The new normal

South Bank near Shakespeare's Globe

On Wednesday I had only one London engagement. It was a long way to go for just one thing. But it was worth it. I met Tina Beardsley for coffee at Kahve Dünyası, the Turkish café next to St James's Piccadilly. This is a very good place for a rendezvous. It's large, therefore private, and air-conditioned, with excellent food, and the Turkish coffee itself, which is strong and thick, quite distinctive, and not served in many places.

Tina Beardsley is a retired trans priest based in Fulham. She has done the world of trans Christianity a great service by co-authoring three books on how churches can support their trans Christian members. I am adding these to my growing reading list. I don't think she sought public attention. Rather it was thrust upon her, when she was outed over 30 years ago by someone who should have known better. But she made the best of it.

She became a priest before her trans identity became public. I asked whether it would have made a difference going into ordination as a trans person, but apparently not. The Church of England says that anyone is welcome to enter the discernment process. In fact she knew of two trans Christians who had gone through the process and been ordained.

One thing I was keen to learn was what networks are available to provide support for trans Christians. It's wonderful for me to be a member of some inclusive churches that have supported my trans journey, but I would like to share my experience with others in a similar position and learn from them. Tina pointed me towards one such national network, which meets at a London church once every couple of months. So I have made contact with them.

On Thursday, I met Helen on the train at Guildford for an evening of London theatre at The Globe on Bankside. When we planned this months ago, I thought it would have been Ariane's London debut. Ariane's life has developed much more quickly than I expected.

We walked a mile from Waterloo to preface the evening with a meal at Pizza Express across the road from the theatre and were lucky to find a window table with a delightful view across the Thames.

Then it was on to the Globe for the company's production of Richard III. Neither of us knew the play very well so we didn't come with any preconceived notions. But we did know that the cast was largely female, with Michelle Terry cast in the leading role. In fact the female casting was what drew me to this production in the first place. Partly because of my increasingly pro-female world view, partly because I was interested to see what difference it would make with female performers. What was the idea behind it? I'm not sure I knew the answer, afterwards, because Michelle Terry embraced Richard's toxic masculinity with enthusiasm. There were no female notes at all.

It was, however, an inspired production. History turned to comedy at many points as Richard revelled in his villainy. Some interpolations drew a parallel between Richard and today's showman-villain, Donald Trump. Especially when Richard commented in an aside that if you were powerful you could do what you wanted to women and get away with it.

Richard III is Shakespeare's fourth-longest play, after Hamlet, Coriolanus and Cymbeline. So it was inevitable that many lines would be cut. In fact the production came in at two and a half hours, over an hour shorter than the full-length version. The only cut we noticed was the omission of the famous line at the end: 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' This is in fact Richard's final line in the play as written.

On returning to Waterloo we found that our evening would continue longer than expected. Serious disruption following earlier flooding delayed our departure until after midnight. But we had each other for company. I had a lovely time this evening.

Tags: LGBT+, Culture