Ahead of the launch of her latest comedy show, Leigh Douglas speaks to The Theatre Playbook about ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States, taking on political satire and performing as title character Chastity Quirke.
Audiences at Park Theatre are about to meet Chastity Quirke – Receptionist of the United States (ROTUS).
Queer, Irish-American comedian Leigh Douglas is bringing her political satire – called ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States – to the London venue following its run at Edinburgh Fringe 2025, with the show set to open in January 2026.
The show follows Chastity – an ex-sorority chapter president and staunch Republican – as she navigates a sudden political and personal reckoning. Fiercely loyal to the President and determined to rise through the ranks, Chastity’s blind faith in the system begins to falter as she’s forced to confront the consequences of her unwavering allegiance.
Against a timely backdrop of “trad wives” and “pick me patriotism,” ROTUS interrogates the pressures, contradictions and moral consequences faced by young women operating within hardline conservative politics, particularly the role white women have played in upholding patriarchal power structures. While the story is fictional, it draws heavily on the lived experiences of real women, weaving together stand-up, theatre, and cabaret to paint a portrait of a woman caught between loyalty, ambition, and conscience.
Douglas’ portrayal charts Chastity’s internal journey from blind allegiance to reluctant self-awareness. This comedy also tackles themes of identity, complicity, and the courage it takes to confront uncomfortable truths.
The show is directed by Fiona Kingwill, with original music by American musical comedian Sarah Hester Ross.
Here, Douglas tells The Theatre Playbook about Chastity Quirke, the inspirations behind the show, her take on political satire and how she developed the show for the stage.
Hi Leigh, introduce us to ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States.
ROTUS is a political satire inspired by the women of MAGA and far-right American politics in a fictional White House inspired by the real-life Trump administration. The term ROTUS was coined by former President, Barrack Obama, as the tongue in cheek unofficial title for the West Wing receptionist at the White House, playing on the acronym POTUS or President of the United States. The show is about modern American femininity, the disavowal of “feminism” by conservative female thought leaders, and what it really means to “Make America Hot Again.” The show follows the White House career of former sorority president of Kappa Gamma Zeta, Chastity Quirke, as she tries to make her way in politics.
What can you tell us about Chastity Quirke.
Chastity Quirke is a scrappy girl from Idaho with a thirst for power and a demure, sickly sweet venire. She learned everything she needed to know about how to succeed in politics from watching her mother wield the power of small-town gossip in her rural beauty salon. Chastity put herself through college with her earnings from social media as a beauty influencer and began her political career by slipping in republican talking points between beauty hacks. At college, she got her first taste of power as Chapter President of Kappa Gamma Zeta. It’s only when she finally gets to the White House that things start to get scary and she starts to realise that the blue haired feminists may have had a point all along. She might be all about femininity over feminism in theory, but when she forms real bonds with the women of the administration, she may not have the stomach to watch them be thrown to the wolves when they fall out of favour. Female friendship is Chastity’s kryptonite and, as she discovers, sisterhood can make a dangerous foe to fascism.
How do we follow Chastity through the show?
The show is narrated in voiceover by an older version of Chastity at some point in the future beyond the end of her time in the White House. The wry voice of this older Chastity is weathered by time and cigarettes. The value of her youth has been spent and the arrogance of her younger years is long gone. Young Chastity on-stage, in contrast, is forthright, self-righteous and unashamedly dogmatic as she defends her choices and worldview to the audience. Together, the young, bright, shiny Chastity on-stage and the older Chastity in voiceover, tell the story of Chastity’s time working in the White House, from how she got herself there, to how she left the White House, Washington, and political life forever, far before she’d ever intended.
What – or who – were the inspirations behind the show?
ROTUS was initially inspired by the story of Cassidy Hutchinson, the Trump staffer who testified against him at the January 6th investigation and went on to write her memoir in hiding due to the number of credible threats on her life. Cassidy Hutchinson together with former Trump Press Secretary, Alyssa Farrah Griffin and former White House Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Matthews, publicly spoke out against Donald Trump in the wake of the January 6th Insurrection. The stories of both Farrah Griffin and Matthews also served as real life inspirations for ROTUS and Chastity Quirke. In the present Trump team, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt is a never-ending well of inspiration and fascination in the most disturbing sense possible and as the Make America Hot Again movement continues to gain traction with American women, I have also been drawing inspiration from the women behind the conservative women’s magazine, The Conservateur, trad wives on social media, and other conservative influencers like Raquel Debono, host of the infamous New York “Good Genes” party inspired by the viral Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign.
Why is this corner of US politics ripe for satire?
There is an innate contradiction in the very fact of these conservative women having a platform and their righteous espousal of traditional femininity, gender roles and patriarchal norms. The reality is, while women like Erika Kirk might promote the view that a woman’s role is in the home as a wife and mother, she is set to take over her late husband’s influencing empire and is therefore, herself, a powerful career woman. Similarly, Karoline Leavitt will preach about traditional family values and disavow feminism while herself holding a very high level job, a position she could not find herself in without the influence of first and second-wave feminism. These women are hungry for power, which is totally allowed. It is, famously, a free country. But they have decided their only route to power, as women, exists in playing dress up as stepford wives to trick powerful men into thinking they’re not a threat. They subordinate themselves to these men by doggedly adhering to patriarchal beauty standards, upholding a puritanical femininity and imbuing the male gaze with god-like omniscience. They are the 2010s cool girl on steroids with a side of christian fundamentalism. They are so threatened by body positivity, the visibility of black and brown women and inclusivity in beauty and fashion that they are willing to refer to Vogue as glamorizing evil. As a fellow priveleged white woman I feel it is my duty in this political moment to rip the piss out of them for this. Imagine rooting your own sense of self-worth so deeply into the beauty standards of Nazi Germany that models advertising extended sizing in a fashion magazine was capable of toppling your whole worldview. Madness.
