Harry
Stokes
"The man-woman of manchester"
A VICTORIAN PIONEER of human rights and Trancestory
Watch the archive scratch 1st ever recording of 'Harry Stokes: "The Man-Woman of Manchester,"
a Victorian Pioneer of Human Rights and Trancestory.
@godrag International Festival Berlin 04/09/22
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING...
"So pleased to finally see this come to fruition all these years later. Thank you to the TransAction Theatre Co”
Prof Stephen Whittle, OBE, FAcSS, Press for Change
“Joey’s energy moving from historical narrator, to character, through romance to domestic tension and Victorian legality is dynamic, moving AND funny. This work has it all!”
Greg Thorpe, GAZE LGBTQ+ Film Festival Director
“AMAZING WORK !!!”
Del LaGrace Volcano
“The Gender Joker, is Manchester’s very own ‘Female Man,’ perfectly matched to produce the true story of Harry Stokes; outed in the Guardian 200 years ago as “The Man-Woman of Manchester.”We are transported brilliantly back in time in a hybrid journey of VR, multi-media, music and theatre - proving that gender nonconforming identities have always existed.”
Holly Revell, ‘People Like Us.’
"Joey is a fantastic almighty talent, with years of hard work that have certainly paid off ! Let's get this vitally important work widely disseminated”
Piroska Cavell, Medical Director, Private Aesthetics and Wellbeing Clinic, Whitstable, Kent.
"To see our history and come to this place and feel the community is REALLY nice.”
Young Trans Person, Berlin
“PHENOMENAL"
Mo B. Dick - Drag King History, USA+ View video here
“To see Harry’s story emerge from acorn to sapling and tree of passionate lived experience is an inspiration. The importance of resilience and resistance through centuries now unearthed by standing on the shoulders of giants, is a result in a shared understanding that we all benefit from hearing the silenced voices of our ancestors.”
Specialist
This production brings to life an important hidden narrative and a vital part of working class history from the North of England. Harry Stokes is beautifully reimagined through Joey Hateley’s upbeat and heroic portrayal, which manages to balance heartbreak with tenderness and joy. The production is always entertaining and hats off to Jo Rose’s co-composed music score. Harry and Joey are resilient, full of love and are both true pioneers.
Cilla Baynes Creative-Producer/Artist/Activist, Manchester.
"Fabulous education for 14+ PSHE, GCSE and A level history, sociology, performance students, with tailor made workshops to fit every organisation; from museums, universities and beyond - live and on-line.”
Head Teacher, Northwest, UK
“Finally we get to tell OUR stories. We have been around forever - and always will be. Joey puts their heart and soul into this performance”
Mzz Kimberly. View Video here
“A wonderful enchanting, beautifully researched piece, achieving unimaginable depth, breadth and inspirational courage from 200 years ago, which still goes on today.”
Cathy Milligan, Musical Pro. Berlin
“As someone from the North of England, this was really powerful to see and hear. Growing up I didn’t know trans people existed, so knowing they’ve been there for 200 hundred years and more is really self affirming and validating - as we say in Germany, Danke Schoen.”
Queer Artist, Berlin
“Really powerful and strong, showing all the different levels and layers of how drag is not just a show or entertainment; but full of depth in real life stories that not a lot of people know about - WOW!”
Bridge Markland, Co-Founder & Artistic Director @godrag
"Joey and their contemporaries have been putting in so much work for a very long time in the margins, so it's really important to remind people there is a long history of trans people that exist.”
Elenor, Arts Curator, Berlin
Harry's story
Harry built chimneys by hand until 1860 and is proud to be part of Manchester's worker bee history. From a young age they dreamed of having their own trade, on their own terms. Women weren't allowed to run businesses and Harry knew they'd never be another man's property. The Victorians called Harry an 'epicene' - not man, not woman, but in-between. As a pioneer of equal human rights, Harry would be honoured to shake your hand in solidarity with those silenced in the shadows on the periphery. In-situ filming, live performance and digital technology will shine light on this unsung hero's journey, with ghostly shivers that transport you back in time to celebrate their iconic story.
