Please introduce yourself! Who are you playing in Two Noble Kinsmen?

Hi! I’m Nicole Ledoux.  I’m playing the Third Queen and the Jailer’s Friend.

Please give us a brief summary of the play from your character's point of view.

From the Queen’s point of view, at the beginning of this story I've just lost everything.  My home, my people, and my husband were all destroyed by Creon and the icing on the cake is that they didn’t even give my husband a proper burial.  Two other queens (who have experienced the same loss) and myself come together to ask Theseus to avenge our husbands death.  They do what we ask, but it doesn’t end up going the way that we hoped it would.

The Jailer’s friend is a loyal person eager to please his BFF.  This character keeps his ear to the ground to bring back useful knowledge to the Jailer.  At the end of the day I think the Jailer’s friend just wants the ensure the safety and well being of the Jailer so that they can keep that friendship alive.

Tell us a bit about your history with Shakespeare and the Porters.

This is my first show with the Porters!  I’ve been doing Shakespeare for about ten years now.  Some of my favorite roles that I’ve been able to play are Viola in Twelfth Night and Miranda in The Tempest.  I was also lucky enough to direct and all female production of Hamlet when I was studying acting in Boston.  I love Shakespeare because all of his words sound the way that they feel in my body.  Shakespeare makes it so easy as an actor to play his characters because all of the information you need is in the text!

How does it speak to you personally? How does it speak to the world today?

Kinsmen speaks to me because of the character of Emilia and her (not so subtle) subtext about her sexuality.  Being a queer woman I love seeing what the Porters are doing with this aspect of Emilia’s character.  The fact that we are able to bring queer representation to the stage with such an old piece of text like Two Noble Kinsmen makes me excited!  (Shakespeare was a bisexual man after all!)

What's your favorite quote or two from the play?

Men are mad things.

Finally, where can we learn more about you and what you're up to?

You can find me on Instagram @n_ledoux or at www.nicoleledoux.com