I was hoping to ignore this issue until the weekend when I've got more time to write a more in depth piece about Company B's new programme - but that's no longer possible.
There's a lot of disquiet about the lack of women in the programme they announced on Monday and murmurs have now turned into quite large rants. Some anonymous. Others not.
The same response happened last year and even this website was guilty of looking at the issue too simply.
Many people are pointing their finger at Company B which I think is extremely problematic and ignores an issue that is systemic and industry-wide. But continually I ask myself as I travel around and see shows throughout the professional and independent sector; Where are the women?
Where are the women directors? Where are the women writers? Where are the women designers? Where are you?
The one exception to this rule is down the road at Performance Space, now based at Carriageworks... but we all know that the text-based industry doesn't venture that far unless they're visiting Playwriting Australia's headquarters (and vice versa to be fair... but that's another story).
But the story is different elsewhere and I still can't quite put my finger on the reasons behind the complete absence of women within the industry.
Joanna Erskine has given her opinion HERE saying "... I struggle to understand how such a prominent and successful and LOVED company such as Company B Belvoir, has openly produced such a female-less season. I don’t mean actors, I mean females in integral creative roles - as playwright and director."
And Gus Supple has had a say HERE asking some timely questions;
"...in nearly every instance female students greatly outnumber men. So what happens to them? At what point in the process are they being passed over? Do they give up when the going gets tough? Are they perhaps less committed than their male counterparts? Or do they side-step more readily into admin and support roles?"
And then there was this anonymous rant on Crikey today;
Even hardened members of the theatre community well used to the boys’ club of the Sydney theatre scene were taken aback at the launch of the much anticipated swansong from outgoing artistic director Neil Armfield at Belvoir on Monday night.
As production after production was announced and their creators called to join Neil on stage, the row of young male lookalike writers and directors fawning over Belvoir’s incumbent grew. It is hard to know who was more embarrassed -- the single token female Lee Lewis sitting resplendent in white among the sea of black-clad masculinity, or the audience, immediately and significantly more aware of the company's gender problem than, it seems, any of those at Company B who put the 2010 season together.
The fact that the majority of those on stage also served on the company’s programming committee only reinforced the accurate image that Belvoir is a closed male shop -- a more sterling example of jobs for the boys is hard to imagine.
Armfield's late elegy to the list of all female managers who have done his paperwork over the years was in stark and telling relief to the male visions they have been charged to realise.
All hale Sydney theatre in the 21st Century! Next up, Sydney Theatre Company's launch on Friday. Will Blanchett and Upton serve the sisterhood any better? They sure as hell couldn't do worse than the disgraceful team of patriarchs at Company B.
As harsh as that comment is, what we can assume is this is now an issue that won't go away and is something not just Company B needs to look at. And by that I don't mean the industry should suddenly turn around and start programming more women but they need to look at a serious campaign, whether its mentoring or financial, to keep women in the game past their early twenties.
Kit Brookman gives a great summary of the Sydney-wide problem on Gus's post;
"The last female director to work at Company B upstairs was Rachel McDonald, who directed 'The Pianist,' which was a co-presentation with Sydney Festival 2009. The production opened on 16 Jan 2009.
"Prior to this, the last female director to work at Company B upstairs was Marion Potts in 2006 with her production of 'The Goat, or Who is Sylvia,' although this production was a buy-in from STCSA, and not originally produced by Company B.
The last female director to work on a Company B production was Kate Gaul, five years ago, for her 2004 production of 'Our Lady of Sligo.’
"Female writers are slightly better represented, with 5 productions in 2004-2009, not including playreadings. Perhaps encouragingly, all 5 of these writers are Australian.
"While the 2009 B-Sharp season, as noted above, has a distinct lack of female writers or directors, women have been better represented in past seasons, for example the 2008 season (10 productions) had 4 female writers and 5 female directors.
Griffin's 2009 season has 2 female writers in a 5-play season, and 1 female director. Of its current resident playwrights, 2 of the 3 are female. In the Griffin Independent season, a discussion of Australian playwrights of either gender is defunct since the plays are exclusively by international writers. 4 of the 7 productions are directed by women.
"Sydney Theatre Company's mainstage 2009 season (as first announced) has 4 female directors and 3 female writers in a season of 12 productions. Their Next Stage season has 1 female director and 1 female writer (working on a creative development).
