Trans YouTuber Proudly Deadnamed Two Iconic Literary Characters

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Trans

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Have you ever been trapped in a bad relationship, playing a role that doesn’t suit you? Thanks to Philosophy Tube — nom de plume for existential wunderkind Abigail Thorn — Jen and Sam are also trapped…in a multiverse of Shakespeare’s complete works.

If you missed Abigail Thorn’s stage play The Prince, you missed something incredible. Abby described her work as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Deadnamed. Bold! And appropriately tongue in cheek.

All That Dazzles went further, linking it to two other iconic franchises: “Think of it like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness meets Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure but with a lot of Shakespeare. And if you think that sounds weird, well…it is. But it’s weirdly wonderful.”

If you missed seeing the play or just want a new way to experience it, the below excerpt from the text recreation at Transgender Soapbox recreates the experience in less than ten minutes.

The Plot

“You may be sick of multiverses by now, but this new play, ‘The Prince’, unveils yet another: a Shakespearean multiverse. But unlike Marvel, there is an escape!” — WhatTheTrans!?

“After the first 15 minutes or so of traditional masculine Shakespearean fighting and speech, Jen erupts onto the scene declaring, “Well, I have no idea what any of that meant!” to a roar of laughter, and thus the relationship with the audience is cemented; a significant number accord with her.” — Everything Theatre

“At first, Jen (Mary Malone), who is really the manager of a Liverpool care home, claims she is Brutus’s wife Portia while Sam (Joni Ayton-Kent) seems to think she is Cleopatra, but now they are thrust into an episode from Henry IV (Part One) with the King played by Che Walker and Prince Hal by Corey Montague Sholay in which they face rebellion by those who helped make him king: the Earl of Northumberland (Che Walker again), his brother the Earl of Worcester (Richard Rees) and his son Harry Percy (Abigail Thorn), nicknamed Hotspur, who is refusing to surrender his Scots prisoner the Earl of Douglas (Tyler Luke Cunningham).” — British Theatre Guide

“The rebel Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy (Thorn), whom Shakespeare presents as such a perfected image of manhood that King Henry openly wishes he were his son instead of his feckless heir Prince Hal, is here a trans woman, or at least would be if she knew it were an option. In what Thorn implies would remain a very modern dilemma, poor Hal balks at his monarchial duty to marry, all too aware that he is gay. Then there’s Lady Kate, Hotspur’s long-suffering spouse, who is very cross indeed at the limitations afforded her as a woman by both the play and her position as a wife.” — The Telegraph

“Meanwhile, two present-day trans women, Jen and Sam, have somehow found themselves trapped in the Shakespeare metaverse, able to hop in and out of different works.” — The Telegraph

“Sam (Joni Ayton-Kent) and Jen (Mary Malone) are torn over whether they can awaken Hotspur to her real, trans identity and still escape back to their own lives outside the play.” — The Stage

“Now Jen and Sam must decide; do they risk losing their way home to help someone who might just be like them — who does not yet know who they truly are?” — Theatre Weekly

“[The] show plays out like the best kind of school English lesson — one where creativity knew no bounds and at least half the class had no idea what was going on at any given time.” — PinkNews

“The beauty of this show is its ability to make you laugh at a witty one-liner one moment and then stop to think at a more serious line the very next second.” — All That Dazzles

“Lulu Tam’s set, redolent of a chessboard with shiny black and white squares, is suitably abstract for Jen and Sam’s multiverse-traversing.” — The Stage

“This is a production with a great deal going for it: a simple but aesthetically pleasing set, striking fluorescent-effect tubes for lighting, an excellent comic turn from Corey Montague-Sholay and great work on the pseudo-Shakespearean verse from Ché Walker.” — TheReviewsHub

“As Jen starts to meddle and becomes a chaotic hero seemingly destabilising Jen’s escape plans, the world around them starts to fall apart — quite literally — thanks to the clever use of minimal space by lighting and sound designers Rodent and Martha Godfrey.” — Trans Writes

“Thorn’s writing cleverly weaves the Bard’s text with modern dialogue and original verse — though the play undoubtedly shines the most when it is unpicking Shakespearean conventions.” — What’sOnStage

“Recognising Hotspur as trans, at odds with the male role she is playing, Jen begins interrupting the action. This is when the fun really starts, as she encourages the characters to question their written roles, and the matrix starts to crumble.” — The Guardian

“Should [Jen] stay back to help Hotspur and Prince Hal, risking her only chance to escape, or shall she leave them to their own literary devices and follow Sam back to reality?” — Broadway World

“It is Hotspur who seems to gain the most self knowledge from Jen’s interference, as we see a change in gender identification that designer Rebecca Cartwright echoes in the shedding of armour and costume changes.” — London Theatre

“The second act opens not with Hal but the Danish prince, Hamlet (Abigail Thorn), with Claudius (Che Walker) in the first court scene from that play. It…provides a third father-like figure along with King Henry and Northumberland to whom the action returns.” — British Theatre Guide

