A chance encounter was all it took for playwright Rowland Hill to discover Claude Cahun – a remarkable Jewish woman who was a surrealist photographer, sculptor and writer.
“I was writing a play set in the 1930s about the rise of Oswald Moseley and the rise of fascism in Europe, within the context of what is going on today,” Rowland explains. “And while I was researching Moseley, I came across Claude Cahun. I hadn’t planned on writing another play set in the 1930s but, when I discovered what an amazing life this relatively unknown person led, I knew I had to tell her story.”
Born Lucy Schwob in Nantes, France, in 1894, into a distinguished Jewish family, her uncle was the avant-garde writer Marcel Schwob and her father Maurice was a newspaper editor and a supporter of Dreyfuss. It was a very brave stance to take and made life difficult for Lucy, so much so that her father sent her to boarding school in England to get away from the antisemitism she experienced in school.
As an adult Lucy adopted the new identity of Claude Cahun. Gender fluid, she was famous for her androgynous appearance. Cahun and her lover Suzanne Malherbe (whose pseudonym was Marcel Moore) lived in France where Cahun founded the leftwing anti-fascist group Contre Attaque, which was a union of communist writers, workers and artists including Picasso, Dali, André Breton and George Bataille.
Claude and Marcel moved to Jersey in 1937 heralding the start of their remarkable bravery. The play follows Claude after the Nazis occupied the island in 1940 when they created ‘Guerilla Art’ to question what was happening. Together they created Der Soldat Ohne Namen – The Soldier With No Name – and risked their lives attending many German military events in Jersey placing anti-fascist pamphlets in the soldiers pockets, cigarette boxes and chairs.
Claude Cahun (Image courtesy of Jersey Heritage)
Musician and artist David Bowie was one of Claude’s greatest fans. On discovering Claude’s work, he said: “You could call her transgressive or you could call her a crossdressing Man Ray with surrealist tendencies. Outside of France and now the UK she has not had the kind of recognition that, as a founding follower, friend and worker of the original surrealist movement, she surely deserves.
In writing the play Rowland Hill has carried out extensive research. “Claude was an artist, a troubled person who confronted trouble with bravery and determination to present herself. She had a complex mix of identities with so many masks. Her courage and determination to be herself is still very relevant today. Claude’s story is a tale from the past with much to teach about activism and gender identity.”
The play is set primarily in the 1930 and 1940s with flashbacks to Claude’s earlier life. In a quest for authenticity the cast of five includes Lilit Lesser, a queer transperson with a Jewish background playing the title role of Claude, and Amelia Armande, who is non-binary and queer, as her lover.
Who is Claude Cahun? is proving immensely popular with tickets selling fast. On Sunday 21 June, after the 7.30pm performance, there is a post-show Q&A on how her Jewish heritage informed Claude Cahun’s work with a panel that includes Aviva Dautch (Executive Director of Jewish Renaissance) and Ashleigh Loeb, a queer Jewish practitioner, discussing how Claude Cahun’s Jewish heritage impacted their work.
Who Is Claude Cahun? is at Southwark Playhouse (Borough )18 June – 12 July. southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
