British performer, writer, and director Tim McArthur got his professional start on stage as a young high-kicking dancer in UK pantomimes, going on to make memorable turns in showstopping dame roles. He’s starred in productions of Assassins and Into The Woods by his musical theatre hero Stephen Sondheim, the musical parody Blair on Broadway, The Silence of the Lambs spoof Silence!, and three runs of the hit gay comedy Bathhouse The Musical. As a director, he’s staged Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette and adaptations of E.M. Forster’s Maurice and Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Liaisons Dangereuses. His latest work as a playwright includes Deeper and Deeper, which premiered at London’s Above the Stag last summer, and A Word For Mother, which opened at London’s Gatehouse in May 2024.
McArthur is perhaps best-known for his beloved alter ego, the irrepressible Sister Mary from St Peter’s of the Sisters of the Third Removed in Soho, who has tapped danced her way into the hearts of audiences from London’s West End to Edinburgh and across the pond to New York City, and even survived a jaunt to Fire Island’s legendary Ice Palace last year. This summer sees Sister Mary bless Provincetown’s Red Room with a summer residency performing her show Sister Mary’s Playtime accompanied by Brother Matthew (Buster Freeze) on piano. With Tim McArthur back in the habit, he speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about how he came to create the character over twenty years ago and what inhabiting Sister Mary brings out in him as a performer.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: How would you describe Sister Mary?
Tim McArthur: “Sister Mary is a fun-commanding nun. She loves singing and the theatricality of performance. Even though she’s trapped in St Peter’s of the Sisters of the Third Removed in Soho in the heart of London’s West End, her main desire is to be in showbiz. That was something that came from when I first created the character. Looking back, it’s been an amazing journey with her as she’s come and gone throughout my career. I’ll do her for a little bit, then she’ll go back to the convent for a few years, and then all of a sudden someone will say, ‘Does Sister Mary want to come out and play?’ Then I have to ask her if she does. If she says, ‘Yes’, I have to come to terms with the fact that Tim McArthur won’t have a life for a while because Sister Mary is back in the room!”
How did you first come up with the character?
“Back in the mid-1990s I started doing my own cabaret shows as Tim McArthur. I got into that completely by accident. After I graduated from drama school at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, I worked constantly job after job for two years. That was in the old golden days of rep theatre in the UK where if you were lucky you would finish one job and then go on to the next. In 1997, I hadn’t worked for a few months and so I decided to put some songs together to perform at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Camden to keep busy and invite producers along to.”
“All of a sudden, my cabaret career started to really take off and I did lots of seasons in London and Don’t Tell Mama in New York in 2001. That led to me being invited to play the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, which is an amazing venue. I wanted something fun to open act two of that show with to really engage with the audience. I was hung over in bed one morning comforting eating Cadburys chocolate and watching the The Sound of Music on telly and it came to me: ‘I’ll dress up as a nun and come out and “Do-Re-Mi” and get everyone to join in!’ But then the actor in me chimed in and said, ‘No, you can’t just come out and expect an audience to accept that you’re dressed in a habit’. From my drama training I knew I had to ask all the ‘w’ questions about this nun: who, where, what, when, and why? So that’s how I started to develop the character of Sister Mary. In the 80s musical Nunsense there’s a song called “I Just Want To Be a Star” and I thought, what would happen if Sister Mary had been a nun all of her life but what she really wanted was to be a star? So I did “Do-Re-Mi” and “I Just Want To Be a Star” at the Purcell Room and some how it all made sense.”
“Penny Horner, the executive director and co-founder of Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End, saw it that night and said to me afterwards, ‘There’s lots of potential in that character, so I’m going to give you the Jermyn Street Theatre for a week next year so you can develop it’. About 11 months later, in November 2003, we opened at Jerymn Street and that’s when it all really started to happen with Sister Mary. We opened that show with Sister Mary singing “Take That Look Off Your Face” because Tell Me on a Sunday was on in the West End at that time starring Denise Van Outen.”
“The first time I took Sister Mary to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival I did the Gilded Balloon. We did an adult show in the afternoon that was all about her life and then a children’s singalong show at 10 in the morning. After the kids show one morning a woman came up to me and said, ‘I loved that! Would you do a private party for me?’ And I went, ‘Yeah, I’d love to. How old is your child?’ And she was like, ‘No, it’s going to be my 40th birthday, but I want you to do the kids show for my party!’ Over the years I’ve combined elements from the kids show and the adult show. The Provincetown show that I’m doing right now, Sister Mary’s Playtime, definitely has elements of both and it works beautifully. When you watch the show it’s all about releasing your inner child because it’s silly and fun. It’s about everyone being there together in the theatre, joining in, having a laugh, and forgetting about the horrendous world that we find ourselves living in.”
“Sister Mary’s Playtime is a musical celebration. Sister Mary talks about her life and why she’s in a convent. She thinks she’s got a famous musical theatre mother who was in the original West End production of Cats. She talks a bit about the time she nearly fell in love with the bishop and it didn’t go quite as planned. I’m pleased with the flow of the show. I think it’s engaging, it’s got a bit of a narrative to it. It’s got lots of silliness and then it flips and becomes completely bonkers.”
