“LGBTQIA+ audiences have been starved for representations of their intimate lives on stage and screen.” | 5 mins with Robbie Taylor Hunt

Why does this career exist?

Actors are at work, and when they’re asked to perform intimacy (such as simulated sex, kissing, nudity or physical touch), that is something incredibly personal being asked of them in a professional setting. In very few jobs are you expected to get so personal with your colleagues. Intimacy Directors (for live performance) and Intimacy Coordinators (for screen) are trained specialists who are there to facilitate the process, to make it as professional as possible. We provide language, techniques, paperwork, kit and choreography to support the intimacy storytelling and allow actors – and the rest of the creative team – to bring their best work to the room.

Intimacy Directors (IDs) are also there to creatively achieve what is needed for the play’s characters and the story. To boil it down to the basic truth: when it comes to simulated sex, an action needs to look realistic that isn’t actually happening. IDs have the specialist eye, choreography knowledge and movement expertise to achieve that.

 What’s more, IDs are creatives who can help to bring the intimacy to life in a way that is dynamic and compelling, to enhance an audience’s engagement in the performance.

Where do you begin when you first get into the room with actors who could be complete strangers?

Luckily when we’re working in theatre the actors have usually at least known each other for a week or so – but still, it’s not been long! We start with discussing the intimacy as it’s scripted and ensuring we’re all on the same page, understanding the context of the scene and that we know specifically what we’re about to work on. So much of this work is about communication and clarity, and so beginning in this way allows everyone to synchronise and avoid any crossed wires.

What are your main considerations?

The essential tenet of our work is consent. If there is intimate touch happening in the rehearsal room that isn’t consented to, fundamentally, that is sexual harassment. Theatres and theatre companies should have processes in place to deal with sexual harassment regardless of IDs, because of course sexual harassment does not just happen between performers when working on intimate scenes, but the risks are elevated in this setting. 

Also, as wonderful as it can be working in theatre, it’s also an industry where there can be rife power dynamics. Whether it’s between a well-renowned, established director and someone fresh out of drama school, or between a hugely famous and successful actor and a greener actor, those unbalanced relationships can make consent complicated. IDs are there with that consent-based eye to try to help to maintain boundaries throughout.

Is there a difference when you’re working on stage or screen?

Vast differences! On screen, you get to work with the brilliant camera team to help to mask nudity and get the simulated sex choreography to look perfect, all from one POV at a time. On stage, you’re ultimately in one huge wide shot, that has multiple POVs from various angles from the auditorium. So getting simulated sex to look realistic is more tricky.

Additionally, on a TV/Film set you’re performing intimacy for a few hours on one day, for stage you’re performing it every night, potentially for months. So you’ve got to think about action that is sustainable, and have a plan for alternates if needed. However, working on TV & Film often includes a lot more urgency, which can be a fraught space for consent, with only a few hours on one day to get a scene right. Working on intimacy for theatre, you’re afforded more time, more build up across a rehearsal process, you don’t have to solve everything straight away, and the cast have longer to establish a working relationship.

You’ve mentioned being particularly interested in representations of intimacy involving LGBTQIA+ characters and the specific needs of queer performers – can you tell us a bit more about that?

LGBTQIA+ audiences have been starved for realistic, meaningful, diverse representations of their intimate lives on stage and screen. While the last years have garnered many more queer stories, that’s still set against decades with little queer content. What’s more, the queer content we’re seeing is still only scratching the surface of the countless ways that LGBTQIA+ people live, love,  relate, explore romance, and have sex. 

I also think that representative intimacy on stage and screen is more meaningful for queer audiences than for cis-heterosexual audiences. While cis-het audiences can add on-stage and on-screen romantic representations to the many representations of male-female affection they see in everyday life, in theatres and on screen may be one of the only places that queer audiences are getting to experience queer romance, sexuality or love. That means it’s important queer intimacy on stage and screen isn’t tainted by tropes or stereotypes, that it includes compelling choreography, and that it feels real. 

What’s it been like working on Reverberation?

Reverberation is such a delicate story and the intimacy is a central vein through it, which has made it an exciting challenge. We’re seeing a character whose relationship to intimacy is quite different to how they navigate the world generally, so it’s a balancing act creatively to achieve that. 

When I’m working on any play with simulated sex and nudity, I also have to be aware of being true to the characters and story while being mindful of an audience’s relationship to what they’re seeing. The whole team has been considerate to that through the process. Michael, Eleanor and Jack have all been focused, detailed, respectful and lovely actors to get to work with on this wonderful play.