“In one scene, almost all the cast cycle through multiple changes whilst on stage together, each switching body language and speech patterns entirely as they go.” — Trans Writes

“As the play draws to a close, we find ourselves laughing, crying, cheering, and applauding almost constantly.” — Trans Writes

“The ending — which I won’t spoil — was poignant and emotional. There was genuine comedy, air-punching honesty, and enough plot twists to keep me enthralled and, quite literally, on the edge of my tiny theatre seat.” — Trans Writes

“All the audiences laughed at a particular moment. You can tell how many trans people or how many queer people are in the audience, because the more there are, the bigger the laugh.” — Abigail Thorn/London Theatre

“It’s both incredibly funny and touching, and features a rendition of a famous Shakespeare moment, performed by Abi, so good I would call it definitive. But at its heart the play is about how we help each other — we, as queer people, come together, whether it’s coming out as trans or gay or bi, or even when we face the darkness lurking in the corner of our minds. A community.” — Everything Theatre

“The three-minute ovation hardly felt like enough.” — Trans Writes

“Leaving the theatre, I felt the weight of the play hanging on me. After the final words, thunderous applause rang through, before people who could jumped to their feet for a standing ovation.” — Everything Theatre

The Praise

“My god, if the terfs saw this…” — WhatTheTrans!?

“Abigail Thorn deserves particular credit for her Lin-Manuel-Miranda-like way of creating a character that in many ways only she could do justice to.” — Trans Writes

“Abigail can say “Fuck” more satisfyingly than Henry Caville in The Witcher.” — WhatTheTrans!?

“Swordfighting, lesbianism, denial, disappointed parents, and a magical doorway.” — Theatre Weekly

“Thank fuck for Nebula for filming this.” — WhatTheTrans!?

Abigail Thorn discusses the backlash to The Prince

“It sucks and it’s isolating. It’s painful. Between the matinee and evening show, some of the castmembers are like, ‘Oh, we’re just going to go Nando’s,’ and I can’t go with them. I have to stay there with my security officer, just in case my stalker is outside. And I can’t come out and have a drink in the bar after the show every night because it puts me and the rest of the cast at risk.” — Abigail Thorn/London Theatre

“It’s not a price I should have to pay, but I accept that is part of my job. And I wish the world was better and I didn’t have to do that. I can either sit around saying woe is me, or I can get on with it.” — Abigail Thorn/London Theatre

“The backlash I, Joan [rewriting of the Joan of Arc story featuring a non-binary protagonist at The Globe] got was really about transphobia. It was pretending to be about historical accuracy and rewriting the history of Joan of Arc. My play rewrites both history and Shakespeare, Britain’s national poet. So we’ve had to be realistic about what it’s like to be a queer artist and a queer public figure in this country.” — Abigail Thorn/London Theatre

Easter eggs, influences, and homages

Where in the world is Lindsey Ellis SanDiego? “As opposed to that of Andrew Lloyd Webber — she’s heard of one poor soul trapped inside Phantom for years without even the option to visit Starlight Express.” — The Telegraph

Hamlet was…a woman?! “When it comes to Shakespeare, though, you could argue the Victorians were ahead of this particular curve — some 19th-century critics argued that Hamlet was in fact a woman.” — The Telegraph

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Trans Adventure “Queer counterparts to Bill and Ted find themselves trapped in a not-so excellent multiverse of Shakespearean madness in Abigail Thorn’s wacky new play, The Prince.” — TheReviewsHub

Abigail Thorn deadnames Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “In her programme notes Thorn tries to eject the elephant from the room by acknowledging the influence of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and The Prince gives a welcome redress to the comedy generated through Alfred in Stoppard’s play.” — TheReviewsHub

Fan Art

Fan art by Taka on Tumblr

Fan art by havaskura on Tumblr

Further reading

• The world according to Abigail Thorn (Xtra)
• Kill James Bond podcast (Hosted by trans folks Abigail Thorn, Alice Caldwell-Kelly, and Devon, takes a critical eye on films about masculinity)
• YouTuber and playwright Abigail Thorn explains why Shakespeare has “so much trans potential” (UK Daily News)
• Review by Diana Craciun for “The Prince” — A play by Abigail Thorn aka Philosophy Tube
• Video essay: The Prince Review — Top-Not Analysis (YouTube)
• Video essay: What The Trans?! made a video version of their review (YouTube)

How to watch “The Prince”

Nebula (offsite)

“Thank fuck for Nebula for filming this.” — WhatTheTrans!?

For the full 25-minute text recreation, go here: Recreating Opening Night For Abigail Thorn’s Acclaimed Play “The Prince.”

Go here to purchase the full play text

Go here to subscribe to Nebula and just watch the thing.

PLUS! Nebula subscribers get access to a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the play (as well as thousands of other documentaries).

Go here to subscribe to Nebula. Make sure to use code “philosophytube” at checkout to receive 26% off. That’s only $14.79 for an entire year.

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About Stephenie Magister

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