Cowboys and Lesbians is a fun, silly, queer coming-of-age romantic comedy from fresh voices for a young audience. The show subverts Hollywood’s romcoms, examining the harmful tropes and tales that movies tell us and flipping them on their heads. Nina and Noa, repressed British teenagers and best friends, set out to write a parody of the classic American coming-of-age romcom in this hilarious and subversive… romcom.
As Nina and Noa make fun of the limiting and harmful cliches and stereotypes that are fed to young women, all while wishing that exciting romances were really happening to them, another narrative begins to emerge, parodying the rhythm and characters of a classic rom-com. But the grand, dramatic romance they have been dreaming of might just have been in front of them the whole time.
Cowboys and Lesbians queers the romantic comedy genre, examining how the stories we consume deeply affect the ones we tell about ourselves.
Would you mind giving us a brief insight into what your show is?
Hey, I’m Billie, the writer and director of Cowboys and Lesbians. By day I work as a tv script editor, which I love and obsessively talk about. I can recite the whole of the Simpson’s Movie by heart, and I also play the banjo (perhaps unsurprising, given the name of my play).
Cowboys and Lesbians is the little queer romcom child of my heart. It’s about two repressed British schoolfriends, Nina and Noa, who start writing a parody of American coming-of-age romance, only for the colourful, familiar characters in it to come to life onstage and help them figure out what they actually feel for each other. It’s about the role that fiction and fantasy play in our sexualities, and also about how unrelatable and misguided a lot of teen representation is.
Tell us about the creative team and process involved?
Els (Eleanor Birdsall-Smith) is my amazing producer (and literal best friend). We met on the first night of university when I believe told Els I wanted to just ‘become a novelist and pop out a couple of kids’(!?). To be honest I don’t know if loads have changed.
We were so lucky to get the amazing cast that we did. I had worked with Julia Pilkington (who plays Nina) previously and basically wrote the part for her hoping she would do it. Finding Georgia (who plays Noa) was more of a trick of fate – I recently learned that she found our auditions call out but searching the hashtag ‘auditions’ on Twitter. Thank the lord she did. Her call-back made Els cry and she has been thrilling, entertaining and moving us ever since.
This is actually the second time we are putting this show on (though it used to be called Scholar’s Creek). It sold out the White Bear Theatre in London last year. A couple of reviewers who came to see it apparently wet themselves they were laughing so much – so we thought we’d better do it again!
How does it feel coming to the Fringe?
It’s my first time bringing a show to the fringe, so I’m sh*tting myself, obviously. Even though we’ve literally done the show before I’m still petrified of empty, non-laughy audiences. But I also feel incredibly excited about all the amazing people I’m going to meet – I can’t wait to soak up the creative atmosphere, see sick stuff and meet the amazing people who made it. Also, the Cowboys and Lez team is so close-knit that I know we’ll have fun no matter what. We make ourselves laugh hysterically in rehearsals so in a way maybe it doesn’t matter if anyone comes?!
There are over 3,000 shows at the Fringe. So, what sets your show apart?
The play is genuinely two for the for the price of one – a fruity, parody coming-of-age film set on a ranch in the US, Russian-dolled inside a love story about two sarcastic British teenagers. Really something for everyone!
Is there anything specific you’re hoping for the audience to take away?
I hope it encourages people to continue exploring and questioning their sexualities. Sexuality doesn’t just concern gender – you can also fancy certain dynamics, behaviours, personalities etc… and we don’t need to stop having fun thinking about all this just because we ‘grow up’.
Your ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t there…
I would actually love a healthy number of teenagers in the audience. The show is about teenagehood and learning to admit you fancy people, after all. Also there’s a chance some of them might have watched as many genre parody TikToks and Instagram reels as me…
I’d say no homophobes, but… our show is so feel-good I’m sure we’d convert them. Maybe we should put “impossible to leave this play homophobic” on our posters. Some conservative elderly relatives did end up attending the last run and said that it was very “thought-provoking”, which I took as a compliment.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
I’m already fantasising about the movie nights we’ll have in our flat. Julia and I have been making our way through the Scream movies so I definitely plan on subjecting everyone to some of that.
There are so many fab queer shows I can’t wait to see! Kit Sinclair’s 30 and Out (@PrenticeProds), @NovTheatre’s queer football show Pitch and 52 Monologues for Young Transexuals from @NMTSTheatre just to name a few! I’m also really looking forward to going to watch both versions of What Can Indian Look Like, a set of two alternating shows about the Indian Diaspora that is travelling over from Canada.
In your ideal world, how can we improve the world of the Fringe, of performance, and the industry?
I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say about this by the end of August (!). For now, though, I’m feeling very loved, and supported and I’m just excited to make connections.
