With an increase in anti-gay bullying in schools, it’s an issue that has begun to worry teachers and galvanised Stonewall into tackling the subject head-on. The result is Fit, an innovative new play which aims to tackle the problem and is helping raise awareness among young people by touring schools and theatres up and down the country.

Earlier this year Stonewall’s The School Report found that almost 65% of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils had experienced homophobic bullying in schools. The survey also found that 90% of young gay people had heard insulting homophobic language used in schools and half did not feel comfortable to be open about their sexual orientation. It is hoped that the play will address some of those issues and help change attitudes among young people who, for whatever reasons, remain far from gay-friendly.

Co-produced by Stonewall and the queerupnorth international festival, Fit is written and directed by acclaimed writer and director Rikki Beadle-Blair, whose credits include Bashment, Stonewall and Metrosexuality.

The play features young characters, both straight and gay, as they are all stuck on a bus heading for a college dance contest. Hip-hop dance, original music and sparky comedy combine to make this a play that is entertaining for all ages.

We caught up with Rikki to find out more.

I believe that after the play there’s a Q & A session? What’s been the reaction of the kids?
They’re aged 11 to 14 and hitting their sexuality at that point and they’re incredibly flirtatious. It’s amazing how in the workshops, which last an hour, you can go from many putting their hands up when asked who doesn’t approve of homosexuality to them finally saying you should be proud of being gay and applauding.

It’s incredible how in an hour you can get them to go from complete rejection and fear – and honesty about it – to finally going, ‘What’s the big deal?’

What’s the initial response when you first enter a school?
They always want to know if the cast and I are gay. I tell them that they have to earn our trust and why would anyone come out to them if they thought they’d be ridiculed or not accepted?

Why are some kids so homophobic? Is it mainly in certain schools or where there’s religious or culture influences like rap-music?
I don’t think that black people are more homophobic than white people, although I know it’s perceived that way because of some of the music and songs. It has to be remembered that it’s white people in the House of Commons who are in a legislative position and it’s those people who have spent years saying that homosexuality shouldn’t be equalised and that gay people shouldn’t get married.

If anything, I think class is a major factor, for both white and black communities. Working class people can be more aggressively homophobic and black people who happen to be working class do tend to express it in a more in your face way. But I can see why people perceive black people to be more anti because in Jamaica homosexuality is illegal. But then it’s not as if you can walk through the Gorbals or little Welsh villages and be gay and out and they’re all fine with it!

"It was really interesting how they were prepared to flirt with it and even say, ‘Maybe I might be gay?’ Some thirteen year old kids put their hands up and said, ‘What’s your phone number?’ and I’m going ‘Whaaaaaaaat?’"

Is there any audience participation in the play?
No, the play’s an hour long and the kids, black, white, boys, girls - they all react especially when the two girls in the play kiss. It’s a surprise kiss and the kids react very spontaneously to it, which is great. They all go agggghhhhhhhhh! And then I’m in a position where I can say after the play in the Q&A, ‘Why did you react like that?’ And they’re honest, they say that they haven’t seen it before or that they didn’t expect to see it in their school etc. They talk about their fear if a friend was gay, and that they’d be frightened if they would then come on to them.

How do you and the cast deal with that attitude?
You make it a joke – you turn the tables on them. About the fear aspect, we say to them ‘Okay, so every single gay person is going to go after you - you’re a gay magnet then are you?’ And then they’re like ‘Oh no, it’s not what we mean’. It’s interesting because you make them think about it logically.

The old chestnut always comes up, that if everyone was gay then we wouldn’t have children and I put the spanner in the works when I tell them that my mum’s gay and that I come from a gay family. When the ‘how were you born then?’ crops up I explain that some people get folks in to do their houses, some their gardens, some to help bring up their kids and some to help others have kids. It doesn’t mean they don’t love their house, their garden or their kids. And the kids are like, ‘Oh okay, we get it!’

