The Lord of the Rings star, 86, will join the one-night-only rehearsed reading by theatre group Trans What You Will.
On 25 July 2025, Trans What You Will launches its debut production with a rehearsed reading of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night – entirely directed by, and cast with, trans and non-binary performers.
The landmark production will be opened by none other than Shakespearean actor Sir Ian McKellen, and staged at The Space Theatre in London. In-person tickets will be available, and the reading will be live-streamed globally, with profits donated to UK-based trans charity Not a Phase.
Twelfth Night
Directed by Phoebe Kemp, this one-night-only performance will "reimagine one of Shakespeare's most gender-fluid comedies through a trans lens."
With mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and declarations of love across shifting gender roles, Twelfth Night has long explored the complexity of identity. This production chooses to make that queerness explicit, reclaiming the story through the lived experiences of trans and non-binary artists who are routinely silenced or misrepresented in media.
Trans and non-binary joy as resistance
The news comes a month after the devastating Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. Trans charity Mermaids published concerns that the ruling will have "significant negative impacts for trans, non-binary and intersex children, young people, and adults, from where they get changed for PE, to which toilets they use at school or in public, and even which youth organisations and clubs they can join."
Fourteen national LGBTQIA+ charities have also written to Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, seeking an urgent meeting to discuss the “genuine crisis for the rights, dignity and inclusion of trans people in the UK”.
Taking place on the eve of London Trans Pride, the performance aims to celebrate gender diversity at a time when trans representation remains under threat.
"Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance, it feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us," says Phoebe. "This reading is about joy, solidarity and showing what's possible when trans and non-binary artists are at the centre of the story."
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