The Ensemble Theatre Company in a season of 11 plays has 2 female writers and will employ 3 female directors over 5 productions.
"The Tamarama Rock Surfers’ 2009 season at the Old Fitzroy has 2 female writers (and 1 female co-deviser) and 3 female directors in a season of 11 plays.
"And finally, on a brief national note, of the artistic directors of what might be, say, the 10 of the largest theatre companies in Australia (STC, MTC, QTC, STCSA, Black Swan, Malthouse, Company B, Griffin, Windmill, The Ensemble), 3½ are women (the ½ coming from STC where Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton are co-artistic directors).
"Of the companies that have associate director or associate artist positions (to my knowledge MTC, STC, Belvoir, QTC, STCSA, Griffin, Black Swan, the Ensemble) only Griffin has a woman in this role."
That last sentence is one of the most telling ... (I think Bell Shakespeare is another exception).
All I know, from someone that sees a lot of theatre, that there's a big drop off from female theatre makers who emerge from drama school and university to positions of importance and influence in the 30-50 year old age bracket.
I don't have a solution or an answer to the problem but it's there and it needs to be rectified. The debate has started, so lets keep it going.
Where are the women?
There's a lot of disquiet about the lack of women in the programme they announced on Monday and murmurs have now turned into quite large rants. Some anonymous. Others not.
The same response happened last year and even this website was guilty of looking at the issue too simply.
Many people are pointing their finger at Company B which I think is extremely problematic and ignores an issue that is systemic and industry-wide. But continually I ask myself as I travel around and see shows throughout the professional and independent sector; Where are the women?
Where are the women directors? Where are the women writers? Where are the women designers? Where are you?
The one exception to this rule is down the road at Performance Space, now based at Carriageworks... but we all know that the text-based industry doesn't venture that far unless they're visiting Playwriting Australia's headquarters (and vice versa to be fair... but that's another story).
But the story is different elsewhere and I still can't quite put my finger on the reasons behind the complete absence of women within the industry.
Joanna Erskine has given her opinion HERE saying "... I struggle to understand how such a prominent and successful and LOVED company such as Company B Belvoir, has openly produced such a female-less season. I don’t mean actors, I mean females in integral creative roles - as playwright and director."
And Gus Supple has had a say HERE asking some timely questions;
"...in nearly every instance female students greatly outnumber men. So what happens to them? At what point in the process are they being passed over? Do they give up when the going gets tough? Are they perhaps less committed than their male counterparts? Or do they side-step more readily into admin and support roles?"
And then there was this anonymous rant on Crikey today;
Even hardened members of the theatre community well used to the boys’ club of the Sydney theatre scene were taken aback at the launch of the much anticipated swansong from outgoing artistic director Neil Armfield at Belvoir on Monday night.
As production after production was announced and their creators called to join Neil on stage, the row of young male lookalike writers and directors fawning over Belvoir’s incumbent grew. It is hard to know who was more embarrassed -- the single token female Lee Lewis sitting resplendent in white among the sea of black-clad masculinity, or the audience, immediately and significantly more aware of the company's gender problem than, it seems, any of those at Company B who put the 2010 season together.
The fact that the majority of those on stage also served on the company’s programming committee only reinforced the accurate image that Belvoir is a closed male shop -- a more sterling example of jobs for the boys is hard to imagine.
Armfield's late elegy to the list of all female managers who have done his paperwork over the years was in stark and telling relief to the male visions they have been charged to realise.
All hale Sydney theatre in the 21st Century! Next up, Sydney Theatre Company's launch on Friday. Will Blanchett and Upton serve the sisterhood any better? They sure as hell couldn't do worse than the disgraceful team of patriarchs at Company B.
As harsh as that comment is, what we can assume is this is now an issue that won't go away and is something not just Company B needs to look at. And by that I don't mean the industry should suddenly turn around and start programming more women but they need to look at a serious campaign, whether its mentoring or financial, to keep women in the game past their early twenties.
Kit Brookman gives a great summary of the Sydney-wide problem on Gus's post;
"The last female director to work at Company B upstairs was Rachel McDonald, who directed 'The Pianist,' which was a co-presentation with Sydney Festival 2009. The production opened on 16 Jan 2009.