It has more effect putting it logically and with humour and listening to them, not shutting them down for being frightened.

What kind of things do you talk about in the workshops?
We talk about the word ‘gay’ because they use it all the time, you know, ‘that’s so gay man,’ and then when confront them about it they say, ‘We don’t mean gay, we don’t mean it in a homophobic way’. So we then say, ‘Well, transfer that to that is so white, or black, or Irish – how does that work?’ - and you can see them thinking, getting it a bit. Then they’ll say, ‘That’s not we’re intending and probably gay people use it as well’.

Do you think that might be the case that they don’t really mean it in a homophobic way?
Probably, but I’ll say ‘imagine you’re a gay kid and your best friend is going on about ‘This is so gay, that’s gay’ etc and this kid is thinking, ‘Is it me when they use the word gay to mean crap, rubbish and negative things?’

"They always want to know if the cast and I gay. I tell them that they have to earn our trust and why would anyone come out to them if they thought they’d be ridiculed or not accepted?"

So you try and get them to relate to it on an empathy level?
Yes. We’ll ask them why should that kid risk putting their hand up or whisper in a friend’s ear in the playground, ‘By the way, I’m rubbish, I’m crap, I’m queer’ - and slowly you see them getting it.

As I said, they always ask us if we’re gay and we surprise them by saying that we’re not going to tell them. And they’re like, ‘Well your play is gay and you’ve got to be proud to be gay’ and we’ll reply, ‘But are we safe?’

We remind them of their reactions when they’ve gone ‘Uggghh’ after seeing two guys saying they love each other and again ‘Uggghh’ after seeing two girls kiss, and we say ‘You’ve reacted so badly, why would we come out to you? You say you don’t know gay people, but you do. You just don’t know any gay people who can trust you and can we trust you with information as to what our sexuality is?’ They’ll go ‘Yeah, yeah, you can trust us’ and we’ll be ‘No, you have to make us trust you’.

An hour later when we say that they can ask us again and whether we can trust them, they get it, really get it.

How many schoolchildren will you be presenting the show to and have you had any problems from local councils or parents?
About 10,000 kids in around 10 weeks. It’s around 200 kids a day. We’ve had no problems with the authorities or parents. The teachers are very supportive and want this issue dealt with. Although I did get into trouble when one little boy was being vile and I called him fascistic. People got a bit upset with me for that. But you know reacting harshly is not the way to go even though some kids who are being vile can push you. I just say to them ‘You can do better, I’m your friend here’ and they get it.

When you bring them in with humour and their language and once they feel that they’re being listened to they are willing to listen to you.

"It’s incredible how in an hour you can get them to go from complete rejection and fear – and honesty about it – to finally going, ‘What’s the big deal?’"

I believe that your experience at a Muslim school was interesting?
The teachers thought that maybe we shouldn’t do the Q&A because it may kick off and I said let’s just do five minutes and if it doesn’t feel right we’ll close it down. And we had a little boy saying, ‘I love you’. Literally saying, ‘I love you’ and it was an almost entirely Muslim school of kids.

They did talk about their religion and stuff but they were still prepared to think about things. It’s interesting, culturally, because they were going, ‘Well, you’re a girl, you act like a girl’ and I was saying, ‘No, I don’t act like a girl’ and it was ‘No, you’re like a girl, I like you, I like you’ and then ‘I love you’ by the end of the session.

It was really interesting how they were prepared to flirt with it and even say, ‘Maybe I might be gay?’ Some thirteen year old kids put their hands up and said, ‘What’s your phone number?’ and I’m going ‘Whaaaaaaaat?’

We had a great response in that school and it has to be remembered that the teachers who aren’t Muslim got in touch with us about this because the kids were appearing so homophobic. It’s a big thing in schools. They’re hearing the word ‘gay’ all the time in a negative way and seeing the fear of it and something really needs to be done to address it. Hopefully we’re doing our bit to try and change perceptions.

Find out more at www.stonewall.org.uk/fit.


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