When we set out to write our first full-length show together, we didn’t intentionally choose a queer theme, although we suppose it was somewhat inevitable. As a writing and performing group, half of us are queer, so our work is naturally laced with references to gay and camp culture. We wanted to rejuvenate a historical event (in the vein of Six or Operation Mincemeat), and make people belly laugh along the way.
We lighted upon the Gunpowder Plot as the perfect vehicle for this – a historical moment that everyone has heard of, but they don’t really know that much about. The fact that we were inadvertently stumbling upon a queer historical goldmine was a stroke of good luck.
Looking back, we nearly decided to make a comedy show about the Battle of Hastings, in which case our version of William the Conquerer would probably have been a bossy bottom. But with the Gunpowder Plot, the queer crossover has ended up being strangely accurate, to an extent.
Queer people are often eliminated from the history books, but believe it or not, queer people existed in the 1600s! Our show’s main antagonist is the tyrannical protestant King James I, whose bisexuality has been well documented throughout history, although it’s often regarded as some kind of dirty secret. Attitudes towards his sexuality have shifted a little recently, with the release of the hit series Mary & George. And interestingly, in our own research, we’ve discovered that attitudes towards homosexual relationships in James I’s court would’ve been pretty liberal at the time.
We’ve also noticed that nearly always, and without any evidence, it’s assumed that historical figures were heterosexual, and in this sense queer histories can be eliminated. So we thought… why not assume everyone in our story is queer? We’ve added a central gay romance between our main protagonist, the revolutionary Robert Catesby, and King James. And our version of Guy Fawkes is a fit dom hunk who everyone drools over, regardless of their sexuality or gender.
We’ve made a point that no character in the show comments on any other character’s queerness, and their queerness is universally taken for granted in the universe we’ve created. In all honesty it’s been so refreshing. We love that none of our characters are self-hating, or discriminated against, because of their sexuality.
It’s also lovely to draw on queer performing traditions – our two leading men, Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes, are played by women, Drag King style. And there’s a little more cross-dressing in there too, but you’ll have to see it to believe it!
Since staging our very first outings of the show, it’s been fabulous to be compared to other musicals and comedies that have given history a camp, queer makeover, like Titanique and Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary!. We’re really flattered and humbled to be included in the same sentence as people whose work we love, and we’re delighted to be making our own little stamp on the queer landscape.
TICKETS from £15.00
Remember! Remember! runs at Pleasance Dome (Queen Dome) from Wednesday 5th – Sunday 30th August (not 17th, 24th) at 17:15.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/remember-remember
PLEASANCE LONDON-PREVIEWS
Remember, Remember! is a wildly inaccurate and joyfully misinformed retelling of one of Britain’s most infamous tales of treason. The show features the voice of Sir Stephen Fry as the narrator.
Can’t make it to Edinburgh Fringe this year? Be one of the first people to catch our Edinburgh ready show in London previews!
Remember! Remember! Previews at Pleasance in London Before Edinburgh Fringe on 24th & 25th July 2026 , 7pm, at The Pleasance, Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF, United Kingdom.
