Barnaby Edwards

Alumnus Barnaby Edwards (he/him) is an actor, director, writer, painter and occasional Dalek, and he studied French and Fine Art (1987-1991) at Exeter with a year working in Paris for an advertising agency. He appeared in a lot of Student Theatre productions, directed the Restoration comedy 'The Way of the World' at the Northcott and went to the Edinburgh Fringe with 'Diary of a Somebody' (the life story of Joe Orton), the first time he and his long-term partner (and fellow Exeter alum) Nicholas Pegg acted together. We recently caught up with him ahead of LGBTQ+ History Month 2023 to hear what advice he'd give to students at the university, and more.

What does LGBTQ+ History Month mean to you/why is it important to you?

That’s tricky to articulate. When I was a student at Exeter University, there was no such thing as LGBTQ+ History Month. I lived in a world where the very idea of an international celebration of queer history was unthinkable. Like my fellow gays, I was negotiating HIV, confronting institutional homophobia, being assailed by media bigotry, combatting political narrow-mindedness, and trying to avoid getting beaten up for being who I was. Don’t get me wrong, I still had a great time - but it was in defiance of the world, not with its blessing. 

In those days, Exeter's LGBTQ+ community consisted of a rudimentary GaySoc at the university, a couple of queer-friendly pubs and clubs, and that was pretty much it. There was no Exeter Pride. No LGBTQ+ cinema nights. No Queer Studies degrees. No rainbow flags in shop windows. No public allies.

We’ve come a long way since then and it’s wonderful to celebrate that progress. LGBTQ+ History Month throws a light on the queer pioneers of the past and gives us a sense of a community existing across time. It connects us with the past, with our ‘family’ history. But it’s about the future too. Across the world and here at home, the dark forces of bigotry are on the rise again and we must brace ourselves to meet these familiar foes. LGBTQ+ History Month reminds us of how vital it is that we all stick together, for it is only by presenting a united front that we make progress. 

We are an ever-expanding family and that’s brilliant. But every element of that LGBTQ+ acronym is as vital as the others. Ignore the rights of one of those letters and the entire edifice collapses. There really is no LGB without the T and that’s something LGBTQ+ History month teaches us.

So, yes, LGBTQ+ History Month is hugely important to me - it’s my people and my history. And I love it.

Do you have any LGBTQ+ role models that inspire you? Who and why?

Gosh, I have more and more each year. That’s one of the great things about LGBTQ+ History Month - it introduces you to heroes you never even knew about. Last year, for instance, I learnt about brilliant modern day role models like intersex filmmaker River Gallo and lesbian climate activist Jamie Margolin, as well as historical heroes like trans racing driver Roberta Cowell and bisexual poet Audre Lorde.

One of my artistic heroes is Bloomsbury painter Duncan Grant (1885-1978), a man who was unashamedly and openly gay for his entire life (at a time when ‘openly gay’ was a big deal). He never hid his true self, nor did he allow himself to be pigeonholed by his sexuality. He was a great artist who happened to be LGBTQ+. And because he refused to be judged, he didn’t judge others. His friends and lovers included people from all walks of life: straight, gay, bisexual, trans, male, female, Black, white, Asian, aristocrats, farmers, sex workers. He embodied something that a lot of LGBTQ+ people have in common - because we’ve experienced prejudice, it makes us more aware of it when it’s directed at others. He was also a fantastic painter.

What career or personal achievement/s are you most proud of?

I’m not sure I really feel ‘pride’ in my own achievements, but some aspects of my life certainly please me more than others. I’m pleased whenever I create something that wasn’t there before, be it an audio drama or an oil painting - I feel like I’m adding to the sum of nice things in the world rather than diminishing it. I’m pleased that I didn’t take the easy route into a desk job I know I’d have hated after university, but chose the trickier route of pursuing my dream and becoming an actor and a painter instead. I’m pleased that I’ve been a Dalek in Doctor Who for 30 years. I’m pleased that I got to sing ‘I’m in the Mood for Dancing’ with Linda Nolan every night in panto.

I suppose what gives me the greatest pleasure is the fact that I went for it. Rather than dipping my toes into the swimming pool of life, I leapt off the diving board and immersed myself in it. Heaven knows I’ve made some hideous mistakes along the way, but I've also experienced moments of utter magic.

Progress has been made in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, equality, and inclusion but what is a change you would still like to see? 

Progress has certainly been made, but recent history has shown us that it can be unmade in the blink of an eye. Trans rights are currently the most threatened and we all need to step up there. People often say that the battle for LGBTQ+ rights will be won when being gay is as unremarkable as being straight. I disagree. I think the battle will be won when being gay is as exciting and different and unique as being straight. I want a world in which being gay (or bi or trans or pansexual or whatever) is NOT the same as being straight, but is equally valid - where we’re all distinct colours in the rainbow of humanity.

Do you have any advice for students at the university?

In Hamlet, the character Polonius rattles off pretty much every clichéd piece of advice we’re ever likely to hear in our lifetime. Although Shakespeare is having fun and Polonius is very much the butt of the joke, the advice itself is not all bunkum. “To thine own self be true” is a wonderful piece of advice for any student, especially if that student is LGBT+. Don’t live up to someone else’s ideals or judge yourself by other people’s achievements.

The best advice I can give is not mine. It comes from Armistead Maupin in his sensational memoir, Logical Family. It’s about leaving your childhood behind and assembling a tribe of your own. “Sooner or later,” he says, "no matter where in the world we live, we must join the diaspora, venturing beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us. We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives.” 

Barnaby (left) and Nicholas (right) on stage at a Doctor Who event.