I, Joan is a 2022 British play that premiered at Shakespeare's Globe. Written by Charlie Josephine and directed by Ilinca Radulian, the play is a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc. [1] [2] It presents Joan of Arc as a non-binary person.
Michelle Terry, the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, stated that the play continued in Shakespeare's efforts to take "figures of the past to ask questions about the world around him" and to play "with identity, power, with the idea of pleasure, and with all sides of an argument." [4]
Anya Ryan of The Guardian gave the play four out of five stars, saying that it was "performed with kinetic vigour" and was "a refined lesson in the trans experience: the horrors of having to explain your being, the sense of misplacement, but with beauty and wonder too." [5] Isobel Lewis of The Independent also gave the play four stars, saying that it "makes nuanced, incredibly complex points about gender and the way the so-called 'trans debate' has pitted trans and cis women against each other." [6]
Claire Allfree of The Telegraph was more critical of the play, giving it two stars, saying that "the idea of Joan as trans is a fertile subject for drama and discussion" but that the play "largely reduces the spiritual and political nature of Joan’s militaristic fervour to glib, empty proclamations." [7]
Dame Judith Olivia Dench is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage. Dench has garnered various accolades throughout a career that spanned seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and seven Olivier Awards.
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench. The film depicts a fictional love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare (Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow) while Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on historical figures, and many of the characters, lines, and plot devices allude to Shakespeare's plays.
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is different from the sex assigned to them at birth, although some non-binary people do not consider themselves transgender.
Don Warrington MBE is a Trinidadian-born British actor. He is best known for playing Philip Smith in the ITV sitcom Rising Damp (1974–78), and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the BBC detective series Death in Paradise (2011–present).
Sandra Newman is an American writer. She has a BA from Polytechnic of Central London, and an MA from the University of East Anglia.
Fleabag is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The series was produced by Two Brothers Pictures for digital channel BBC Three, in a co-production agreement with Amazon Studios. Waller-Bridge stars as the title character, a free-spirited but angry and confused single young woman living in London. Sian Clifford co-stars as Fleabag's sister Claire, with Andrew Scott joining in the second series; most of the show's main characters are never named, including Waller-Bridge's and Scott's. The protagonist frequently breaks the fourth wall, providing exposition, internal monologues, and running commentary to the audience.
Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.
Transparent is an American comedy-drama television series created by Joey Soloway for Amazon Studios that debuted on February 6, 2014. The story revolves around a Los Angeles family, the Pfeffermans, and their lives after learning that their parent is a trans woman now going by the name Maura. Transparent tells the story of Maura's coming out, as well as her family's personal journeys in discovering their own identities and coming to terms with Maura's identity. Transparent moves away from a solely transition-centred narrative and represents Maura's story in her role as a trans parent, grandparent, professor, partner, ex-spouse, sibling, and as an older person transitioning. Transparent also includes other queer representation in the Pfefferman family. Sarah explores her sexuality and works through relationship dilemmas throughout season one while Ali explores their gender and sexuality. Transparent's first season premiered in full on September 26, 2014, and its second season on December 11, 2015, third season on September 23, 2016, and fourth season on September 21, 2017.
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time.
Kai Cheng Thom is a Canadian writer and former social worker. Thom, a non-binary trans woman, has published four books, including the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir (2016), the poetry collection a place called No Homeland (2017), a children's book, From the Stars in The Sky to the Fish in the Sea (2017), and I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World (2019), a book of essays centered on transformative justice.
Rosie Kay is a British choreographer best known for her show 5 Soldiers, MK ULTRA and choreographing the handover in the 2018 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. Kay is the founder and former artistic director of Rosie Kay Dance Company, Associate Artist at Dance City, and a research associate to the University of Oxford School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.
Kathleen Mary Linn Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.
Abigail Thorn is an English YouTuber, actress, and playwright.
Sheila Atim is a Ugandan-British actress, singer, composer, and playwright. She made her professional acting debut in 2013 at Shakespeare's Globe in The Lightning Child, a musical written by her acting teacher Ché Walker.
Non-binary or genderqueer is a spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine—identities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities can fall under the transgender umbrella, since many non-binary people identify with a gender that is different from their assigned sex. Another term for non-binary is enby. This page examines non-binary characters in fictional works as a whole, focusing on characters and tropes in cinema and fantasy.
Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality is a 2021 nonfiction book by journalist and gender critical activist Helen Joyce that criticizes the transgender rights movement and transgender activism. It is published by Oneworld Publications, their fifth book in the Sunday Times bestseller list. Reviews of the book ranged from positive to critical. In 2023 it was shortlisted for the John Maddox Prize.
Helen Joyce is an Irish journalist and gender critical activist. She studied as a mathematician and worked in academia before becoming a journalist. Joyce began working for The Economist as education correspondent for its Britain section in 2005 and has since held several senior positions, including finance editor and international editor. She published her book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality in 2021.
Ken Nwosu is a British actor.
The Prince is a play by Abigail Thorn in which characters from William Shakespeare's plays realise they are trapped in a performance and try to escape. The play ran at the Southwark Playhouse from 19 September 2022 to 8 October and a filmed version was released to the streaming service Nebula on 16 February 2023.
Ola Ince is a British theatre director. She is noted for her Shakespeare productions. Her work often includes themes of power and race.