As Joan prepares to fly into Malta next weekend, Jo Caruana interviews writer and director Lucy Skilbeck ahead of the show’s eagerly-awaited local premiere.

Creative inspiration can come from anywhere. For Lucy Skilbeck, the writer and director behind in-coming drag king show  Joan, inspiration can be traced back to a farm in Yorkshire.

“It was where I grew up; my dad was a milk man and farmer – hence us calling the theatre company behind  Joan Milk Presents – and my mum was a nurse,” Skilbeck explains. “The village I grew up in held these nights called the ‘Music Hall’, where people would do sketches and songs for each other in the village hall. I guess, in hindsight, it was a bit of a cabaret – so I guess that’s my earliest memory of theatre in some form.”

Skilbeck has always made up stuff up, written things and played. “I joined a youth theatre at 14 and felt really good being there. It was at youth theatre my mentor and youth theatre leader explained that people do this for a job and run their own theatre companies; it was a revelation!” 

Moving on a few years, and Skilbeck thought  Joan up on the 63 bus from Kings Cross to Peckham in London. “I was looking through LGBTQ trailblazers on my phone (as you do) and found Joan of Arc. Here’s this daughter of a tenant farmer who changed the course of the 100-year war in the 1400s dressed in men’s clothing. It was a wow moment! By the time I got off the bus it all clicked together – this had to be a drag king play.” 

We’re really grateful to have a platform to perform our work in a country that is discussing LGBTQ+ matters

Skilbeck was about to move to Derby for a placement at a theatre at the time, as part of an amazing BBC Fellowship scheme. “I was going to be directing my first show there – and I pitched  Joan instead. Sarah Brigham, who runs Derby Theatre, immediately said ‘brilliant, how can we help?’ – so that was that!”

From then on,  Joan developed much like most of Milk Presents’ shows: a constant shaping, re-writing and devising process was put in place. Then, once the team knew actress Lucy Jane Parkinson was going to be playing Joan, they incorporated a lot of her cabaret prowess into the script, so the whole show became very interactive and live.

“In fact, Lucy and I would spend hours riffing in the rehearsal room pretending to run through Joan’s audience interactions,” Skilbeck smiles. “We’d get different members of the creative team to be various audience members and we’d end up spending more time making the characters of the audience than Joan herself!”

Drag king Lucy Jane Parkinson, who plays Joan.Drag king Lucy Jane Parkinson, who plays Joan.

The show itself has been very successful and has now toured to many different places. “We’ve played rural village halls and city centre shopping centres – each has bought their own challenges and opportunities,” Skilbeck continues. “It’s always great to watch audience’s change throughout the show as they become captivated by Lucy’s storytelling. Performing  Joan at Sydney’s Mardi Gras festival after Australia legalised gay marriage was a real highlight!” 

Since then, Joan has also won numerous awards, including The Stage Edinburgh Award and The Scotsman Fringe First Award. This was an opportunity for the team to be recognised for their work, but equally it was a chance for queer narratives to be brought to the fore. “For all the show’s fun and hilarity, there is a political kick driving it. If we win an award it’s like someone has seen and understood the gentle urgency of what we are doing,” the director says.  

As for the upcoming Malta experience, Skilbeck and the team are excited. “My grandparents were posted in Malta when my grandfather did military service, so I’ve heard quite a bit about the island but never been. It’s encouraging to know that the country’s laws are so progressive when it comes to gender recognition and we’re really grateful to have a platform to perform our work in a country that is discussing LGBTQ+ matters.”

Finally, I ask the director for a little insight into what audiences should expect from the show. “Well I don’t want to spoil it for anyone!” Skilbeck grins.

“Expect a warm welcome, a lot of laughs and perhaps even a few tears. There’s obviously a fair bit of dragging, some slick costume changes, original songs and dance routines… It’s really a tour-de-force of a show, where everyone gets a bit of everything, and even if you end up on stage yourself we promise you’ll be having so much fun you won’t even notice! 

“As the writer of the show I’ve drawn upon my own life experiences to give Joan an authentic voice. There’s a few moments where I know exactly where that piece of text came from, who inspired it and what I was feeling at the time. It’s always wonderful to watch those words unfold on stage and be received in new ways by the audience. Oh, and look out for King Charles’ VII sexy disco number – that usually brings the house down!

Joan will be performed as part of the Spazju Kreattiv programme at the St James Theatre on May 25-27, with the support of the Creative Communities strand of the Malta Arts Fund. Tickets are available at www.kreattivita.org. Three free workshops are also being organised by the Milk Presents team from the UK, and further information is available by searching for ‘Joan: Workshops’ on Facebook.

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