WHEN Charlie's best friend John becomes Joan, Charlie is forced to confront issues of his own, not least his reaction to his friend's clumsy and emotional journey into womanhood.
Along the way he meets Cilla, a trans-woman who, on the outside, is a successful prostitute but secretly dreams of a husband and a nice house. Her dreams are shattered however, when her male past leaks out. Then there's Motor Mouse, a trans-man play
ing the fool to cope with isolation until tragedy strikes. Little wonder that Painted Eggs, by Nicole Dolder, is described as a powerful play.
The latest production from The Luvvies, Edinburgh's only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community theatre company, it follows the first few years of a transsexual woman's experiences as she transforms from John into Joan.
Explaining the origins of the play Dolder, who also appears in the production as the main character John/Joan, says, "I am a transsexual woman. I was born in London and settled in Scotland in 1983. In 1998 I 'transitioned to' and not long after that underwent gender reassignment in Brighton. I also lived as a woman for a year and a half in the 70s, but that went horribly wrong. The play is for a large part inspired by those events."
Despite its subject matter, Luvvies' spokesman Brett Baywright, who plays Motor Mouse, insists that Painted Eggs is a universal story and one to which everyone will be able to relate.
"This play is really about how we, as humans, tend to judge on what we see before us without looking beyond the image – the painted egg shell. We don't see inside that shell, we just see the outside. Once we look beyond the shell we find there's normality there, that we're no different from anyone else because of our sexuality, gender or orientation. We all feel loss if someone dies, we are all happy if something good happens." The play, Dolder's first, is the result of a drive by the company to produce new writing, as Baywright explains. "We wanted to put on some new writing. Our last show was Torch Song trilogy by Harvey Fierstein who is quite a well known writer and we wanted to develop the writers in our company and showcase their work."
Including interval, Painted Eggs runs just short of three hours and sees The Luvvies performing in their largest venue to date. "Normally we use somewhat smaller venues, but we want this play to be seen by as wide an audience as possible." adds Baywright.
"Although the storyline is very heavily transgender we believe that it the emotional journey of the characters will appeal to anyone with an interest in humanity."
• Painted Eggs, St Brides Centre, Orwell Terrace, 7.30pm, Thursday-Saturday, £10, 0131-346 1405