Hot Press talks to Bethany Black, star of new trans-themed film Tuesday Night

We’re used to Donald Trump using Twitter to lie, abuse, intimidate and deny being Putin’s sock puppet, but this was the first time he’d announced a major US Government policy decision in a series of 140 character bursts.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” he messaged shortly after getting out of his White House bed last week. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

It was a cruel, undignified way to tell the 15,000 Transgender people who currently serve in the American armed forces that their employment is being terminated with extreme, misogynistic prejudice. Among those deemed unfit for duty is Kristin Beck, one of the NAVY Seals who carried out the helicopter raid on Osama Bin Laden’s Pakistani layer.

“Let’s meet face to face and you tell me I’m not worthy,” she said. “Transgender doesn’t matter. Do your service.”

Trump’s transphobia doesn’t play well either with Bethany Black, the English comedian who stars in new trans comedy short, Tuesday Night.

“It’s the latest in a litany of repugnant things he’s said”, proffers the Lancashire thirty-something. “Unlike Trump, they’ve risked their lives serving their country, and should be treated as heroes rather than pariahs. What’s interesting and heartening is that a lot of really very conservative Republicans have branded the decision a disgrace. Eddie Izzard was right when he said: ‘90% of people don’t care about you being trans. Of the 10% that do, only 5% are arseholes about it.’ Trump is the Arsehole-In-Chief.”

Premiering in the Lighthouse on August 6 as part of Dublin’s GAZE LGBTQ Film Festival, Tuesday Night co-stars Sean Duggan of The Lobster and Killing Bono renown as a small-minded detective whose only experience of trans people is what he’s seen on TV.

“I routinely turn down trans-related scripts I get sent because they’re of such poor quality, but this was so funny, so smart and so real that I immediatey said to writer and director Michael Healy, ‘I want to be a part of this’,” enthuses Black who’s come relatively late to this acting lark.

“I wanted to act as a kid, but gave up when I went to college, started doing A-Level Performing Arts and discovered what other Performing Arts students were like,” she explains. “After university, I managed eight weeks in an office before drifting into the world of stand-up, which is where I steadfastly remained until 2014 when out of the blue I got cast in these twin shows, Banana and Cucumber, created by Russell T. Davies of Doctor Who fame.

Bethany had been in a bad place prior to landing her first acting gig. “I’d broken my leg and had a severe reaction to the metal they used to fix it. I was unable to walk for 18 months, or drive anywhere to do my stand-up gigs,” she reminisces none too fondly. “This had come at the end of a year in which I was dumped a fortnight before I was supposed to get married and several close personal friends had died suddenly. I’d just rung the Citizens Advice Bureau and discovered that I didn’t have the £700 you ludicrously need to declare yourself bankrupt when I got the message asking whether I’d like to audition for the trans character in Banana and Cucumber. My life literally changed overnight.”

Hoping to make her full Irish stand-up debut in the near future – “I’ve done a couple of gigs for LGBT charities but really want to do the Laughter Lounge” – Bethany takes a rather different comedic approach to her near Lancashire neighbour, Peter Kay.

“I talk about what was probably the world’s most unsuccessful suicide attempt” she reveals. “I tried to hang myself but ripped down the light-fitting in my rented accommodation, and caused other damage as I plunged to the deck, which cost me my security deposit.

“Before I came out at around 20, I was terrified by what being a trans woman meant, but as soon as I did I recognised I had an obligation and a duty to make things easier for anybody who had to follow so that’s what I’m fastidiously trying to do, often at great personal cost. What I’m trying to say in my own way is, ‘No matter how fucking dark life gets, there is a way through.’”

The Russell T. Davies connection lead to Bethany bagging the role of a clone in a 2015 episode of Doctor Who. What does she make of the ballyhoo surrounding Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the Time Lord?

“My heart broke when the unveiling happened and it wasn’t me, but I think Jodie’s going to be fantastic,” she deadpans. “I had a similar sort of thing when I got cast: ‘I don’t think that’s believable, you can’t have a transgender person in Doctor Who!’ Yeah? I’m sorry to burst your bubble but Peter Capaldi doesn’t really have two hearts.

“At the end of the day, Doctor Who is a programme all about change, regeneration and how the future can be better. It’s really aspirational, yet attracts fans who go, ‘Yes, I love this idea but I don’t want anything to change, ever!’ Things have changed so get used to it!”

Tuesday Night premieres in Dublin’s Lighthouse Cinema on August 6. lighthousecinema.ie