‘Sorry I don’t fit into your preconceived notions of me.’
Rupert Henderson Productions presents Lipstick by Lily Shahmoon. It runs from 4th – 28th March 2020 at Southwark Playhouse.
Tommy is scared of everything. Especially the kids at school who would call him gay if they saw him putting on lipstick. Jordan isn’t scared of anything. He’s not scared that he likes the way Tommy looks in lipstick. Really, he’s not.
Two women play two teenage boys in this timely story of young hearts and the rules that surround us all. Helen Aluko (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) plays Jordan and April Hughes (The Play that Goes Wrong, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) plays Tommy.
The Artiscape spoke with director Ed White. Lipstick marks Ed’s professional directing debut.
What inspired you to direct LIPSTICK?
White: Reading the script I was first struck by how well Lily had written two teenage boys. It’s such a charming and beautiful story, delicately told, showcasing the innocence of youth and what can happen when we just accept differences in each other. I felt it was a story that needed to be out there, particularly now.
Last summer I was looking for some inspiration, a new project to get my teeth into. I emailed my friend Lily asking if she had any scripts lying around – she sent me ‘Lipstick’. Fast forward six months and we’ve just started rehearsals for a four week run at the Southwark Playhouse! So, I guess I was originally inspired out of a lack of inspiration.
What do you perceive will be the greatest challenges in directing this play?
White: Props, props, props, a fair bit of makeup being applied on stage and a lot of makeup wipes (biodegradable of course). 13 quick costume changes, 9 wig changes and 32 scene transitions. That’s quite a lot for an 80 minute play and two actors but I think we’ve come up with some really exciting stuff.
What are you most looking forward to in directing in this play?
White: Having women play the teenagers has led to some interesting discussions between myself, April and Helen. There are things I take for granted, having been a teenage boy myself, that I’m having to explain to April and Helen that just wouldn’t occur to them – why would they? We’ve had some really interesting conversations about the way young men talk to each other compared to how young women do. Why is that, what’s that about?
There’s a scene in the play where one of the boys opens a box of tampons and discovers it for the first time – I remember doing exactly the same thing. I enjoy the visual irony of watching two grown women trying to work out how a tampon applicator works. I still don’t know! I’m looking forward to working on that scene and finding out.
So we’re already learning a lot in the room and it’s started some really interesting conversations about gender and growing up. I’m looking forward to opening up the conversation with our audience.
Why do you feel this play will appeal to an audience?
White: What ‘Lipstick’ does is show an audience something that they understand – a woman in makeup wearing a dress – how ordinary – but this is a story about a teenage boy.
There’s a version of this play in some parallel universe in which two male actors play the boys; they put on makeup, dresses, wigs and audiences will see a boy wearing a dress which may or may not conjure a preconceived opinion. This version puts what they know to be ‘normal’ and turns it on it’s head.
If it opens up a conversation about pressures and labels we put on young people – what we tell boys they should and shouldn’t be, what we tell girls they should and shouldn’t be – then I think that’s a conversation worth having.
Lipstick runs from 4th – 28th March 2020 at Southwark Playhouse.
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