EDINBURGH 2023: BIRTHMARKED Q&A
Brook Tate on bringing Birthmarked to Edfringe 2023
By: Natalie O'Donoghue Jun. 13, 2023
BWW catches up with Brook Tate to chat about bringing Birthmarked to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about Birthmarked.
Birthmarked is a semi-improvised-gig-theatre-musical based on my personal experience growing up and being disfellowshipped (shunned/ex-communicated) from the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Once I had learnt more about the ways it has manipulated its followers and failed to protect its most vulnerable members from abuse, I decided to do what I could to bring it to the attention of the wider public...so I wrote a musical.
Starting in a Kingdom Hall, I play an underwater gig to a whale who then swallows me and my band and in whose belly I transform into a zebra in an attempt to spin the hate speech on its head that 'homosexuality is the same as bestiality' (as I was told just before being shunned) and get reborn as a techno-pop-queer-princess Debra the Zebra. As bonkers as it sounds on paper, its actually very serious....ok maybe its more bonkers than serious...but still.
Who is involved in the creative team?
Hannah Smith, producer of The Wardrobe Ensemble, took us on in 2021 as part of the Theatre on The Downs festival in Bristol, most of which was improvised and we had basically rehearsed it three times in a music studio. Sally Cookson saw the performance and joined the creative team as director - it needed its bolts tightening before we took it to the mainstage of the Bristol Old Vic in May 2022. Chris Perie from Green Ginger puppet theatre company assisted me in making my puppets more robust and is our puppetry director, Max Johns is our designer, designing set and costume and working with Sophia Khan as our costume maker and head of wardrobe, and Jai Morjaira is our lighting designer. John O'Hara joined the team as musical director to help guide us as a band and assist with sound production in live performances. Travis Alabanza and Marietta Kirkbirdge worked as both dramaturgs and outside eyes to help give the show its structure and ensure the message came across as powerfully as possible.
Why did you feel this was an important story to tell?
For a long time I have felt quite powerless in face of the situation. I saw how the religion was leading to the breakdown of my family, as it has with countless other families, and I had no clue what I could do to stop it, especially as my identity was a key factor for blame in that breakdown (at least from the perspective of the religion). But, once I learnt more about the systemic control and abuse the religion is responsible for, I came to a new understanding and a new perspective. I realised that I was not to blame, and I quickly fell into a period of writing. My story is not unique, and I really hope audiences will have a new understanding of what it means to grow up in closed communities and religions. I hope that with collective effort, this religion, and similar groups, can be held account for their actions and stop harming both those who leave and those who are held within them.
Who would you like to come and see it?
In a way, Birthmarked is a message to my siblings. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to them, and this show is that. But maybe its more of a 'till we meet again'... ;)
What would you like audiences to take away from it?
I genuinely hope that people leave feeling both uplifted and curious. If people leave the theatre feeling something must be done about similar situations, then I feel like the show has done it's job. Someone I know now sees a zebra as a symbol for standing up for what you believe and stepping away from a herd that is hurting you, so if the visual side of the show can help others in a similar way too, that would be great :)
Tickets for Birthmarked are available at
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