The title of the production – TERF – stands for ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’. National news outlets were all over its controversial launch.
Prompted by what some have seen as inflammatory tweeting by JK Rowling, the play presents an interesting perspective on what might happen if her views were challenged by the central characters of the Harry Potter books. Rupert, Daniel and Emma were presented as Jo’s somewhat recalcitrant children, while Jo herself seemed to be rather the ‘yummy mummy’.
There were certainly some lines in this play that may have been likely to cause offence to some – but it was not the political tirade that the prior media hype may have led us to expect. There were no protests, no placards – indeed the ballroom could hardly have been more than a quarter full – even though the venue for this contentious performance has had to shift location to find a home.
And yet the show was actually more balanced than might have been anticipated, and – trying to set that cul-de-sac of the press speculation aside – the play actually raised some really good questions with balance in their presentation: the consequences of social media when it replaces real human interaction, the cult of personality and status, and how we define and discover ‘truth’.
You felt particular sympathy with the silenced (trans-)angel, who, while observing the developing debate, was consigned to enforced silence in the sidelines: in her three key moments, she was dismissed by Jo – “do I know you”?
The main problem was that the characters were neither progressed nor developed, and important issues never quite got off the ground. All round, the play seemed to remain idling in the sidings.
The event finished at 4.55pm
TERF, Friday 16th August, Assembly Rooms (Ballroom)
Continues every day until August 25th: 15.35 - £15 | £10 (concessions)
Suitability advertised as 12+, but there is strong language throughout