A musical adaptation of the book Breakfast on Pluto will be played by Irish actor Fra Fee.
The play is set to be released by the end of 2020. Breakfast on Pluto – the musical will be staged at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in England. The Theatre is said to be working with a trans led charity group for training and consultancy.
The novel Breakfast on Pluto was already made into a movie in 2005. The book tells the story of a trans woman who escapes from her alcoholic foster mother and goes in search for her biological mother. The play is set to take place in 1960. The character of the lead role Patrick / Pussy Braden, a trans woman leaves her town and moves to London in search of her biological mother. She survives in the street of London as a prostitute who is picked up by both men and women. She is then later suspected to be an IRA bomber.
Though the casting of Fra Fee was taken positively by the industry, there were questions on social media over casting a cis man to play the role of trans woman. A lot of theatre students from the queer community asked why the casting was not given to a trans woman who can play the role better than a man? The movie Breakfast on Pluto was played by Cillian Murphy, a cis male actor.
Though there was rage against the casting, the Donmar – the theatre casting agency said that a wide search for the lead role was conducted among the Irish trans community through multiple channels. The casting team having a leading trans actor Rebecca Root as a panelist failed to find the right trans personality who could match the voice of the lead role.
