The loudest question in the film industry is the wrong one.
Should only gay actors play queer roles? Should straight actors step aside?
But when you’re cast as a queer person from history, the noise won’t save you.
Actor, whether you’re straight, gay, or anywhere in between, you’re equally unprepared to embody queer lives from the past.
You’re not unprepared because you’re straight.
You’re unprepared because no one ever taught you how to prepare queer roles properly.
And even if you’re gay in 2025, you don’t automatically know how queer people felt in 1990, 1890, or 1290.
Sexual identity today 👀 doesn’t give you access to the silences, the shame, or the coded joys of the past.
Those must be excavated.
This workbook 👇🏻 makes the excavation playable. It’s short enough to finish in one sitting, sharp enough to change your prep forever, and practical enough to take into rehearsal tomorrow.
Enter: »How to Play Gay and Queer Characters from History — The Workbook«. Not adding to the debate… Instead, it’s my intervention for actors.
This is the first workbook that arms you with tools to stop flattening queer history into caricature — and start preparing roles with depth, precision, and justice.
Inside, I’ll give you:
— Step-by-step preparation to research and embody queer roles across centuries
— Worksheets and prompts that turn archival fragments into playable emotions
— Reflections from actors on the risks and breakthroughs of preparing queer characters
— A provocation: stop debating permission. Start demanding preparation.
Here’s how you can access »How to Play Gay and Queer Characters from History«
- Amazon — soon available as ebook and print
- Premium Bundle (29 €) — Get it here
- A downloadable PDF you can print and fill in by hand
- A video walkthrough — the key steps explained, so you can watch or listen during make-up, rehearsal, or travel
- Extra worksheets to take your prep further
- Preorder now: full access in December 2025.
It’s time to get curious. Dig into queer history. Open the police files. Read the hostile reports. Decipher the coded letters. Hold the cropped photographs. Take a deep breath in front of the closet. Listen for the silences that stretch between the lines. Find the secret languages, the hidden gestures, the risks lovers took, the shame that still breathes, the joy that refused to die, the communities that would not vanish. Let yourself be surprised. Let yourself be unsettled. Let yourself be haunted. And then play it raw, unflinching, layered, dangerous, tender, true. Play it so it cuts, so it liberates, so it matters. Play it until you like the role again—because it feels alive, because it carries weight, because it refuses to be flattened. Do everything you thought you couldn’t. And create a performance that lets queer history breathe again—through you.
Who Created This?
Guten Tag, I’m Dr. Barbara, a historian who works 1:1 with actors, filmmakers, and screenwriters. I’ve written three biographies and consulted on more than 130 historical novels, scripts, and films. Because I’m German, I’m as thorough as you’d expect — but I’m also fast. I have a photographic memory, I speed-read, and I can process tons of archival sources in hours instead of weeks.
What that looks like in real life:
- I wrote an entire dissertation about how to tell history in a way that’s gripping and thrilling
- Even history teachers say I can explain long-forgotten eras in a way that’s clear and easy to understand
- Reading 800 pages in one afternoon isn’t a stretch — and I’ll still remember every detail
- From lost people to forgotten floorplans of homes 200 years ago, I just find things from the past
All of my work is NDA-protected, so the breakthroughs stay between us.
When you preorder, here’s what you’ll receive in Dec 2025
- A downloadable PDF workbook you can print and fill in by hand
- A video walkthrough of the key steps — perfect to watch during make-up, rehearsal, or travel
- Extra worksheets included in the bundle to take your prep further
P.S. How to play gay and queer characters from history gives you an insight how I conduct research and explain things for actors: You can always adapt the process for other roles. But if you already have a particular role in mind, you can apply for 1:1 custom support under NDA right here. No pressure — the workbook stands strong on its own. 💪
Take Yourself Into Queer History—Rome, Berlin, New York, Athens, Casablanca, Tokyo. Step into police files, love letters, and silences. Work with care and fierce curiosity, even in half days that go deep. Do the kind of preparation that actually matters—raw, embodied, unforgettable. And find your character again—wider-eyed, more alive, grounded in truth… and impossible to flatten into cliché.
Then, play them this way—for good.
Images: Gay couple holding their dogs, Wellcome Library London // Germania statue Rüdesheim 1898, from my own postcard collection // Two unknown women, Boston Public Library // Two elderly men on a bench, Royal Danish Library — all images licensed CC0.