James Cast

How did you get involved with 20 Stories High?

In 2013, I saw a touring production called Whole and loved it. I loved the combination of music with acting and spoken word and fell in love with the company. In 2015, I was given the opportunity to attend an open workshop and, at the end of the session, I was offered a place in the youth theatre. I attended the youth theatre for two years and moved to the young actors’ company. I took a break for a year and when I came back, it was doing auditions for Touchy.

Can you tell me about the film you made, Max’s Story?

When I attended the workshop in 2019, I raised a point that, since transitioning, I have a different relationship with touch. As a man, an accidental touch on the bus can be interpreted differently because of the culture around men and being inappropriate. I’ve been conscious of that since I transitioned. When I was offered the role, Keith [Saha] and Julia [Samuels, 20 Stories High co-artistic directors] were keen to explore this. We brainstormed it and they went away and wrote it. We created a degree of separation, but, at the end, I said: “This is my story.” So, we made some changes and it became semi-autobiographical.

It’s about a young trans man who is navigating his way through greetings with other men. Men greet each other differently to women and we’ve put together this guide for men who are having the same issues Max has. I wanted it to be a story of support for people who experience the things I did when I was transitioning. I wanted it to be entertainment but also a way to say: “You’re not alone, other people are experiencing this,” because I thought I was alone for a long time.

I knew I wasn’t good with the camera and I was nervous about it, so I suggested making an animation. We came across Kay Dale from Comics Youth, which is a company in Liverpool that works with LGBT+ young people, and she was brilliant. She took the idea and ran with it. I wanted the film to be friendly – not an infomercial. I wanted it to be as if Max was posting on his YouTube channel.

What have you learned during the creative process?

I know there are things I need to do before and after I go into a rehearsal space – checking in and checking out with myself. I need to leave things from rehearsals at the door so I don’t ruminate on them. We saw an artist well-being practitioner who made sure we weren’t being overwhelmed and if anyone felt something wasn’t right it was changed – no questions asked. 20 Stories has been good at making sure we’re okay.

How would you like to see the industry change?

We need to make more space for trans people. There’s been a lot of news about cis-gender people being cast in trans or gender-non-conforming roles and no matter how hard you say you’re searching for a trans performer, if you don’t find one you haven’t done your search correctly. There are many talented trans people and they are overlooked because they don’t seem masculine or feminine enough, or maybe they’re just too out of the box.

CV James Cast

Training: Youth theatre at Altru Drama (2009-16)
First professional role: Co-creator and performer in Max’s Story, part of the Touchy series for 20 Stories High (2019-21)
Agent: None

Max’s Story is available from June 17. 20storieshigh.org.uk