docu-promo
TransAction will integrate socio-historical issues engaging with diverse spectrum's of Manchester's marginalised communities. The intersectionality of gender, sexuality, class, age, disability and cultural diversity will create inclusive dialogue and positive action through politics of allegiance. Participatory projects and professional performances will be documented in line with GDPR for a myriad of outcomes. Live and on-line feedback from participants, audiences, academics, LGBT leaders and artistic experts will also inform the on-going making of the docu-promo process, with high-quality praxis. As the AD of TransAction Theatre with 30 years experience, a first class BA Hon's, PGCE distinction in Theatre teaching and MA in Ed Research, we specialise in delivering 'Diversity, Equality and Empowerment' participatory performance projects to collectively shape the making of Harry's story.
about harry
Manchester's queer feminist activist historian Jenny White
generously shared their research about Harry here:
As Victorian women were owned by their fathers or husbands and not allowed to run businesses, Harry escaped their gendered rural fate of poverty, with an apprenticeship to become a bricklayer. Married at Doncaster Cathedral to Ann, they moved to Industrial Manchester and employed many skilled labourers. Harry became a volunteer special police constable, until 22 years later when he was strip-searched and ordered to close his business and leave the house and belongings to Ann in divorce proceedings 1838 that hit the Guardian. Harry then moved to Salford with an older partner and their son who ran a pub, while Harry continued their bricklaying business.
In 2020 Jenny White found another exciting Manchester Guardian article from 1855, reminding everyone about Harry again, destroying his reputation for a 2nd time. Jenny kindly passed on this 'scandalously infamous' discovery involving an Irish Trans woman called Maria, convicted of loitering for indecent purposes and petty theft who was court ordered to leave Manchester. Four years later, Harry was found in the River Irwell, assumed to have committed suicide, when their body was again confirmed female. 60 years was an exceptional age to live to in Victorian times, so Harry could have had a heart attack, stroke, slipped and banged his head and fallen into the canal or been purposefully drowned.
Hero harry
It is imperative Harry is not represented as a victim, but celebrated as a skilled, heroic entrepreneur and ground-breaking activist who challenged the system and the status quo throughout their lifetime. Harry's ghost speaks in allegiance with the people on the periphery in Manchester over the last 160 years. In collaboration with long term associates and new media artists we will create historical backdrop projections, merged with moving image and soundscapes to contextualise and bring to life a Victorian Manchester. This multimedia performance will be an interactive hybrid blending live theatre, new technology, film and moving image that will be globally accessible in multiple formats. Produced for pop up, theatre, digital spaces, intimate studios with Q&A, or pre-recored installations with educational online episodes, audiences will be able to contribute in writing or add to the on-going video diary; part of the docu-promo film about the making of Harry, integrated on social media platforms.
Outreach
With support from LGBT+ History Month's associated networks and partnership organisations of 250K outreach, our process will be informed by dialogue with local communities, industry experts, LGBT+ leaders and global academics. Ambassador to this project and co-chair of Schools Out and LGBT+ History Month is Sue Sanders, with in-kind support by Dan Vo, queer museum expert and media producer at heavy-entertainment in Soho London. Local partnerships, ACE, LGBTQ+ History Month and godrag! International Festival, Berlin continue to support this on-going collaborative process of making and engaging with Manchester and beyond through Harry's universal storey.
LGBT+heritage
LGBT+ heritage has been excluded from public records, cast aside to be mostly archived in criminal court cases and alluded to in derogatory street ballads akin to circus freak shows. Like many transgressive pioneers few records exist about Harry, immortalised in street songs with no voice of their own. Whether Harry is read as Non-Binary, an F2M or Trans-Masc, their story remains historically recorded in newspapers and street ballads as an 'Epicene Man-Woman.' Transcestory did not exist with positive role models that educate the mainstream of how to include us - until now.
Historical AFab's (Assigned Female at Birth) are globally rare, let alone working class F2M hero's. Harry and the worker bees on the periphery fought to reform the working conditions of the 'disenfranchised under-class' 'disabled' 'refugee and asylum seekers' through protest over the last 160 years. We have a collective responsibility to celebrate and continue the journey of our collective heritage, for the benefit of past, present and future generations.
