Actor Lilit Lesser joins us on Close-Up Culture to talk about the poignant new production, Who Is Claude Cahun? This powerful play portrays the extraordinary true story of trailblazing Jewish lesbian artist, Claude Cahun, who defied the Nazi regime through acts of artistic resistance on the occupied island of Jersey during the Second World War.
What drew you to the role of Claude Cahun, and how did you first encounter their story?
I had been aware of Claude Cahun since seeing a glimpse of their work and life with Marcel Moore as part of the Modern Couples exhibit at the Barbican back in 2019. Standing in that gallery, I was completely arrested by them, the images they made, their love, and the life they lived. I myself am a trans non-binary Jewish artist, and suddenly here was a person from another century staring out at me, their shaved head, features and gaze – as I felt it – a mirror of my own.
Claude Cahun was an artist and a resistor—how do you approach balancing those dual identities in your performance?
I’m finding it makes most sense to me when those identities are emanating from one and the same source. The art as inextricably entwined with the resistance. There is a theme throughout the show of other characters wanting to split identities into categories – a surrealist complains that being a lover gets in the way of being an artist, etc. Claude and Marcel defy these binaries on every level, and show that to live your life in alignment with your values, to bind the deeds of your hand to what is written on your heart, is itself a creative act.
The play explores themes of gender identity, resistance, and self-expression—how personally resonant are these themes for you?
These themes are incredibly resonant for me. I think it’s very important that a trans and Jewish person was cast in this role. It is a very unique, beautiful, hard and exhausting experience to exist in society at this intersection of marginalised identities, both in Claude’s time and at this moment now. We need these stories so deeply.
How did you prepare to portray someone so radical and ahead of their time, both artistically and politically?
When approaching the role of a person who has lived, my instinct is always to research their personal history and the context of their time in great detail. Invariably though it’s the tiny, often banal details about their life that catch my attention. For example, what physical pain they might have experienced in their body, or their relationship to animals. (I was delighted to learn that Claude would walk their cat on a lead, or rather let the cat lead them, blindfolded.) This work, though, I have had to approach differently, as I notice no matter how much I read about their life (and wonder whose gaze/bias is recording + shaping the words I read) I don’t feel as though I am receiving as much of a sense of them as I do when I look at their own work, particularly the visual work they produced. A photograph of them together, taken by them, tells me everything on a heart level, while reminding me I can never presume to really know them at all. This balance of knowing and not knowing is I think forming the basis of my relationship to them.
Cahun’s surrealist work and imagery are central to the production—how has that influenced your performance style?
I’ll sadly never know what Claude was really like as a person, but it is my suspicion that people capable of producing wildly surreal works are in fact also very much ordinary people living their lives. I always just want to show what feels true, and I enjoy in theatre the marriage of hyper-realism in performance with surrealism in form – my work with Alexander Zeldin in particular has informed this. I want to show, as much as possible, a real queer couple, with real and quotidian desires, habits, responses, who in the face of horrifying racism, queerphobia and misogyny also happen to choose to perform extraordinary feats of bravery, resistance and creativity.
What was it like working with director David Furlong to bring this immersive and visually rich world to life?
From the start I have had immense respect and warmth for David Furlong, and this has only grown during this process. I was incredibly moved on the first day of rehearsals by his willingness to be truly vulnerable, honest and committed in voicing his support for trans rights. I also appreciate his commitment as a director above all to the truth of the bridge of connection between two people on stage. An actor himself too, he offers exciting and playable notes and has a sensitivity and an openness as an artist that invites others to be brave and share offerings. It’s a joy to share ideas and collaborate with him.
Have you found any unexpected emotional or psychological challenges in embodying Claude’s story?
I’m feeling a lot of rage to be honest. A lot of rage. At how much has apparently changed since their days, and yet how very little. We are falling further and further towards the far right and anti-Jewish racism, racism of all kinds, state-sponsored transphobia (particularly towards trans women/transfemmes), queerphobia and misogyny are rife and ever-climbing. May Claude + Marcel’s example give us strength to resist in our days too.
What do you hope today’s audiences take away from learning about Claude Cahun’s acts of resistance?
I hope it gives people some hope and inspiration that these people existed. That they lived how they lived, resisted how they resisted. Few people seem to know their story and so I hope those who didn’t before can take heart and strength from it.
Did this role change your perception of history, particularly the queer or artistic narratives sidelined during wartime?
I’d already been quite fascinated by the flourishing queer culture of the interwar period in Europe, the pioneering work of Magnus Hirschfeld in creating space for trans people, the works made by queer, Black, and Jewish artists later to be labelled “degenerate art” by the Nazis, etc. I’d focused more on Weimar Germany but I’d like to now hone research in on what life was like as a queer person in Paris between the wars. I have a feeling I will be met with much intrigue, much antisemitism, and much queer drama. Plus ça change.
If Claude Cahun could see this play today, what do you think they would make of it?
What a lovely question. I have no idea. Perhaps it might elicit a wry smile. Perhaps they’d simply sit in the audience, Marcel by their side, together in absolute finery, with their cat in its own seat and a little dish of interval ice cream. Perhaps Claude would sit there wearing a marvellous, inscrutable mask. You’ll have to come and see for yourself.
Who is Claude Cahun? runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Little) from Wednesday 18th June to Saturday 12th July 2025, with press night on Friday 20th June at 7.30pm. Tickets available at www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk.
Title image by Asia-Werber
