Kim Tatum dreams of playing Norma Desmond, the graceful former silent star of Sunset Boulevard. Mariah Luca yearns to play the role of Dangerous Liaisons’ evil schemer Marquise de Merteuil. And for Rhys Lyons, Lady Macbeth’s monstrous ambition makes her the perfect role. But until attitudes in the British theater change, it is unlikely that these talented performers will play their dream characters. Despite their skills, training and accolades, trans women just don’t seem to be cast in cisgender roles.
“I’ve never seen a trans woman on stage playing a mother or a lover,” says Offie-winning Lyons. “Why don’t we think about that?” Lyons sits on a low couch in a lighted room across from Tatum and Luca. Frustrated by the constant obstacles they face in the industry, the three actors are calling for transwomen to be put on equal footing for cis roles.
In 2019, performing arts and entertainment union Equity called for more casting directors consider trans actors for non-trans parts. But from the experience of this intergenerational trio—and the anecdotal accounts of their actor friends in the trans community—that hasn’t happened. “We just want the chance to audition,” explains Tatum, who also goes by the name Mzz Kimberley, “to prove we’re just as good as our cis counterparts. Things have changed dramatically since I started my career in the 90s, but the industry is not willing to take chances with us.”
Ten years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see cis performers playing trans roles on stage and screen. The industry has now largely recognized that this is not acceptable. Yet for many, this is where the conversation gets stuck. “The formalities are ticked off, like respecting pronouns,” Lyons explains. “But transphobia still shows up in casting processes. We are only ever invited under very specific terms and conditions to play trans women.”
Consequently, trans performers struggle to find steady work. “You can’t have a sustainable career in theater if you’re only going to play trans roles,” says Lyons. There just aren’t enough parts. The failure to audition trans women for cis roles is a refusal to truly see them as women.
For a long time this was not something Luca had to deal with. She didn’t come out as trans in the industry until she was 40. “I didn’t want the world to forever define me as a trans woman and not just a woman,” she says. “Of course, it has its dangers and flaws, but it’s been great just to be seen as the woman I’ve always known myself to be.” On stage, Luca plays a liberatingly wide variety of roles. “I played mothers, queens and wives,” she smiles, “and I didn’t want that to change.”
In 2019, around the time Equity made its announcement and National Theater held a two-day trans casting conference, the conversation seemed to be shifting. Casting directors Luca spoke to said the industry actively wanted trans voices, so she made the difficult decision to come out. “I was really quick,” she says carefully, “but it’s already slowed down. And that moved me into the category of casting exclusively trans roles.”
Auditions for cis roles are much rarer, Luca found, and most of the trans roles she’s been cast in place trans agony at the fore. None of the three are against playing trans roles, as long as it’s not all they think they are. Lyons spoke proudly of his participation in Travis Alabanza’s one-man show, overflow, in 2020 as Rosie, a trans woman who speaks to the audience from a club bathroom. But being seen almost exclusively in trans roles diminishes them. “Trauma is often all we’re given to perform,” Luca says. “Why would I want to go through that again?” Even with trans roles that are supposed to seek authenticity, transphobia can creep in: one director told Luca she wasn’t cast because she “didn’t look trans enough “.
Tatum, who stars in the 2021 satire Young Jean Lee Straight white men at London’s Southwark Playhouse, reiterates this point: “Many people don’t understand that being trans or non-binary is nothing new. We’ve always been here. As a community, we were driven underground for years. But when a marginalized community finds its voice, there is always someone who tries to tear it down with false propaganda.
To help create more opportunities and greater equality for trans women, Luca believes there should be quotas. “If there are 20 people auditioning, audition two or three trans people,” she suggests. A demonstrable increase in the number of trans performers being considered for non-trans roles would allow more performers to build sustainable careers, develop more talent for our stages and help influence attitudes among audiences. “Casting directors, producers and directors decide our narrative,” says Tatum. “But when you give transwomen more visibility on stage and screen, it helps society understand us more.”
In October 2023 Hate crimes against trans people have reached an all-time high 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 cap.”
Fueled by a desire to reclaim the narrative—as well as in response to the lack of opportunity they see—Luca and Lyons develop their own work. Luca is writing a police thriller for TV that he wants to star in. There was considerable interest, but she struggled to greenlight it without a star, despite being told it was “turning the trans conversation upside down” – and there are few “star” trans actors in the UK. “The US is way ahead in that department,” she says, especially on screen.
For the stage, Lyons wrote a one-man show about the morally gray Lilith, who has an affair with Adam behind Eve’s back. “More often than not, trans women on stage are likable because they’re written by a cis person who’s very cautious and wants to do it for performance,” Lyons says with a hint of cynicism. “I don’t do it for representation. I do it so you can identify with her and go, damn it, I was that woman.
Creating your own job doesn’t have to be the only option. These actors are tired of being rejected before they have a chance to show what they can do. “The talent exists,” states Luca. “If you let us audition, you’ll see it.”
