Jenny

Project Magpie

Sinclair, Jeanie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9823-7235, Aaron, Nic, Marshman, Tom, Bibbings, Lois, Jones, Sarah and McLellan, Josie (2022) Jenny. [Project]

	Image (Trailer for the Performance of Jenny) maxresdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLC1Bi5LjnzP5XOxsULnMiiae9_h4A Download (32kB)
Preview	Video (Trailer for the performance of Jenny) JENNY.mp4 Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract / Summary

A musical and historical collaboration, this project explores the the story of Jennie Moore, a gender non-conforming working-class person in the North East of England in the early twentieth century. Initiated by theatre-maker Tom Marshman, the research was a collaboration between academic researchers, writers, puppet makers and musicians, funded by the Brigstow Institute at the University of Bristol, which aims to connect academics with creatives in collaborative projects that explore issues to create new possible futures with societal impact. Marshman’s work uses archive material in collaboration with historians to create performances about queer histories that are forgotten or overlooked. He works with the often extraordinary stories of ordinary people, giving voice to those who are silenced in the archive. Jennie’s story highlights her importance as a transcestor, as a gender non-conforming and working-class person whose voices are not often heard. This research builds on my previous collaborative work researching LGBTQ+ histories with Tom Marshman, using critical methodologies to develop queer histories from archives to reveal hidden narratives. This also aligns with my research in the history of gender and sexuality in the 20th century, and contributes to a wider history of gender non-conformity. The project examined the ways in which language is used to construct narratives about historic gender non-conforming lives, particularly when Jennie’s voice is absent, and the only sources that are available about her life are transphobic and trans misogynistic newspaper reports or criminal records. By looking at the ways these sources embody Jennie, we attempted to identify and disentangle her agency from within the materials available. This research argues that we can learn from the continuities and discontinuities of trans experiences of incarceration in present struggles to dismantle harmful carceral structures.

The aim of exploring Jennie's history was to create new narratives about gender non-conforming history, showing that trans identities have a history and are not new. In order to do this, our research group of academics researched different aspects of Jennie’s story according to each of our areas of specialism. We met regularly to discuss our findings, and how this might become part of the performance. The performance enacted the process of research, and its conversations and processes became part of the show. Writers, artists and composers were also part of this conversation, to create a nuanced and sensitive performance that explores Jennie’s experience and gender non-conforming identity, and how talking about Jennie opens up conversations about transcestors and trans identities in the present. We also aimed to develop a methodology that dealt sensitively with archive material that was transphobic and transmisogynistic, to find ways of giving Jennie her own voice.

The research group comprised theatre maker and performance artist Tom Marshman, producer Nia Evans, public historian Josie McLellan, legal historian Lois Bibbings, law PhD student Nic Aaron, musician and composer Jenny Moore (who coincidentally shares the same name), writer Enxi Chang, puppet maker Emma Powell. We met regularly online to discuss our findings.
I worked with census and birth, marriage and death records, and newspaper reports that detailed Jennie’s entanglements with the law and her experience of the legal and carceral system. Working closely with Nic Aaron, whose research deals with feminist abolitionism, we worked carefully and sensitively with hostile material to find Jennie’s voice. As well as using government data from Find My Past to establish details about Jennie’s life, I took direct quotes from Jennie from newspaper reports on her court appearances.

The main output of this research was a performance in Newcastle, at Curious festival in July 2021, and online at GIFT festival 2021. There was a full performance at Gloucester Guildhall on 13 October 2022.
This research also led to a conference paper co-authored with Dr Nic Aaron at Global Gender Nonconformity, Past and Present: Language, Labels and Ways of Knowing, King’s College London and Northumbria University in 10 June 2021, which was then developed into a book chapter published in July 2025.

Key Research Impacts:
• The project looked at marginalised histories, exploring Jennie Moore's life, and her entanglements with the law to highlight the challenges faced by gender non-conforming people in the early 20th century.
• The research used innovative collaborative research methodologies, using the 'bones, flesh, ghosts' method inspired by Rebecca Schneider's performance theory developed collaboratively between Sinclair and Marshman, the team reconstructed Jennie's narrative from archival evidence, contextual histories, and carefully examining the absences within the research.
• As an interdisciplinary collaboration, the project brought together academics in history, law, art, and performance, creating a multidisciplinary approach to researching and presenting queer histories
• The research created public engagement through performance, culminating in a live show that included the discussion of research processes and imagined conversations between Tom Marshman and Jenny, engaging audiences with research in accessible ways.
• Understanding Jennie’s story contributes to a greater understanding of gender non-conforming histories. It creates a broader discussion of Jennie as a ‘transcestor’ and opens up conversations about trans identities in the present.

Item Type:	Project
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Theatre, Performance, Trancestor, Gender Non-conforming, History, Critical Methodology, Gender, Trans
Subjects:	Art History & Theory History, Geography & Environment Research
Courses by Department:	The Falmouth School of Art
Depositing User:	Jeanie Sinclair
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2025 14:33
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2025 14:33
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/5979

View Record (staff only)