Buck
azteclady#PSA: if you are in the UK...
This is not a drill: Sir Ian McKellen will open an all-trans, non-binary production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"!!!
July 25, 2025, in London--and it's a fundraiser for a trans charity!
Get thee there!
Kay Elúvian@herhandsmyhands hi Equity LGBT committee member here. The rates offered to the actors are shockingly low: £150 ‘subject to fund raising’- BUT they are trying to raise £15,000 in crowd funding for a one night-only rehearsed read. They didn’t advertise in any reputable source, only on social. It’s a kick in the face for trans actors actually trying to survive and work so a small group of pals can get loads of attention. Please don’t encourage them.
DB Schwein150 for a one night show is higher than any production I've been involved in. I'm not in the UK, but are your rates really that much higher?
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands plus two rehearsals which may run 4-6 hours (and were supposed to be paid rehearsal time) plus travel, set against a backdrop of a £15,000 crowd funder.
Yup - still WAY higher.
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands the minimum Equity daily rate for an independent theatre production is £126 (per day) for three days or fewer https://www.equity.org.uk/advice-and-support/rates-and-agreements?categoryId=2455&areaOfWorkId=2457&productionTypeId=2513&tabId=null so it is a low rate.
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands what exactly are we comparing to? Professional theatre production in a capital city right?
Cloud Quinn@kayeluvian @deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands Cool how the reply guys ignore the wider points made because they feel they can argue the toss about hourly rates. The industry is full of rich people who can afford to work cheap. I’m sure the producers of this production mean well but it normalises associating trans creatives with charity. We deserve to be paid for our work, and, as Kaylee has explained, it’s much more complicated than a simple hourly rate.
@kayeluvian @deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands Auditions require hours of prep - not paid. Once featured in a role, you are associated with it. Patrick Stewart lost roles to directors who asked “why would I want Captain Picard in my movie?” This doesn’t happen with other jobs!
@cloudquinn @deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands exactly. Actors don’t work 9-5, we may only do a two hour show at 5pm BUT that show precludes us easily doing any other work or appearing in other shows. So UK average wage being £18 an hour means we get paid what £36 for what ends up being a days work (or a day blocked out so we cannot otherwise work) and that £36 a day is meant to be a great deal? Or we should work for free? The entitlement and lack of thought is breathtaking.
Off Broadway in NYC, and charitable productions in Silicon Valley, so yes?
Sounds like actors in the UK really do get paid much better. I wonder how much of a shock it is when folks travel over here and learn that only a tiny number overall make a living.
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands US equity recommends $1000 per week off-Broadway https://actingmagazine.com/2025/01/what-is-the-minimum-salary-for-actors-equity-performers/ so you should be getting way *more* than £150 for three days.
Also, we’re talking £150 for three days (two rehearsals, god knows how long, plus the night itself) in one of the most expensive cities in the world- two nights in the most basic motel will consume all of that £150.
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands like what company were you with and who was your agent?
I wish I was that fancy! I was all on my own just showing up for open calls.
I'm also talking quite a while back for me in NYC, but none of my friends who are still active there are able to support themselves, even pre-pandemic.
If they didn't advertise outside of social media, it makes me wonder if they've already got their cast arranged and it's with people who are either local and can afford it, or are in it for the exposure (gods I hope not).
I am glad to hear UK equity pays a living wage!
@deirdrebeth @herhandsmyhands Equity try, but yeah it's basically very very hard to survive here. I have a "day job" that pays the bills, as do most of us : ( and yes I think that's the case - you summed it up.
Unity, Thing Doer@herhandsmyhands What a wonderful man. What an absolute darling!
I wish there were more folks in the UK media that were half as brave as him.
I wish there were more folks in the UK media that were half as brave as him.
Graham Scambler