A new play by award-winning writer & actor Charlie Josephine is set to turn the stereotypical western - and its cowboy hero - on its head. With its “sexy trans masculine cowboys and queer working-class women”, Cowbois this month brings the classic genre kicking and screaming into the 21st century at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre...
What’s On chats to Charlie to find out more...

As a child, award-winning trans masc writer & actor Charlie Josephine dreamed of being a cowboy, loving the posturing, sexiness and swagger every bit as much as the horse riding and gunslinging bravado. 
An awareness of the fact that the hero in a Western was always a straight white male - with misogynistic and racist attitudes almost inevitably in attendance - came later. But even so, Charlie - who uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ - remained enamoured with the genre and has now written Cowbois, a Wild West-located play which this month premieres at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. 

“I just thought cowboys were the coolest thing growing up and loved watching Rawhide on a Sunday morning,” says Charlie. “It’s been really interesting watching them all again for research. 
“I’ve watched hours and hours and hours of films and documentaries, and you realise that of course the Hollywood version of cowboys is not at all historically accurate, and is a very white, male, often racist, often misogynistic version. I really wanted to disrupt that and to get us to question what we think a cowboy is, but also to just really enjoy the swagger and sexy cool iconic poses and images and language. It’s such a rich world to explore.”
In Cowbois, Charlie has created a sleepy town in the Wild West where the women are drifting through their days while the menfolk are away chasing fortunes in the goldrush. When handsome bandit Jack Cannon, a trans masc cowboy, swaggers into the town’s saloon, everything changes, kicking off a gender revolution.

The set-up - women and children left vulnerable in a partly deserted town - is a classic Western scenario that will feel familiar to fans of the genre. And, according to Charlie, it’s a deliberate ploy to ease audiences in gently, as well as to provide contrast once things start to change.
“I’ve chosen a classic story structure and shape that, without giving too many spoilers away, then gets disrupted and changed. It should feel very familiar in our bones, at least in the first half of the play, and then we get an opportunity to expand and explore and question that. I really wanted to put an unlikely protagonist on stage that you may not have seen at the RSC, but within a story shape that feels really familiar and comforting.”
The familiarity comment is telling, as even though the RSC has been promoting more diverse (and fewer male-led) Shakespeare productions in the last couple of years, the gender-bending content of Cowbois could still be seen as a challenge for a historical venue and traditional audience. 
Charlie can see both sides of the coin.
“I think there’s a market for [this type of show], and people are hungry for it. It’s such a terrible myth that queer people only live in cities, and I’m sure the community that live around Stratford-upon-Avon will be thrilled to see this arriving on their doorstep. 
“In some ways it’s a bold choice for the RSC, but ultimately it’s just a really brilliant story that’s full of action and everything you’d expect from a Western, so it should also just be a really great night out.”
That bold choice also extends to allowing Charlie to co-direct the production.
“I really wanted to use this as an opportunity to develop as a director. I’ve done a few bits and pieces on quite a small scale before, and I really wanted to learn how to direct ‘on the job’.”
A huge show at the RSC seems a prestigious -as well as challenging - place to earn your directorial stripes…
“Not bad is it? I’m not keeping it simple, I know - it’s go hard or go home, isn’t it?”

Charlie is quick to acknowledge the support of long-term collaborator and friend Sean Holmes - the associate artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe - as well as a talented creative team.
“We’ve really worked hard to be diverse backstage as well as on stage. No one will notice unless they really look at the list of creatives, but everything from stage management to sound design, all of that, we’ve really tried to embrace the themes of the play backstage as well. Which will enrich the work and be a really fun atmosphere to make this play in.”
The cast is equally diverse. Charlie is clearly excited by the entire company but especially smitten with leads Vinnie Heaven (Jack) and Sophie Melville (Miss Lillian).
“They’re incredible actors, both so exciting. You know when you can’t take your eyes off someone on stage? They’ve got that real - without sounding too pretentious - aura about them. They’re unbelievable talents, and I’m so excited to get to work with them.
“The whole company is full of actors the RSC hasn’t seen before but are known in the theatre scene - really brilliant, talented actors but just never seen on this particular stage before. It feels like a real privilege to bring them into this building.”
Charlie’s other privilege - and passion - is telling stories for and about people typically under-represented on the stage.  
“Making work for working-class women and queer people, that seems to be where my heart and soul is, as well as my strength. There’s not enough theatre by, for and about working-class women and queer people [and] I hope people coming to watch this show feel empowered seeing these characters on this stage. 
“Cowbois is an exploration of masculinity, power and freedom. But moreover, it’s a love letter to the trans masculine people in history whose stories have been ignored or erased. I hope people have some interesting chats about patriarchy, gender and freedom after seeing it.”
Which all sounds very laudable, but Charlie’s also keen to point out that the show - which contains gunslinging, saloons, music, dancing and more - is a lot of fun and not in the least bit preachy.
“There’s some sort of nuanced explanation of big themes like class and race and gender, but it’s not smashing anyone in the face with it. If I’ve done my job right as a writer, it’s nuanced and messy and complex, and all within the heart of the story rather than being preachy or anything like that. 
“It’s a classic Western and has everything - there’s shootouts, horses, bars, whiskey… it’s a big, epic story that will feel cheeky and fun and exciting. There’s a love story, a few exciting twists you wouldn’t expect, but ultimately, it’s just a really good night out at the theatre. 
“Since Covid I’ve learned that it’s a privilege to have a live audience, so I want theatre to feel really ‘live’. Netflix is brilliant, so why do you want to leave home, get a babysitter, get on the bus, go to the theatre and pay a lot of money for a ticket? It’s got to be an event and a spectacle, visceral and exciting in your body, and we’re definitely hoping to do that.”

by Steve Adams

Cowbois shows at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Saturday 14 October to Sunday 18 November