Edinburgh Arts Group to launch play about JKR called TERF C**T – where Daniel, Rupert and Emma stage an 'intervention'

[IwantToRetire]

The play, which will be performed on stage in New York next month and is being touted for the Fringe this summer, sees the author's 'surrogate children – Daniel, Rupert and Emma' stage an 'intervention'

Civil Disobedience, which has its roots in the Edinburgh Fringe and was launched by Barry and Josef Church-Woods in May 2016, described it as a "vital think-piece on Joanne, exploring just what could motivate a person with such privilege to take such a divisive stance on issues that affect her fans".

It has been written by Joshua Kaplan, a "queer screenwriter and playwright", and will be performed at The Actors Studio in New York City on Thursday, February 8.

A press release advertising the show claims: "Please note: TERF C**T is not a kill piece. It provides space for reflection and ultimately offers the audience time to explore some of the more contentious aspects of JK's life."

The synopsis for the show continues: "Joanne led a blessed life – for a woman. Billionaire. Literary phenomenon. Natural ginger. And most importantly, beloved. Completely beloved. Until she blew it all to hell.

"From book deals to divorces, family dysfunction to broken friendships, TERF C**T goes beyond the headlines to explore the woman that captivated a world with her books only to unravel a legacy with her tweets."

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/celebrity-news/jk-rowling-attacked-standing-up-31948409

🤣

It's a shame, because there is probably space for a decent and interesting and thought provoking play on the subject.

This man isn't writing it.

It is one of the very few upsides of this mess.

Getting to see very intelligent, articulate women hold a battle of wits with an unarmed man, who started it in the belief that he knew better than they did.

Julie B was on fire. I almost, but not quite, started to feel sorry for him by the end of that interview. I wish he hadn't just repeated his mantra that he wouldn't explain what the play was about and that people should just go and see it because that isn't an option for everyone.

I wish he hadn't just repeated his mantra that he wouldn't explain what the play was about and that people should just go and see it because that isn't an option for everyone.

Plus it was cheeky to say he wouldn't explain while complaining that Bindel was only going by the title. What else had he given her to go by? I was disappointed she didn't pick him up on that but she gave him such hammering anyway that it didn't matter.

most creatives are able to explain their work with confidence and a sense of pride.

Josh looked nervous - like he -knew he had a lawyer sitting stage right with a writ ready to write.

Yes, that's always rather satisfying. JKR does it with aplomb.

His snotty pose about being above the fray of social media simply shows up how he knows literally nothing of what has gone on. Most of this has played out on social media and the media information superhighway is powered by it whether he deigns to look or not.

He describes an empty space in his knowledge between the three actors coming out for trans rights and the last six months, a gap of many years.

He's absolutely clueless about it and is just making up a pointless uninformed "story" for what, to incite angry potter fans into greater hatred and delusional fury? Giving them a fake back story of an intervention when he has just put on record that he knows absolutely nothing about Rowling's and every other victimised and abused "terf cunt"s experiences since the essay was written.

What a stupid man. He reminds me of the awful man at GLAAD that offered to educate JKR immediately after her first tweet. His superficial woman loathing gay man ignorance was settled then and he's here to dazzle the backwards Brits with his superior New York intelligence. Five years out of date. Cringe.

As a matter of interest, what's the typical audience for a fringe show? Is it a slightly older 30+ crowd or is it a much younger 18 - 25 year old crowd?

I mean it being artsy I would imagine loads of ultra liberal identity educated types but I remain slightly unconvinced he's got the measure of people who go to these shows in terms of demographics.

I'm thinking the fringe audience tends to be on the older side (cos if you are under 25 your disposable income is low) and educated and liberal. But within that, you've got a whole bunch of people who follow the news closely and are generally well informed.

If you are interested in going to see this play you are also like to fall into either the camp of hating JKR or thinking she's spot on.

Either way casting JKR as some sort of frumpy out of touch Mum is risky, even if you have a bunch of older educated TWAW women attending. And if it's a mainly male audience that turns up, you run the risk of looking particularly MRA.

Either way it's incredibly lazy to go down this route and it strikes me, that not only is he way out of his depth, it's hard to see how he's going to please the audience unless pitched incredibly MRA.

There's no 'balance' going on if your starting point is to frame JKR in an incredibly misogynistic stereotype of a bigoted middle aged out of touch woman who doesn't understand what she's talking about.

Given that he doesn't actually seem to be that au fait with any of the arguments/what's been going on, I suspect, like many Fringe shows, that it's been an attempt to stand out of the crowd and it's starting to backfire on him. Or he's only aware of the whole 'JKR is evil!!!' trans talking points and hasn't realised the resistance.

I wonder if people who haven't ever been to the Fringe realise just how many shows there are. The Fringe programme is a hefty tome and shows need to find a gimmick to sell any tickets, particularly as the whole thing can cost a fortune to do. It used to be (many years ago) that tickets were £5ish and you could take a chance on a show. Now they're £15+ and you're more likely to go to a show which has been reviewed/you've heard about.

I think minimum of £15 per show - more like £20+ for a show that might only last 45 minutes. You need a significant amount of cash to “do” the Fringe - whether you’re watching or putting on a production.

There’s a chance for both the audience and the producers that you may as well flush your money down the toilet, which I think may be the case for Josh’s efforts. But perhaps he’s loaded so 🤷‍♀️

There are usually around 3000 shows.

Big venues cost around 10k for the run.

