Theatrical tour tells the LGBTQ+ story of the Tower of London | London
In June 1916, a 22-year-old soldier of the Royal Rifle Army appeared at Highbury Magistrates’ Court accused of desertion and of “being an idle and disorderly person in women’s clothing.” Although the soldier was charged under the name Frederick Wright, they appeared wearing a veiled hat, wig and make-up and told the court they wanted to be known as Kathleen Woodhouse.
The soldier had already gone on trial earlier that year after attempting suicide, which was illegal at the time. They were ordered to be taken to the army. When they were arrested a second time, they told the police: “I wish I wasn’t a woman because I like to wear nice clothes and all my tastes are feminine.”
The headquarters of the Royal Rifle Regiment is located in Tower of Londonwhere a new theatrical tour will tell the story of Wodehouse and other amazing stories related to the tower’s residents and visitors over 700 years.
Directed by Tom Storey of the Young Vic, written by Chris Bush, Assistant Director of Sheffield Theatres, Queer Lives will be held in the form of a promenade performance and timed to it LGBTQ+ history month. Visitors will be led through military towers, ancient prison cells and a medieval royal bedchamber to hear stories that will surprise many, says Matthew Storey, curator of Historic Royal Palaces, whose research underpins the tour.
Perhaps King James I of England written texts in which he condemned sodomy, Storey says, but “his most significant romantic relationships, other than his wife, were with men—and that’s something that comes out very early in his life.”
Although the nature of the relationship between ‘Queen James’, as he was nicknamed, and the favorites Robert Carr and George Villiers has been debated, ‘if you read especially the letters between James and Villiers, there is no doubt that the relationship was very romantic. and physical.”
Both royal favorites rose to power through their connections to the king, but after Carr was accused of poisoning a rival held in the tower, he was dismissed, Storey says.
As a royal palace and prison, the apartments where some of the king’s appointments took place will be part of the tour; there will also be rooms that were the residence of Edward II and his intimate companion of Piers Gaveston. “Gaveston was given rooms in the tower that were traditionally given to the queen,” Storey says, “so it gives you a sense of his status.”
The couple was accused of Saddam at the time, but it’s difficult to attach modern labels to historical figures, he says. “It’s a long time ago, and it’s very hard to know if people in the Middle Ages had the same experience of gender and sexuality as we do today. But we know that same-sex love and desire have existed in every human society.”
The tour isn’t meant to supplant the tower’s more well-known story, Storey says, but to complement its story. “These stories of power, politics of oppression or triumph completely touch the essence of the human experience. When we talk about the power play of the medieval court or the court of Jacob, they are absolutely central to understanding what was really going on at the time. If you remove those stories, you don’t get the full picture or understanding of what was going on.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/27/theatrical-tour-tells-lgbtq-history-of-tower-of-london