"Prior to this, the last female director to work at Company B upstairs was Marion Potts in 2006 with her production of 'The Goat, or Who is Sylvia,' although this production was a buy-in from STCSA, and not originally produced by Company B.
The last female director to work on a Company B production was Kate Gaul, five years ago, for her 2004 production of 'Our Lady of Sligo.’
"Female writers are slightly better represented, with 5 productions in 2004-2009, not including playreadings. Perhaps encouragingly, all 5 of these writers are Australian.
"While the 2009 B-Sharp season, as noted above, has a distinct lack of female writers or directors, women have been better represented in past seasons, for example the 2008 season (10 productions) had 4 female writers and 5 female directors.
Griffin's 2009 season has 2 female writers in a 5-play season, and 1 female director. Of its current resident playwrights, 2 of the 3 are female. In the Griffin Independent season, a discussion of Australian playwrights of either gender is defunct since the plays are exclusively by international writers. 4 of the 7 productions are directed by women.
"Sydney Theatre Company's mainstage 2009 season (as first announced) has 4 female directors and 3 female writers in a season of 12 productions. Their Next Stage season has 1 female director and 1 female writer (working on a creative development).
The Ensemble Theatre Company in a season of 11 plays has 2 female writers and will employ 3 female directors over 5 productions.
"The Tamarama Rock Surfers’ 2009 season at the Old Fitzroy has 2 female writers (and 1 female co-deviser) and 3 female directors in a season of 11 plays.
"And finally, on a brief national note, of the artistic directors of what might be, say, the 10 of the largest theatre companies in Australia (STC, MTC, QTC, STCSA, Black Swan, Malthouse, Company B, Griffin, Windmill, The Ensemble), 3½ are women (the ½ coming from STC where Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton are co-artistic directors).
"Of the companies that have associate director or associate artist positions (to my knowledge MTC, STC, Belvoir, QTC, STCSA, Griffin, Black Swan, the Ensemble) only Griffin has a woman in this role."
That last sentence is one of the most telling ... (I think Bell Shakespeare is another exception).
All I know, from someone that sees a lot of theatre, that there's a big drop off from female theatre makers who emerge from drama school and university to positions of importance and influence in the 30-50 year old age bracket.
I don't have a solution or an answer to the problem but it's there and it needs to be rectified. The debate has started, so lets keep it going.
Where are the women?
Posts
46 comments:
All of the women are in administrative roles!
In saying that, though, they are quite well represented at senior level in the arts
Rachel Healey: Director of Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House
Victoria Doidge: Director of Marketing and Development, Sydney Opera House
Maria Sykes: Director, Commercial & Operations, Sydney Opera House
Wendy Martin: Head of Theatre & Dance, Sydney Opera House
Carla Theunissen: Head of Music, Sydney Opera House
Valerie Wilder: Executive Director of The Australian Ballet
Jo Dyer: Exec producer, STC & Sydney Theatre
Marion Potts: Associate Artistic Director, Bell Shakespeare
Michelle Gortan: Director of Marketing, Bell Shakespeare
Georgia Rivers and Jessica Block at ACO
Libby Christie, ex-GM of Sydney Symphony (who replaced Mary Vallentine)
Heather Walker, Director of Marketing & Development, The Arts Centre
I'm sure there are plenty more... anyone?
In the independent sector, meanwhile, we are trying very hard to rectify this. Please check out www.franticmuse.com Many thanks.
Well, as a senior female staff member at STC said to me, the one thing we can be certain about in Neil Armfield's selection of a new AD for Belvoir is that it will not be a woman, as he has never supported them.
Thanks Angie - an impressive list and there's a heap more. But that tiny sail of influencial creatives is worrying.
And John - I'm not sure that's so helpful. It's clear that this problem is industry wide - and behind each Artistic Director is a management team and influential boards made up of a lot of women.
But on the ground...
ange cecco - GM atyp and formerly at Griffin
Kate Gaul last directed at Company B in 2007 (The Gates of Egypt, Stephen Sewell)
there are designers there's Alice Babidge and Fiona Crombie - amazing designers!
