‘We are all non-binary’, says Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell
Hedwig and the Angry Inch’s John Cameron Mitchell at Pride in London 2025 (Joe Maher/Getty Images)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch's John Cameron Mitchell at Pride in London 2025 (Joe Maher/Getty Images)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell has claimed that “we are all non-binary” during a discussion about the classic queer show.
Hedwig started life in 1998 as a stage musical before it was adapted into a movie in 2001. The story focuses on the life of a genderqueer rock lover from East Berlin who is left with one-inch genitalia after a botched gender confirmation surgery.
Speaking to The Independent about Hedwig ahead of a one-night only show which would marking 25 years since its West End debut, Mitchell said: “I don’t know if it’s a trans story as much as a story of the patriarchy forcing itself upon you, and telling you what you are.”
The creator of the stage musical and the movie added, “Hedwig defines herself as the Berlin Wall between man and woman.”
Mitchell then said: “I would argue that we’re all non-binary – a term that I find very temporary, because it’s a negative. I prefer ‘androgynous’. We all have male and female energies within us.
“And if we refuse to express them, it’s like a bird that’s died in your wall: it can stink the place up.”
It’s an interesting take on humanity, but one that taps into the some of the ideas about gender discussed in Hedwig.
The role is often played by a man in drag, with Neil Patrick Harris and Darren Criss having played the role on Broadway. However, some have argued in more recent times that it should be played by a trans actor given the nature of the role.
Mitchell came out as non-binary themselves after receiving flack for playing what some have perceived as a trans character.
Commenting on the situation, Mitchell said at the time: “I’m not trans, I’m non-binary, but that’s a slippery slope because the character is forced into an operation and is not really trans.”
In 2021, an Australian production was called off after backlash to the cis-queer actor Hugh Sheridan starring as Hedwig. Sheridan would also later come out as non-binary.
