This year’s Camden Fringe is now in full swing, with over 300 shows planned to hit London stages this month.
The Strange Case of Dr Dillon ran at the Camden People’s Theatre, and was written and directed by Cloud Quinn, who also plays the lead character.
Dr Michael Dillon (1915-1962) was assigned female at birth but never thought of himself as a girl or a woman. He became the first trans man to undergo hormone and physical gender-affirming surgery, thanks to the pioneering work of Sir Harold Gillies.
It’s a remarkable tale. Alongside Quinn’s sensitive portrayal of Dr Dillon from childhood through to an early death in India, Kay Eluvian plays every other character from a forbidding aunt to a jolly lady rower, Sir Harold, and various colleagues.
The set is very effective – two chairs, a screen, a handful of props. Both Quinn and Eluvian are trans actors, so display a close affinity with the subject, recognising both the life-saving significance of surgery (like fixing a faulty car, says Dillon), and the prejudices of others.
As Dillon assumes his male identity, attending a medical school and even serving in the army, he remains reconciled to a life without love and is estranged from a brother who cruelly rejects him – a decision particularly hard-hitting by the last moments of the play.
Eluvian is a gifted comic performer who adds colour to the aunt, but she also captures the pathos in the character of Roberta Cowell (the first British trans woman to transition through surgery) and a sympathetic sea captain.
One nice touch to keep us up to date with the narrative was the inclusion of snippets of news at scene changes: the death of George V, the start of the war, the newspaper expose of trans model April Ashley.
Despite Dillon’s brother wishing his autobiography to be burned, his agent did not comply, and its discovery has led to several studies, a TV documentary, and eventual publication in 2016.
New company Bramble Theatre Art is right to bring this tale to wider attention at a time when trans people are facing a lot of negative attention, abuse, and wilful misunderstanding.
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The Camden Fringe continues until 25 Aug: details and tickets here.
Bramble Theatre Art’s website is here.
Image credit: Chris Jepson