Kate O’Donnell, who is herself trans, pulled out of Breakfast on Pluto over casting decision

A transgender actor has spoken of her disappointment and tears after she felt forced to withdraw from a high-profile musical because the main role of a trans woman was given to a cisgender man.

Kate O’Donnell was to play the mother in Breakfast on Pluto, an adaptation of the Booker prize-shortlisted novel which tells the story of a trans woman’s escape from rural Ireland at the height of the Troubles.

But after the lead role of Patrick/Pussy Braden was given to a cisgender man, the Northern Irish actor Fra Fee, O’Donnell decided she had no choice but to drop out of the production.

After news of O’Donnell’s decision broke, an open letter condemning the casting gathered more than 650 signatures by Wednesday afternoon, including the artistic directors of Derby theatre and London’s Gate theatre.

The show’s producers and hosting theatres have defended the casting. They said they had reached out to the Irish transgender community through multiple channels, and auditioned a number of performers who identified as transgender for the role.

But O’Donnell said she thought they could have looked harder. “I know at least five people who could be Pussy who would be great,” she added.

Breakfast on Pluto became a successful film in 2005, directed by Neil Jordan and starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role of Patrick/Pussy Braden. This year it becomes a musical, to be premiered in Galway in July before transferring to Dublin, the Birmingham Rep and the Donmar Warehouse in London.

O’Donnell told the Guardian how her excitement turned to disappointment when told a cis man was cast in the lead. “I said, ‘Are you prepared for what is going to happen with that? Have you thought that through?’” After talking to friends and people in the community, she withdrew from the show.

“When you do this it just perpetuates the idea that trans women are men … They are dressing up and misleading people. Also, creatively, it is just not interesting. To see a man in a dress, which is kind of what it will be, it reminds people of blacking up.

“The sad thing is to cast a trans person and me, having a trans mother having a go at their trans child … I think it could have been electric. It could have been quite magical. I think the arts world don’t get that … We are actually very interesting and when you put us in things, people see stories differently. That is what art is about – art is about helping people to see the world differently, and when you do this, nothing changes.

“This show will not change anything.”

The actor Tigger Blaize, who played a role in drawing up Equity guidance on the subject, published last year, said Fee’s casting was devastating.

“Transgender actors struggle to be seen for good roles,” he said. “The number of explicitly trans roles in musicals is very small. If trans actors are only seen for trans roles, and they are being denied the opportunity to even play these, where does it leave us in creating rich, diverse, and truly representative characters on our stages? Young people have no role models, or footsteps in which to follow, either.”

O’Donnell acknowledged that there was a relatively small number of trans performers but said that there were reasons for that. “Theatre and performance is very gendered. A lot of trans people don’t feel comfortable even going for an audition. Because it is so gendered, what do you read?”

In a statement the show’s producers said: “We acknowledge that we all need to do more to support the trans community and the development of trans artists and we are looking to amplify and celebrate trans voices in other ways as part of the production.”

It said a key member of the core creative team was trans and trans actor Rebecca Root was a consultant. The Donmar is also to hold an actor showcase for trans performers in collaboration with Gendered Intelligence.

“Why not a workshop for artistic directors of theatres?” said O’Donnell.

The casting of cis men and women in trans roles is a contentious issue. In 2018 Scarlett Johannson withdrew from her role as a transgender man in the film Rub & Tug after a backlash.

Eddie Redmayne, Oscar-nominated for his role as a transgender pioneer in 2015 film The Danish Girl, has in interviews acknowledged “years of cisgender success on the back of trans stories”. He said: “I hope there’s a day when there are more trans actors and trans actresses playing trans parts, but also cisgender parts. And I hope – as an actor one hopes – that one should be able to play any sort of part if one plays it with a sense of integrity and responsibility.”

For O’Donnell, founder and director of Trans Creative and the Trans Vegas Festival, the experience has been a bruising one.

“I literally have cried quite a lot, I’ve been very upset … my poor boyfriend. I’ve just felt a bit lost in the whole situation.”

She added: “What is sad is that I’m not getting attention for me being in my second musical.”

“It would be really nice if trans people got the right attention. Not being a debate, not being at the centre of something, not being outed … that is what I’m sad about. I’m sad about the state of the industry. I’m sad that I didn’t have my time on the stage in the West End. I’m a 55-year-old trans person, my options are quite limited.”