There is not enough theatre by, for and about working-class women and queer people, according to Charlie Josephine, writer and co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Cowbois.
Josephine said, “Cowbois a big, queer cowboy show. It’s full of everything you’d expect from a western, but our lone ranger, Jack Cannon, is a gender outlaw who fights patriarchy and inspires a revolution in a town full of women.
“It’s an exploration of honest desire in bodies assigned female at birth when they’re free from the male gaze and given the chance to be their authentic selves.
“I love cowboys and wanted to be one growing up. There’s something about the iconic gesture and pose of a cowboy, the sexiness, the swagger that I used as the inspiration for the character of Jack.
“I also wanted to disrupt the Hollywood version of cowboys: the white cis straight men who are often misogynistic and racist. Instead I wanted to write about sexy trans masculine cowboys and queer, working-class women.”
The cast comprises Bridgette Amofah as Mary, Lee Braithwaite (Lucy / Lou), Shaun Dingwall (Frank / Tommy), Michael Elcock (George), Colm Gormley (John), Vinnie Heaven (Jack), Paul Hunter (Sheriff Roger Jones), Lucy McCormick (Jayne), Sophie Melville (Miss Lillian), Julian Moore-Cook (James), Emma Pallant (Sally-Ann) and L J Parkinson (Charley Parkhurst). The role of Kid will be shared by Robert Addi, Aiden Cole and Alastair Ngwenya.
Joining Josephine and co-director Sean Holmes on the creative team are designer Grace Smart, Simeon Miller (lighting), Jim Fortune (music), Mwen (sound and soundscape), Jennifer Jackson (movement), Bethan Clark (fights and intimacy), Rebecca Latham (dramaturg), Martin Poile (casting) and Charlie Metcalf (children’s casting).
Cowbois will run in the Swan Theatre, Stratford from Saturday 14 October until Saturday 18 November 2023.