Leamington tennis club to host electropop musical exploring queer invisibility in the sport
Leamington Tennis Club will be the venue for a performance of a new electropop musical exploring queer invisibility in the sport next month.
Fairlight, by Alexandra Taylor and Michael Wolters, is set in the Victorian period and centres around the relationship between lawn tennis pioneers Harry Gem and Augurio Perera and how it was shaped by the moral codes of the time.
Although both were married, there is speculation as to whether they were friends or lovers.
Alexandra, the musical’s writer and co-artistic director, said: “We know that there are people in history who lived and died without their queerness being known.
"There’s so many invisible stories from the past that we will never know about because they have left no evidence behind.
“What we’re doing with this show is asking the question ‘what if Harry and Augurio were two of those invisible queer people?’
"We can never know, but the show looks at the ‘what if?’ question.
"We’re not telling a gay love story from the past that nobody knew about, we are asking ‘what if?’ and I think it’s important that we engage with the fact that there is no evidence and what that evidence would be if there was.”
The more Alex and co-artistic director Michael researched the story, the more it revealed interconnections between life and sport.
Alex said: “Everything is about rules and who writes the rules.
“There were social rules at the time but also the legal rules that were governing people’s sexual behaviour.
"And then there’s also the fact Harry and Augurio created these tennis rules and what was a correct shot and what was not a correct shot.”
Fairlight’s story covers both prosecutions of gay men during Victorian times and queer invisibility in tennis today.
The show features interviews with current LGBTQ+ tennis professionals including president of the US Tennis Association Brian Vahaly, Pride in Tennis founder Ian Pearson-Brown, former doubles world number one Gigi Fernandez and tennis journalist Nick McCarvel.
Michael said: “Whatever sport you turn to, maybe apart from gymnastics and diving which are sports that have openly gay competitors, there is a massive problem of homophobia and the question for us was why?”
The show takes place at the club in Guys Cliffe Avenue on Saturday July 11 from 7pm.
For tickets visit https://fairlightmusical.co.uk/tour-dates/