New Play TERF Takes On J.K. Rowling at Edinburgh Fringe

TERF, a new one-act play set to premiere on August 2nd at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has become one of the most talked-about plays heading to the festival this year.

The play takes on J.K. Rowling, the billionaire creator of the Harry Potter universe and the most vocal celebrity supporter of the gender-critical movement, which seeks to ban transgender women from women-only spaces and services.

The controversy comes at a bad time for Warner Bros. Discovery, where a big-budget Harry Potter series is currently in development at HBO, with Rowling taking part in the production.

The Potter Series is one of Warner Bros. most profitable and beloved franchises - with assets including the original films, the Fantastic Beasts spin offs, several theme parks, studio tours where revenue alone has surpassed $1 Billion, video games, retail locations, and merchandise.  

TERF was penned by American playwright and screenwriter Joshua Kaplan, who most recently worked on Max’s Tokyo Vice. (Max is the future streaming home of the Harry Potter TV series.)

The play’s creative team insists the production is not a hit piece and has asked Rowling to attend the show - what Kaplan insists is a genuine invitation and not an attempt at "trolling" in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"There’s some kind of impulse in me to take a word that people are throwing around in a derogatory way and throw it back in their face..." said Kaplan.

Kaplan began working on the script in late 2020, not long after Rowling began expressing transphobic views on social media. Following the backlash, including from the three stars of the Harry Potter films - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint -  Kaplan began to envision "a conversation" between them.

"The premise is that Daniel, Emma, and Rupert organize an intervention," Kaplan said to THR. "There are then interspersed flashback scenes that serve to explain how Rowling developed her rigid views about gender."

The part of J.K. Rowling will be played by London-based actress Laura Kay Bailey.

Earlier this year, J.K. Rowling said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) she would not forgive Daniel Radcliffe for his support of the transgender community.

In response to a post from a supportive commenter who wrote "Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology ... safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them..." Rowling replied "Not safe, I’m afraid. Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces."