Alice Hoult, 27 January 2013

The statistics that we are starting with are from an article by Charlotte Higgins which

states that of professional directors only 24% are women, 35% of new plays produced

are by women and of the creative team 23%.

As a group we discussed that as 68% of audiences are women, and on the majority of

drama and theatre arts courses, women make up way over half.

First questions are what is stopping the female playwright from submitting her work?

fear of failure? perfectionism? children?

how can the statistics be changed when the WMCM heads of our institutions (pale,

male and stale!) themselves aren't programming female writers?

One answer might be ‘mindfulness’ - ourselves making change in concentric circles

starting from steps we can take within our own work. Jacqui talked about cross casting

in her next production.

another solution is to join a board - ITC, TME (any others to add?) all have openings

for board members, an ideal chance to challenge these statistics.

- be brilliant at what you do - that way no one can say no to you!

be careful not to perpetuate divisive stereotypes i.e.. don't call your company ‘Titbits’

and claim ‘don’t worry, we are not feminist' on you posters.

Can we create sharing rehearsal space modal (half days for 8 weeks instead of 4

weeks full time) to allow actors and creative team to have family lives.

Theatre creche for mother and fathers. one question was about applying for childcare

as part of funding applications,

be less apologetic! in general.

We discussed story structure, the structure that fits all stories universally (person has

a problem with their situation, goes on a journey, reaches a point at which they solve it

or they fail - thus there is an outcome) parallels were drawn between that and with the

male orgasm. Female orgasms (and ‘female’ stories) are much more meandering and

we wondered whether a change in accepting those stories might have to start early on

in our education. The education system also having a ‘male’ structure might pose

problems to this and we realised that changes in attitude must happen on a deeper

level in society.

Tags:

statistics, mindfulness, gender equality, orgasm, story structure, Writers, stereotypes,

writers, Childcare, childcare, women, board

Comments: 1

Chris Grady, 27 January 2013

I particularly liked Poppy's “Be The Change” comment challenging us all to think in three circles of influence - the centre

being ourselves, the first ring being friends and immediate contacts, and the third being the wider world.

I for one realise I don't immediately think of a balanced list of lighting designers or set designers or producers or theatre

owners when putting forward a recommendation to someone needing new contacts. I took away a wake-up call to be more

aware.

Chris

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