Cast of Characters
London Critics Circle Winner:
Young British Performer of the Year
E D D I E (20-30s)
The ‘Bride’ of the queer wedding. Outgoing and confident, life of the party.
R O N N I E (20s)
A young photographer who is revealed to be an undercover officer.
Confirmed as: Alex Lawther
(Black Mirror, Alien: Earth)
B E T T I E (40-50s)
Owner of ‘Bettie’s Bar’, reigns as both East End landlady and matriarch, a formidable presence with a touch of grit. Bettie has a deep understanding of the world and the challenges faced by the queer community and beneath her blunt honesty lies a heart of gold. She acts as a surrogate mother to the regulars, offering a safe space and unwavering ‘tough’ love.
J E N N I N G S (50s)
A gruff and imposing police sergeant, embodies the rigid morality of the era.
KITTY & LOLA (20s-30s)
Eddie’s close ‘girlfriends’ – Kitty is sweet and young, with wide-eyed naiveté. Lola is slightly older, designated “maid of honor.” A playful, flirtatious edge.
For all supporting roles, we plan to cast real members of London’s queer community, in an effort to be as authentic as possible.
GEORGE (18-20s)
Excitable, impressionable young gay man. New to the scene with a boyish naiveté.
The script celebrates a working class nightlife culture that existed at the time, led by people that embraced a plurality of identities. A bohemian culture where shop assistants and laborers could come and be themselves. The supporting characters will reflect the ethnic diversity of these underground spaces. In conceiving of Bettie’s Bar, Hugh was inspired by the queer-friendly jazz club the ‘Shim Sham Club’ that operated in 1930s London and was heavily associated with African American culture and bringing jazz music to the UK. Hugh has written Eddie as an African American poet and artist who has settled in the UK, much like the real life Isack (or Ike) Hatch who co-owned the Shim Sham club, and was a prolific figure on the London jazz scene. The character of Eddie reflects how black men were very much a part of the queer underground scene at the time, interacting socially and sexually with the men they encountered.
The character of Bettie is based on real life queer bar proprietor Billy Joyce, who was jailed for 12 months in 1936 for keeping a disorderly house. This raises an interesting point about the intersection between female and queer identities, as marginalised voices at the time, how Bettie will have fought hard to make her voice heard as a woman running her own business.
This film is as much about the policing of gender norms as it is about the criminalisation of men who have sex with men. Therefore a large portion of the supporting characters are gender diverse. Though terms like ‘trans’ and ‘queer’ will have meant something different to a 1930s society, supporting characters like Eddie and the Queens are representative of a trans community that existed at the time - individuals who played with their gender and experienced trans euphoria through cross dressing and transvestism.