Stephen Jackman-Torkoff is the new king of Stratford

Queeries is a column by CBC Arts producer Peter Knegt that queries LGBTQ art, culture and/or identity through a personal lens. 

"It sounds cheesy, but it just kind of felt like destiny," Stephen Jackman-Torkoff says of their role as the titular Richard II in the Stratford Festival's staging of the Shakespeare play.

Jackman-Torkoff's Richard is the centre of a reinterpretation of the Bard by Canadian playwright Brad Fraser. The adaptation — which has been running at Stratford since May and concludes at the end of this month — takes the king to a queer world inspired by "the glamour, grit and glitter of New York in the late 70s and early 80s." Which is to say, a time of great freedom that would soon be crushed by conservatism and fear. 

Directed by Jillian Keiley and choreographed by Cameron Carver, this riveting staging of Richard II has rightfully been winning raves all summer, certainly in no small part due to Jackman-Torkoff's electric lead performance. 

"I can only speak for myself in what I am trying to do with this role and within this production," Jackman-Torkoff says. "But it's to reveal an infinite being to the audience and in my performance — to reach to the edges of what it is to be human. In witnessing Richard, I hope people see a person who is so fully alive, who holds the divinity, beauty and the monstrosity of being human."

"I hope people can learn from his mistakes but also be inspired and moved by his enormous capacity for freedom and the way he loves with every ounce of himself; and to see the endurance of someone who goes through the worst things yet still holds on."

Endurance has also certainly been something Jackman-Torkoff has experienced over the past four months: their role is an intensely physical one that requires them to be onstage for nearly all of its 2 hour and 40 minute runtime. 

"I'm nearing the end, so I'll admit I'm really tired," they say. "My body is like, 'Yo, what is going on?' The more I try to give myself over to it, the more physical it becomes. I dance a little harder and act a little freer. So it has been very, very challenging."

"At this point I'm doing a lot less with my outside time. At the beginning, I was so excited and I was out in the streets talking to people about the show. But for my mental wellness and physical wellness, I kind of just have to take it easy. A really hard thing is honestly just eating enough because I think I lose a lot of calories just doing the show."

Their lead role in Richard II marks Jackman-Torkoff's first time in a Stratford production.

"It's really been amazing," they say of their tenure in the small southern Ontario city. "I think because everything's closer together, it's more of a village feel. You can bike to your friend's house in two seconds and see a play any night I want. So it's very freeing in that way. It kind of feels like camp and you're all going through this thing together."

Jackman-Torkoff says they keep joking that they're never going to feel as famous as they have this summer. 

"Walking down the street, everyone's like, 'Richard, Richard!' But that's because everyone who saw the show lives on the one street, so they're right there!"

The actor says that audiences — even Stratford's traditional older ones — have loved the show. 

"People, regardless of what demographics they fit into, are so varied," they say. "And it's been such a delight to see how a lot of older people are embracing it and are excited about it. And a lot of young people have been coming out to the show too, which is really fun. Some days it feels like a very mixed crowd, which doesn't feel typical of my festival experience. So it's just really nice that it's bringing out younger people and that we also have repeat people who are older too. Some people have been coming out like six or seven times!"

Jackman-Torkoff says that they hope in witnessing "the being that is Richard," audiences will ask themselves: "If I am nothing, what role will I play? How will I fill my life? Will I fill it with love? What do I have the capacity for?"

"I hope everyone can feel the immensity and possibility of their own spirit," Jackman-Torkoff says. "In our production, I think love is at the centre of everything and I hope the audience can feel its power within themselves."

Richard II concludes its four-month run at the Stratford Festival on September 28. You can catch Jackman-Torkoff next in Canadian Stage's production of Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance, which debuts in Toronto in March 2024.