Celebrities talking and posting on social media are one way in for many people – but even at Eva’s level of public profile, as a recognised young Australian actor with a solid body of work, history is never erased. Online, Sean has a history. There’s a showreel of a young man starring in Nowhere Boys; media reports about the Harry Potter cast, references to Sean’s role in the film Jindabyne. Eva is slowly emerging publicly online. Her thoughts on this are moving and considered.
“To be really literal about it, how do you remedy the situation? It could be search engine optimisation. For a lot of trans people I think there’s something really traumatising about the presence online or otherwise of people’s memories of them pre-transition. I don’t feel shame. I don’t hate Sean and I’m not ashamed I was Sean. I want to be perceived as a woman, but there’s no emotional investment for me in people forgetting my trans-ness. I hope people look online or see old photos of me and say: ‘oh wow, she looks so different, hormones work!’”
As Eva makes a kind of professional debut, she admits to being terrified about the play’s premiere.
“She wants to cancel the play every day,” Ruby says. “I want to be the older sister jumping in to say, yes, it’s terrifying but incredibly brave. She’s acting, and it’s also her debut as a playwright – double-whammy terrifying. Eva is putting herself out there for people, which takes a ton of courage.”
He/r is at forty-five downstairs, January 18-30. fortyfivedownstairs.com
A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.