Figures vary for the “average finge audience” but it is between 4-8.

Most shows lose money and are never reviewed.

It has become a show case not a work shop. It used to be you come with something ropey and work on it every day for a month, work hard, party hard, get contacts and the clap and then have something to tour - which is where you make the money.

This guy has a brand new play that would benefit from a month of workshopping. He didn’t even have a cast let alone a venue and no mention has been made of props or costumes.

On the preview date he will have reviewers, me ans my three chums, and I expect, Julie Bindle and other terfy journalists and maybe someone from Penis News, JKR’s lawyers in the audience. So, more than the average audience, at least - but in a room that seats 330 people, not the 40 he was hoping for.

Plus, it’s a day early. Most shows aren’t properly going til the 3rd.

It’s a very tall order to be good on opening night. Well, opening late morning, it’s on before lunch when there’s usually only kids stuff and people staggering home. It’s not always ideal to have a big prestigious venue which looks empty even if you have 100 people - and how can he get 100 people in a morning?

It’s the biggest arts festival in the world and while it’s hard to get noticed there’s also nowhere hide.

I used to work in the Arts and I know the Fringe well. If you’ve never been then take out a small mortgage or sell a kidney and book an air bnb for next year - come for the 3rd weekend. That’s when the shows are all bedded in but the performers aren’t broken yet.

So, no pressure then? 😀

He looked pretty terrified even before Bindel started on him. I think that's a man who thought he'd swan in with his opinion, be the 'reasonable' voice explaining how JKR has got it all wrong and has now realised he is completely out of his depth, but he's invested too much in it now and doesn't see any way to get out

I think Josh has a point though, when he said to Julie “you haven’t seen or read it yet”.

She was criticising his use of language and him not speaking to GC people before writing it - but he’s not an investigative journalist, he doesn’t need to provide balance. He’s created art, potentially lazy, defamatory art, but he is right, we don’t know that yet because we haven’t seen the play.

I think Josh will be disappointed - there won’t be protests because that’s not what Terfs do, we generally support freedom of speech. It’s far more likely that terfs will buy tickets and laugh in all the wrong places, which can be difficult for actors to manage, especially if the actor is the director’s 95th casting choice. If Josh has done his homework he’ll know the Terfs are inside the room not outside being disruptive, the first rule of the Arts is “know your audience” after all.

We are four old Fringe hands, we got all the clap and all the contacts over our collective years of performing and producing.

We know men often have a problem writing female characters - especially if the man is a bit of a prick. The fringe is full of those.

My friends and I are really looking forward to it, we won’t be wearing logos or suffragette colours. We are taking sweeties and notebooks and then going for a pub lunch to pick it all apart and I’ll report back.

@Seriestwo I will be very interested in your review.

I also rec not planning for a Fringe visit. Just go to a few venues and buy tickets for whatever's on next. You'll see some atrocious tripe but you may also see some absolute gems, and it'll save you wasting weeks trying to scry which shows are worth seeing and which aren't, synchronising travel and times. Just do pot luck, it's far more fun.

Have fun @Seriestwo

I think Josh has a point though, when he said to Julie “you haven’t seen or read it yet”.

Well yes but he accepted the interview on that basis and Julie Bindel made a very strong point about the title. Edinburgh is forty miles away from the demo where two MSPs stood grinning in front of a placard with "Decapitate TERFS" on it. We live here and so does JKR, he doesn't.

I often just listen to these interviews while I'm doing something else, but I watched this one and I'm glad I did because I recognised him. Not individually, but he's what my Bubbie used to call a chutzpahdickie yeshiveboche and a nudnik. (Yiddish transcribed the way Bubbie would have pronounced it.)

From the bits of info I've gathered the play could be amusing and takes the piss out of all sides so there should be at least some laughter in the right places. As for Tshirts I was only speculating on how little he could count as protest - so don't sook too loud on those sweeties!

Very much looking forward to the report.

I think Julie did a good job in the interview - far better than Josh - but I wish she'd pressed him to explain what he thought the 2 sides of the argument are. Not what he's putting in the play, which he clearly, and reasonably, doesn't want to reveal - just some definitions and common points of contention to show whether he actually has any grasp of the issue.

I agree he had a point he said she hadn't seen it. And it is art, it's not meant to be an accurate representation of what's going on.

But given that he really isn't up to speed, it didn't look like he had understood the massive backlash women (terfs) have been getting. The violence, the threats the arrests, etc. I'm wondering if Julie's revelations came as a bit of a surprise. It would be interesting to see whether he shoehorns anything in at the last minute.

I can't wait to see your review *Seriestwo. *

He's all about the irony of calling women terfs. Which could look a little tainted when you've seen an OAP with a massive black eye. All for being a terf.

And it looks like he hasn't gone anywhere near the danger to children, either. Simply not on his radar. Which means whatever position he writes for JKR, it won't include that.

If he is going to give an interview though I think he should give out a little more information than that which is contained in the Fringe programme. I can understand him not wanting to give the punchline, but just something more would have been good.

He may not be on social media (great for avoiding awkward questions). But I'm struggling to believe that he's not seen any of the arguments online.

Yes, if he wasn't aware of the controversy why did he choose that subject and that title?

He could have been aware of the controversy but only in a very shallow way as a celebrity squabble and none of the realities behind it.

I would have liked to know if he'd listened to Megan Phelps-Roper's "Witch Trials of JKR" podcasts and what he thought of them.

PS very much looking forward to your review as well @Seriestwo !