Alabanza’s one-woman show, Overflow, in 2020 as Rosie, a trans woman who speaks to the audience from a club bathroom. But seeing them exclusively for trans roles diminishes them. “Trauma is often all we are given to do,” says Louca. “Why would I want to relive that?” Even with trans roles that seek authenticity, transphobia can creep in: one director told Louca she wasn’t cast because she “didn’t look transphobic enough”.
Tatum, who made this point in Young Jean Lee’s 2021 satire Straight White Men at London’s Southwark Playhouse, echoes this point: “A lot of people don’t realize that being trans or non-binary isn’t new. We have always been here. As a community, we were forced underground for years. But when a marginalized community finds its voice, someone always tries to beat them with false propaganda.”
Louca believes that quotas should be in place to help give more opportunities and better equality to trans women. “If there are 20 people auditioning, audition two or three trans people,” she says. Increasing the number of transformative performers seen in non-trans roles would clearly enable more performers to build sustainable careers, develop more talent for our ranks, and help influence attitudes among audiences. “Our narrative is being set by casting directors, producers and directors,” says Tatum. “But when you give trans women more visibility on stage and screen, it helps society understand us more.”
In October 2023, there was a record number of hate crimes against transgender people in England and Wales. “I went through years where I couldn’t breathe [in public],” says Tatum. “I hid under big glasses and a baseball hat.”
Related: From Barbie to Talk to Me, the visibility of transgender actors is at a crisis – and over time too | Salmon Caspar
Motivated by the desire to reclaim the story – as well as responding to the lack of opportunity they see – Louca and Lyons are developing their own work. Louca is writing a police thriller for TV that she wants to star in. It has attracted significant interest, but she is struggling to get the green light without a star attached, despite being told it is “flowing the trans conversation over her head” – and there are few “star” trans actors in the UK. “The United States is leading in that department,” she says, especially on screen.
For the stage, Lyons is writing a one-woman show about a morally gray Lilith having an affair with Adam behind Eve’s back. “More often than not, trans women like being on stage because they’re written by a cis person who’s very conscious and wants to do it for representation,” Lyons says cynically. “I’m not representing him. I’m doing it so you can agree with her and go, fuck, I’m that woman.”
Their own work should not be the only option. These actors are fed up with being rejected before they have a chance to show what they can do. “The talent is there,” Louca decides. “If you’d let us listen, you’d see it.”