What other themes or topics did you want to explore?
As a naturalised US citizen myself who got my US passport at 17 years old after spending my teens in the United States, I have always been fascinated by American exceptionalism and the concept of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny, of course, was the justification for continuing to conquer more and more Native American land as the pioneers headed West along the Oregon Trail. It’s interesting to think about how the pioneer mindset applies to the “great American experiment” in 2025 long after the age of Lewis and Clarke and Sacagawea. Coming from Ireland as a child, I have always been fascinated by the differences in how my two nations talk about themselves, the Irish forever self-depricating and the Americans, a nation of cheerleaders. Also, coming from an Irish context, I am interested in the role of faith and religion in political institutions. I grew up in an Ireland where Catholicism was still a given part of everyday life in all our institutions. Despite America’s espoused separation of church and state, I would argue you can still hear the echoes of the pilgrim’s puritanical christianity in much of American public life today, from the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to the pledge of allegiance chanted by children in classrooms across America every morning, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Does the show follow on from any of your previous work? Why did you want to explore the world of ROTUS?
My previous one-woman show, Sacrament, was very much an exploration of modern Irish faith. It took the form of a woman making her confession in a catholic church, the morning she was due to be married to a woman. Sacrament was the stuff of Chastity Quirke’s nightmares in many ways. After playing a character in Sacrament which was much closer to myself, it is enormous fun to play someone quite the opposite of who I am as a person in Chastity Quirke. Sacrament was a much more personal show, reflecting my own experiences of coming out as a queer woman and what that did to my relationship with my faith. ROTUS, while building on the theatrical language I developed through making Sacrament, has been all the more fun to write and perform because it is so far from my own experience. Chastity Quirke has almost become a drag persona for me.
What’s your writing process, and how do you consider how the show will be performed as you’re perfecting the script?
In everything I do, comedy is central. Building in punchlines to a script has become my way of checking in with an audience to check they’re still on board with me and along for the journey. First and foremost, I believe even a piece of political theatre like ROTUS must be entertaining in order to truly connect with audiences. From my time as a stand-up comedian, I have an internal metronome for how often I need a laugh with the audience to keep us moving. In terms of my writing process, sadly I am very boring. I start forming an idea and then sit down to start at the beginning and make it through to the end.
How do you work with director Fiona Kingwill?
Fiona and I have been collaborators for over a decade since we met studying theatre at the University of York. She is always my first reader. Prior to a rehearsal process she will often act as a dramaturg or script editor, reading drafts and giving her creative feedback. Once we get into a rehearsal room, we switch roles, she from dramaturg to director and I from writer to performer. As I often write in a stream of consciousness, a part of the rehearsal process is also about making cuts and tightening up the bolts of the story. Fiona and I have a shared language which streamlines that process. That shared language is rooted in movement techniques mostly as we both find it useful to draw from Viewpoints, Laban and Michael Chechov to build the bridge from the script on the page to an embodied performance. She is excellent as a director in demarcating boundaries between our roles, and those of other creatives on the team. She will make offers in terms of writing edits but will always give me space to take the script away and work a note in my own time to come back with my counter offer, although often, he instinct is spot on for the cut or change that needs to be made.
Following its run in Edinburgh, how will the show change with its transfer to Park Theatre?
We are absolutely thrilled to have the gift of space in the Park. I was in a tiny 40 capacity venue in Edinburgh which one reviewer referred to as a broom cupboard. The space available at the Park will allow for the physicality of the show to grow and breathe. In addition to the choreography of our movement director, Charlie Burt, we will also be working with choreographer and comedian, Christopher Hall to enhance the physical comedy of the show. We will also have a touch of breathing room in terms of run time which will allow the show to be responsive to how the political situation in America has evolved since the summer.
What challenges have you faced, either in creating the show or performing it?
The show is extremely physically demanding as, in the words of Cher, I will be playing all the parts. It wasn’t unusual for me to come off-stage at Edinburgh in a full sweat. In that sense, I need to be an athlete for the run of the show and ensure that I’m fueling my body accordingly and taking as much rest as possible around the show. I truly am throwing my body around the stage for the full hour, inhabiting different bodies and creating lots of different environments with the help and support of Rachel Sampley’s lighting design. It can also be difficult to predict how audiences will react to a dark comedy like ROTUS which is so responsive to a dark time in world politics. Some audience members have had strong emotional reactions to the show, which is totally welcomed, but is something to be aware of as a performer.
What can audiences expect from ROTUS?
Audiences can expect pageantry and biting comedy with a hint of drag and cabaret. My promise, as a writer-performer to you as the audience is that although what’s happening in America can be scary, the show is ultimately hopeful. As a queer person myself, the show sits in the queer tradition of having riotous fun in the face of fascism. If you’re an american political junkie, there might also be some easter eggs to find of the real-life figures I pastiche in the show but no pre-knowledge of American politics is required if you just want to come and enjoy the ride.
What are you working on next?
I still gig all the time as a stand-up comedian. I also have a YA fantasy novel manuscript inspired by the Irish selkie myth which I’m hoping to move forward with and I’m forever pitching TV shows and movie ideas with lots of lesbians in them because there’s just not enough sapphic media to consume.
ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States is at Park Theatre from January 20 – February 7, 2026. Tickets available here.
Top image: Leigh Douglas in ROTUS (image supplied)