The creator of the controversial new piece TERF has said he would be “delighted” to have JK Rowling visit him during the performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Although the play has not yet been performed in public, it examines the now strained relationship between the Harry Potter The author and the actors who became famous through the film adaptations have already proven to be controversial.
After the author decided to criticize the transgender community, stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson spoke out in support of trans and gender-variant people.
In the fictional show, the “Harry Potter” stars stage an “intervention” for the author, “but the battle lines have already been drawn.”
Producer Barry Church-Woods said the play was “challenging at every turn,” in part because of “the fear of taking a moral position in one of the most prescient debates of our time: the right of transgender people to live with dignity and free from discrimination.”
Author Joshua Kaplan told exclusively The Independent: “I would definitely welcome JK Rowling and India Willoughby. Everyone is welcome.”
Kaplan’s comments come after Willoughby, a trans woman, said she would portray the author in the play, prompting Rowling herself to write that she would “invest heavily in popcorn stocks once the cast is confirmed.”
The author explained that TERF had no problems finding an actress to portray the author, despite initial reports that there were difficulties in casting the role.
But TERFThe venue, St. Stephen’s Church, has now threatened to cancel the play over fears it could lead to protests from members of the gender-critical movement.
Discussions are currently underway about continuing to be present at the venue or looking for an alternative.
The term gender critical describes people who believe that biological sex is more important than a person’s perceived gender identity and that gender roles in general are harmful.
Rowling has been criticized by many for publicly misgendering transgender people, including Willoughby, whom she described as “cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy about what a woman is.”
Kaplan said he wanted to create a play that would encourage audiences to “step back” and “see why they have come to the opinions they have come to.”
“It’s not just about what we say, but also how we say it,” he explains, admitting that he was inspired to write the script after the author first expressed gender-critical views in 2020.
“Many of these questions about how we communicate with each other are completely lost when we sit behind our computers and type these horrible, often awful things to each other without stopping to think about the people on the other side of the computer.”
Church-Woods echoed this sentiment in a petition on Change.org, urging the organizer not to close the show.
He stressed that TERF “invites you to come, be challenged and form your own judgment.”
Kaplan said The Independent Until the play’s advent, it had never been the subject of the kind of “nastiness” that is often expressed when discussing transgender issues.
“I can understand why someone would want to freak out after hearing these things directed at me,” he admitted.
“I had to stop and ask myself: Where is this coming from on their side and where is this reaction coming from on my side?
“And then I might say something, but at least I take the time to think and feel (first).”
Rowling’s increasingly outspoken views on the transgender community, particularly this year, have influenced the play’s script, which Kaplan said is currently in the final stages of writing.
“I change it all the time now because new things happen every day,” he admitted. “But its increasing intensity was not the reason I decided to bring it to the Fringe. I decided that earlier.”
Kaplan also addressed the view of many gender-critical people who find the acronym TERF – which stands for trans-exclusive radical feminist – offensive.
“I’m an American,” he explained. “The word TERF doesn’t carry the same weight in America. Most people, I would say, have no idea what it is.”
“My goal as a writer is to reflect what is happening (in the debate). I do not support what is happening.”
“I want people to see themselves in the story, not me. It’s about the society in which these things happen.”
While Kaplan acknowledges that the show may appeal to gender-critical advocates, he hopes that “cooler heads will prevail.”
The Independent has reached out to a representative for India Willoughby and JK Rowling for comment.
