Do LGBT+ roles need to be played by LGBT+ performers? In a world of fiction and fantasy, does it matter if straight or cisgender actors take queer or transgender roles (and vice versa), or is it a modern-day echo of old Hollywood casting white actors as people of colour?

Questions of representation and authenticity are very much at the forefront of LGBT+ storytelling. When those questions were raised at an earlier festival, a well-known British actor replied, “It’s called acting, darling!” But is there more to it than that?

In association with Queer Arts Collective