Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Broadway World/Shutterstock
New York City will always do New York City, and so as Eddie Izzard drank from her cup of black coffee talking about playing every character in a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the most effective ways to conquer transphobia, and her plans for a one-woman Hamlet, a familiar sonic cavalcade of siren upon siren—fire engines, ambulances, police cars—passed by our restaurant.
Mid-sentence as silence briefly reigned, Izzard looked past this reporter’s face, and smiled. A man walking by was half-waving, half-raising his arm in support and appreciation towards her. It was happily jolting, as Izzard, 60, had just been talking about the transphobic abuse she had received on the streets. Through all challenges, Izzard said she had simply “carried on.” Her career in stand-up comedy and drama, on stage, TV and film, in marathon running and more recently in politics, is one of determined, blithe relentlessness—of doing things her way, and screw those who abuse, mock, or demean her.
“It’s always good to be back in New York,” Izzard said, counting it among the cities she has come to think of as home. She is performing Great Expectations, adapted by her older brother Mark—playing Pip, Estella, Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and everyone else—until February 11 (The Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street), traversing genders, ages, and imagined locations on a relatively unadorned stage.