“It is a family friendly show. It’s got a couple of innuendos in it that go over younger people’s heads and she doesn’t swear. Actually, last week there was a lesbian couple who brought their six-year-old daughter and their eight-year-old son with them to see it. They were a bit worried going into it but their feedback was glowing. They said that there was one joke that their son keeps asking them about which they find really amusing to try to explain to him. I’ve already had kids up on stage joining in at some of the shows here in P’town, so I think Family Week is going to be a lot of fun.”
It is interesting to hear that the audience participation element has always been there from the beginning of you doing Sister Mary as a character. It is a really fun audience to be in, being given permission to join in as much as you want to.
“Absolutely, and with this particular show we’ve taken that aspect to another level where the audience is the third member of the cast in Sister Mary’s Playtime. I love the build of the audience participation, it’s got a good arc to it. I’ve done it in a way that gives the audience confidence that they can join in rather than immediately throwing them in at the deep end. I think the development of it is really funny. British audiences do join in, but they tend to be a lot more reserved, whereas here in America they just go for it straightaway. It’s been fascinating to see that difference.”
What does Sister Mary bring out in you or allow you to say or do that Tim wouldn’t?
“She’s a braver side of me. As I’ve got older, I’ve become quite shy, but Sister Mary has a strength to her along with a really outgoing and gregarious side to her. Since being in Provincetown I’ve discovered the term “barking”, which is essentially taking to the streets to hand out flyers and promote your own show. I’ve had a barking habit made that’s cut just above the knee which I wear with white stockings. It’s really cute. Sister Mary can definitely say things that I wouldn’t be able to and she has the confidence to go up to them on the street and ask, ‘Are you a sinner? Come see my show and I’ll make sure I get you up off your knees.”
“My producer Adam Weinstock has been taking photos and videos of the show and of me barking and when he shows them to me I look at them and I go, ‘Who is that person?!’ She is so different to me and so totally removed from who I am, which is why she is such a delight to play. When she’s here, she’s really here and I disappear. Various producers I’ve worked with over the years have told me that when I’m in the habit they talk to Sister Mary not to me and that they change their attitude and their way of speaking when they talk to her, which I find fascinating. “
It sounds a bit like you become possessed by her.
“Yeah, it is a bit like that actually. When I put the habit on my voice immediately changes and the transformation begins.”
It’s not a heavy drag look that you’ve created for her, how did you come up with the makeup?
“She’s a nun, so she’s plain. I’m so pleased about that because it’s such an easy transition. It’s just a little bit of foundation and some eyeliner. I have to shave every day when I do her because I’m a hairy old bear! The glasses that she wears are actually the ones that I wore when I was 14 years old. I knocked the lenses out of them so they’re empty frames, which I think is really sweet. The showbiz element of her look is the red lipstick. Her lipstick is always slightly smudged to one corner because she can’t do it properly, but she tries. That detail was inspired by Katherine, the first person who ever produced Sister Mary. In real life she does her lips like that by accident.”
Do you describe yourself as a drag queen when you’re doing Sister Mary?
“That’s something that I’ve fought with myself about for a while because it doesn’t feel like it’s totally drag to me, it’s more of a comedy character. In the UK there was a really popular senior citizen character called Mrs Merton that was created by the wonderful late Caroline Aherne who had her own spoof chat show. I think Sister Mary is more in that sort of vein. I’ve never seen her as a drag queen as such.”
You’re performing at the Red Room in Provincetown, how are you finding the venue?
“The Red Room is absolutely fantastic. Allen and Janet who run it are great, and so is Kevin on tech and the bar staff. It’s a lovely room and it’s quite wide which helps with the audience participation because I get to see and reach everybody. So it’s a really good fit for the show and in a perfect location right next to Provincetown Town Hall.”
This is your first time in Provincetown, what are yours thoughts about the place so far and how are you spending your time when you aren’t on stage?
“It’s such a beautiful place. It’s so New England. I feel like Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote as I stroll around town. The architecture is gorgeous. Now I’m getting into my routine here I am meeting loads of other people who are locals or here for the summer in all the bars and everyone is really friendly.”
Are there any themed weeks that you’re looking forward to?
“Well, this week is Bear Week so I’m in my element right now! I’m also really looking forward to Family Week at the end of July because I think we’ll have some great audiences. Then there’s the Carnival in August. I feel so lucky to be here all summer and I really appreciate the incredible opportunity of having a season in P’town. I’m loving every minute of it and I’m very grateful to Adam Weinstock for bringing me here and trusting in the character.”
By James Kleinmann
Sister Mary’s Playtime runs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening at 5:30pm at Red Room (258 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA). For more details and to purchase tickets head to RedRoom.club.
For more on Tim McArthur head to TimMcArthur.com and follow him on Instagram @mcarthur.tim and follow Sister Mary herself @sistermarysoho.
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