Non-Binary Writer Tabby Lamb’s New Play ‘Happy Meal’ Opens At Sydney Festival
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Non-binary writer and performer Tabby Lamb’s new play Happy Meal is currently showing as part of the Sydney Festival.
In a conversation with Star Observer, Lamb talked about the inspiration behind the play and why it is so important for LGBTQI+ representation.
Set in the mid-2000s, Happy Meal is about two kids who meet on the internet.
“Over the course of their friendship, they learn more about themselves, about each other, they fall in love with themselves,” Lamb said, before teasing, “maybe they fall in love with each other– who knows.”
‘Technically, This Is A Period Piece’
Talking about why it is important for trans actors to play trans characters, Lamb said, “A trans person’s going to do a better job of playing a trans person than a cis person.”
They continued, “A trans person is also going to do a better job at playing a cis person than a cis person because in order to be trans you have to think about gender. You have to completely interrogate yourself and find out who you are, who you want to be, and how to physically present that to the world.”
Discussing the inspiration behind Happy Meal, Lamb explained, “I was a big MySpace kid and went to all of the emo, punk, pop, pop punk festivals, and everything like that. So it’s very inspired by the music I was listening to then; the world that I was a part of then.”
Lamb continued, “It’s weird because to me, it doesn’t feel that long ago, but I mean, technically, this is a period piece now.”
A friend of theirs also helped to plant the seed of inspiration.
“They said, ‘I just want to see a show one day where someone says, ‘You were born in exactly the right body’. I was like, Okay, I’m gonna steal that – love that line,” Lamb shared.
From this line, they “started free writing around [the line] and trying to work out where someone might say that or why someone might say that. And it bubbled over into this online world and these two friends who are both figuring out they’re transferred at different stages of teenagehood and trying to be there for each other as much as they can whilst still being teenagers who are discovering themselves.”
‘It Is Fun. It Is Silly. It Is Romantic’
Closing out the interview, Lamb wanted to get across that, this is not a “big political protest piece,” but a rom-com.
“It is fun. It is silly. It is romantic. It is full of amazing performances and brilliant music and amazing design.”
They went on to say, “I want audiences to leave with a little bit of hope. I want them to leave smiling. I want trans audiences to feel represented. I want cis audiences to feel like they had a really good time at a show that just happened to be about trans people and maybe that’s going to open their minds later on.
“But the most important thing for me is that trans people watching get a little break from the outside world, and they get to watch something that’s not going to trigger them – that they know in advance has a happy ending. That is all about transness and celebrating transness.”
Happy Meal can be seen at the Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst, Sydney from January 17 – 22.
