"There Is No Conspiracy Against Women In The Theare" - Task A (Cont)

Reader 2 -



The questions I asked myself before were related to adjudicating. My practice is multi-layered

as most of the students appear to be. I am currently thinking about performance related issues.


Q  Have any actors had experiences that they felt happened because they were female and

that their male counterparts would not have been treated like that?


Q If something feels wrong ethically are we confident enough to question it, and if we do, have

we evidence that supports our questioning?


Q What percentage of performers in your experience had excepted a practice because they have

been told it was the norm and not to question?- to "fit in".



All of these questions are part of the inquiry I am interested in. One of the questions from the

first module was "what do you think has been an occurring theme in your practice". I identified the

role of women in theatre as a core theme and how it affects my practice.


I am not asking the questions from a feminist stance but a neutral professional one.

There is an interesting article in The Telepraph Newspaper  Media Group Ltd (2017) written by

the journalist Rubert Christiansen under the title There is no conspiracy against women in the

theatre".

He states that -

"We are in danger of  making the question of gender in the theatre much more problematic than it

needs to be".


It discusses gender bending and how Phillida Lloyd directed an all female cast of Julius Caesar

set in a female prison. Lloyd was quoted as saying she would only direct a project  if

"at least 50 per cent of what happening on stage or screen's is a woman's experience."


Christiansen believes -

"it merely reinforces gender stereotyping by reducing the complex question of equality to a matter

of statistics and quotas."


Q What do you think changing gender in productions does to the integrity of the script?



The Bechdel Test (Eleanor and I have blogged on this before) that says in a production at least two 

women must talk about something other than a man to past the test.

.
Although it has been said it does not have enough categories it began a discourse and has been

expanded upon.


As we approach our Professional Inquiry we will all be asking questions of our SIG groups

but I would be beneficial to us all if we can help each other with our questions to help us all

understand our practice.


What are your thoughts to my questions?