Gull - or - the Most Lamentable Comedie Called Love

This research project involved directing the world premiere of Gull by Glace Chase and investigated how a theatre production process might support the integrity of trans-authored queer dramaturgy while enabling a predominantly cis-gendered ensemble to meet its distinct aesthetic demands. Developed through a long-standing artistic collaboration with the playwright—originating in 2006 and evolving across her gender transition—the project led to the creation of a methodology termed radical trust dramaturgy. This model resists normative development practices and structurally protects trans authorial voice, ambiguity, and tonal complexity.

A four-phase workshop process was designed to build the ensemble’s capacity to work within the play’s layered performance registers, which combined satire, camp, realism, and vaudeville. Phases included: textual exploration of Chase’s earlier work; engagement with heightened Shakespearean language as sound-artefact; training in Bouffon, character mask, and Brechtian performance; and a rehearsal structure based on daily full-run iterations to deepen tonal and intuitive responsiveness. Trans-identifying dramaturg Triss Niemi was embedded to advocate for the playwright’s voice, and Chase herself travelled to Adelaide to to provide cast coaching late in the process to ensure her distinctive authorial vision for performance aesthetics was delivered by the cast.

The production’s stylised, camp aesthetic—including cross-dressing, parody, and presentational set design—responded to Rachel Hann’s (Northumbria University - Visiting Scholar during the creative process) notion of non-binary scenographic atmospherics. The outcome offers a transferable model for inclusive and ethically responsive queer theatre-making, grounded in collaboration, performer training, and the protection of trans authorial agency.