The writer of new play free and proud talks cultural divides and the enduring important of LGBTQ theatre
Free & Proud is the tale of love and culture clashes, touching down at the King’s Head Theatre next month. We spoke to writer Charles Gershman to get an idea of what we can expect, and how his script deals with some searing and sensitive issues.
Hey Charles! Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m American. Thirty-something. Based in New York. Gay-married. A playwright. I just finished the master’s program in dramatic writing at New York University and have spent the summer in the UK working alongside Peter Darney on this play. Peter wrote 5 Guys Chillin’ and he’s a phenom. We’re just back from the Edinburgh Fringe.
What’s the first piece of theatre you vividly remember seeing as a child?
Gypsy.
Out of ALL movies you’ve seen, which do you think has the best script?
I loved Moonlight. It’s beautiful, spare, and surprising, and the segment transitions blew my mind.
Free & Proud deals with race/privilege…hot issues in 2018. How did you navigate writing about that as a white guy?
At NYU, I worked some with the American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks on a play I’ve written which has a black teenage boy. She pushed me to find myself in that character. I think it’s important that writers are held to account regarding matters of representation. There’s a lot of good that can be done through telling truthful stories. Writers should be allowed to create characters different from ourselves, but we HAVE to get them right.
Tell us a bit more about the play in general.
Free & Proud is a very modern two-hander about a married couple—one is a white American, one a black Nigerian immigrant. It tracks the journey of their relationship in the face of a disaster. The two are very different from one another: one is privileged, one isn’t, one is an academic star, the other is completely mediocre. It’s a play about two guys who adore each other but maybe shouldn’t be together, and the ways they reckon with that uncomfortable truth at a fateful moment.
Why is gay/LGBTQ theatre still important in 2018?
The play was really well received in Edinburgh, but our Facebook ad received a handful of homophobic comments. One guy named William Marshall wrote “I’m straight I’m free and proud; what the fuck makes you think you lot should get preference over me?” Homophobic comments like this make it obvious that true equality hasn’t been achieved. There are too many places where gay/LGBTQ people still live in fear, and places where freedoms are being reduced. Theatre can shed light in dark places. It’s an incredibly important vehicle for social change. We need to be telling the stories of the underrepresented and disenfranchised. Who will, if we don’t?
Free & Proud is at the King’s Head Theatre until 1st September. For tickets and listings, head to kingsheadtheatre.com
