Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Novelist's fascination with history comes alive on stage
by Sarah Katherine Bowden
2019-01-09

This article shared 3267 times since Wed Jan 9, 2019
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Novelist Emma Donoghue has had a long and rewarding relationship with Regency historical figure Anne Lister.

Lister created a series of coded diaries that documented her love affairs with women while operating as part of the landed gentry in mid-1800s Yorkshire. Donoghue first read these diaries in the 1980s, and adapted the Englishwoman's life story for the stage while working towards her doctorate in 1990s Dublin. Her play, I Know My Own Heart, receives its U.S. premiere from Pride Films & Plays this January. The Irish-Canadian author, who identifies as a lesbian, credits her fascination with Lister for sparking a love of writing about history and historical figures.

"Anne Lister changed my life and career," Donoghue said. "I had just started writing fiction as a student, and I came across her diaries in a bookstore. I related to how passionate she was as a person, and yet how different she was from me. She was quite a snob, and I couldn't see myself in that." This mixture of relatable desire and an undesirable trait propelled Donoghue to publish essays about Lister, as well as write her first dramatic script about Lister's relationships with a few of her lovers.

Lister was nicknamed "Gentleman Jack" for her use of masculine dress. Although she found the sobriquet embarrassing, she was audacious in taking on romantic partners. She wrote in her diary that she would "love and only love the fairer sex." Donoghue found her boldness original. "I don't think it occurred to her not to hit on everybody," she told Windy City Times. "A lot of women over the centuries passionately held hands, but women like Anne Lister were rare, and they showed what was possible."

Lister even defied institutional conventions concerning the church. She took communion with heiress Ann Walker during an 1834 mass in Goodramgate, York, at Holy Trinity Church, which led to the ladies' conviction that they were married. Donoghue has visited Holy Trinity. The church has "highback pews that look like a chocolate box with the lid lifted off," and the historical event confirmed for Donoghue that the tension between public and private life was clear to Lister. "You can tell her diaries were written with an eye to the future," she stated. "I wanted to literally let her stand out, and be acted out. Anne Lister should be strutting in her boots across the stage."

Elizabeth Swanson, director of I Know My Own Heart for Pride Films & Plays, said she finds the play clarifying for the audience. "I think Emma did a really smart thing which is live in the question of Lister's identity," she said. "None of the words that we have today, homosexual, much less even trans, existed in her time. She is able to imagine for herself what she might want when there's no institutional or structural support for what she might want. The play is a 'What do I want?' story, rather than a 'Who am I?' story."

The play itself is split between dialogue scenes between Lister and her lovers, and passages performed from Lister's diary. Swanson has cast actors with facility for classical language, and she treats the diary entries as direct address monologues to the viewers. "This way, the conclusions live in the audience," Swanson said.

She also cast actors across a wide variety of ages, as stigmas surrounding age and choice in society have shifted since Lister's day. She cast Vahishta Vafadari as Anne specifically because the performer understood both Lister's taciturn nature and had the stamina to survive the marathon nature of the piece, given that Lister exits the action onstage only once.

Donoghue is perhaps best known for her contemporary-set novel about motherhood and survival, Room, which she recently adapted for the screen and the stage. But she has also written eighteenth and nineteenth century-set novels that often center around queer or marginalized women, such as Slammerkin, The Sealed Letter, and Frog Music. And she grew up participating in theater through weekly classes, so she understands the value of performance.

"I acted all through my teens. It was the most useful thing I ever learned, for the business of being a public writer" she said. "Actually, in the first production of I Know My Own Heart at school, I ended up playing Tiv. I had to step in and save the day. After every play I see, I think acting is the most thrilling thing there is."

She finds the gender play and heightened nature of theater a good fit for telling historical stories, and in particular, for telling stories of queer women like herself. "It's freeing," she stated. "It's great to know that there are women going through the same things as me, so there's solidarity across millennia. This lets you know you're from a tribe. You're not actually an ugly duckling. You're a swan."

Donoghue is happy to see the play mounted in Chicago, so that Americans can be introduced to Lister's life. "It's so lifting to get back into the theater," she said. "What I remember about the play's research process, is that it got me started on historical plays, novels and short stories. Anne Lister's work was the wardrobe that led me to Narnia. The past reached up out of that book and shouted like the evil queen, 'Make me famous!'"

I Know My Own Heart opens Sunday, Jan. 13, at The Buena, Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway. Tickets are available now at PrideFilmsAndPlays.com, or at 866-811-4111 and 773-857-0222.

Also, "Conversation with Emma Donoghue" will take place Sunday, Jan. 13, at 4:30 p.m. at The Buena. ( Windy City Times' Catey Sullivan will moderate the discussion. ) Admission is free, but reservations are recommended; call 773-857-0222.


This article shared 3267 times since Wed Jan 9, 2019
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir
2024-03-18
RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance
2024-03-18
Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle
2024-03-08
Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret
2024-03-05
Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

THEATER 'R & J' puts a female, queer spin on Shakespeare
2024-03-05
Romeo and Juliet is the theatrical gift that keeps on giving. It's been reworked for the masses numerous times, whether in direct adaptations or musicals such as West Side Story. Shakespeare's plotline points have even inspired ...


Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap
2024-03-04
Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted hosts 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show
2024-03-03
On the evening of Feb. 29, Center on Halsted held its 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show in front of a packed audience at the Hoover-Leppen Theater. The event brought together participants of the Center's youth and senior ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion
2024-03-01
Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

There she goes again: Author Alison Cochrun discusses writing journey
2024-02-27
By Carrie Maxwell When Alison Cochrun began writing her first queer romance novel in 2019, she had no idea it would change the course of her entire life. Cochrun, who spent 11 years as a high ...


Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical
2024-02-19
Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show
2024-02-19
In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree
2024-02-16
In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

Carisa Hendrix mesmerizes as Lucy Darling in Teatro ZinZanni
2024-02-12
Since 2019, Teatro ZinZanni has gathered together amazing performers from all over the world to create an experience in Chicago under the Spiegeltent in the Cambria Hotel building, 32 W. Randolph St. Over the years, ticket ...


Gay News

THEATER Dot-Marie Jones talks Goodman production, 'Glee,' 'Bros'
2024-02-12
Running through Feb. 18 at the the Goodman Theatre, the production Highway Patrol works with a script conceived entirely from Emmy-winning actor Dana Delany's (TV's China Beach) digital archive of hundreds of tweets and direct messages ...


Gay News

Dr. Lady J explains how opera can be a drag
2024-02-10
On Feb. 8, Center on Halsted, in partnership with Lyric Opera of Chicago, presented a lecture by historian, drag activist, podcaster and curator Dr. Lady J. The event, titled "Castrated Superstars, Cross Dressed Divas, and Queer ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.