“You may light on a husband that hath no beard.”
“What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel
and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a
beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no
beard is less than a man: and he that is more than
a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a
man, I am not for him”
~ Leonato and Beatrice, “Much Ado About Nothing” (1598)
Gender
Everyone will have access to in-character name and pronoun badges (and some characters may use several of these, for example if they are in disguise):​​​
Whilst anyone can play any of the available characters, and cross-playing as a different IC gender from your OC gender is definitely allowed/encouraged, some characters may have a relationship with gender that matters to the role, where others simply do not.
The Play’s the Thing LRP is a game that inherently changes some elements of established Shakespearean “canon” as part of its core concept; many characters have been changed in some way from the original texts, and none of these different worlds are “supposed” to collide in the plays as written. As such, it is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the game to ignore inconvenient parts of “canonical lore” to enable a more enjoyable player experience, adding unique twists to the Shakespearean-inspired characters and stories.
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For many of the characters, if you would prefer to re-imagine them with a different gender/presentation/pronoun set than those traditionally used in the original “canon”, you can do so: For example, whilst Hamlet is usually portrayed as a he/him man, there are no real intrinsic plot reasons why Hamlet could or should not be played as they/she, if the player portraying the character would prefer this.
However, on the other hand, if a player is choosing to play the role of Viola (disguised as Cesario), the character’s relationship with gender and gender expression is fundamentally tied to their story’s plotline, so this role should only be chosen by someone who actively wishes to engage with gender/genderbending/subversion of gendered expectations as part of their character’s plotline/gameplay experience.
Some characters have been listed on the callsheets with the explicit option to blend characters and/or change things around (for example, it could be Macduff and/or Lady Macduff that was from their mother’s womb untimely ripped; it is possible that only Lady Macduff will enter play, as a blended character of the usually distinct Macduff and Lady Macduff, and Lady Macduff can fulfill the prophecy by slaying Macbeth if that’s the way that things fall out).
You do not need to play Puck, a Witch or any other “more traditionally genderfluid character” if you would prefer to portray a character as non-binary. Further to this, if OC you are a man that uses he/him pronouns, there is no reason you cannot choose to play Cleopatra as a woman using she/her pronouns IC, if this is the role you want to play, using the traditional gendering of the character.
When you submit your preferences form for pre-casting characters, you will be given the opportunity to choose whether or not you want to play (or avoid) characters where gender particularly matters to their storyline - we will release more information nearer the time for possible options/variations available for each individual character, to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the roles that they receive and how they wish to interpret the character.
Transphobia is not an acceptable theme of roleplay within this game.