Hi, just thought I'd cop a couple of errors on my part regarding the statistics you quoted, Nick. As kitballou points out, Kate Gaul directed The Gates of Egypt for Company B in 2007, and also with regards to your original post, Marion Potts at Bell Shakespeare is absolutely another woman in an integral associate role - I must have been thinking state by state when I collated the statistics and Bell Shakespeare, being a national company, must have slipped past the radar, which I acknowledge with a very red face! My apologies to all concerned for those errors of omission.
Cheers,
Kit Brookman.
Before this comments section becomes a long list, it appears that I have the wrong end of the stick and my perceptions are mistaken.
There musn't be a problem in the industry in Sydney at all and women are fairly represented as creatives across the board from the fringe to the independent and professional sectors - would that be right?
For the Melbourne comparison: check out the MTC 2010 season!
In a word, No.
I agree with your original assertion that women are under-represented in creative roles. By pointing out the proliferation of women in admin roles I was simply answering your question: Where are the women?
Why do women end up in all the admin roles? Is is a role we choose for ourselves? Is it really because men won't give us a go in the director/designer/writer gigs?
Or is it simply that men are just better at it???
I was once poetry editor for Voices, a magazine that came out of the National Library. They carefully logged all submissions and publications. The troubling fact was that out of the poetry submissions, less than 30 per cent were by women, which was inevitably reflected in publication. Most editors would say the same. I used to be exercised that on poetry email lists, even if women were present, they were far less likely to post. Less sense of entitlement? Yet it's not that fewer women write or are interested in poetry. There's a complex and multi-level thing going on here that has as much - or maybe more - to do with self-censorship, conscious or not, as with any active discrimination.
I believe the post you attributed to Gus Supple was actually posted by a member of the 7-On Playwrights group (Donna Abela, Vanessa Bates, Hilary Bell, Noëlle Janaczewska, Verity Laughton, Ned Manning and Catherine Zimdahl).
However Gus has also blogged on the issue here:
http://augustasupple.com/?p=589
This issue was also recently discussed by Brisbane theatre-practitioners:
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/blogs/performing-arts/2009-09-07-gender-equity-theatre
Thanks for the clarification Jean - I got my sites mixed up. The point I get from her post is critical... how do we get the women profiled in her Brand Spanking New programme to stay in the industry as creatives?
And thanks for the link Anna. Katherine Lyall-Watson's findings are extremely interesting - and I'm very glad someone did the proper leg-work.
She found that out of the 11 main professional theatre companies that "out of a total 86 shows, only 26 have been written by women. 60 are by men. But the directors fare worse. 23.5 of the 86 are directed by women" and "it’s worth bearing in mind that these figures would be far worse if it wasn’t for Western Australia. Black Swan and Perth Theatre Company both have female artistic directors and their seasons were the only ones to have more female directors than male ones."
Alison pointed to "self-censorship, conscious or not".
Is it this? Are young women censoring themselves and placing a glass ceiling between their formative twenties into the professional sphere?
MTC is also rather lack-lustre, 2.25 female writers and 1 female director.
Who's the .25?
Like I said, it's complex. Feminism 101 on the conditioning of women might be instructive here - if, as in many other places in the world, women are in powerful managerial positions that are not reflected in creative positions, does this have anything to do with how much easier it is, internally and externally, for women to embrace facilitating roles? If women are less able to put themselves forward than men, even if their abilities are more than equal, which from my observations is certainly the case, why is this so? When this is combined with trad sexism - the scary way women are written out of cultural histories or how powerful women are characterised (what is "wunderkind" in men is "difficult" in women, say - think of the responses to Robyn Nevin, which are certainly inflected through gender) you begin to get a series of self-reinforcing dynamics that create gender imbalancing tendencies, which in turn get internalised by women. It's systemic and by no means straightforward, and so difficult to trace.
Re: the .25
Lisa Lambert is half of Music & Lyrics on The Drowsy Chaperone
and the 1 female director for MTC is Kate Cherry on the Black Swan co-pro
MTC season's actually boasts 3.25 female writers. Hannie Rayson, Sarah Ruhl, Joanna Murray-Smith and Lisa Lambert's .25
It's definitely more encouraging than Company B's effort.
You just beat me to it, Joanna. It's 30 per cent female, if you like percentages. On the up side, there are two guest directors, one of which is a woman. 50 per cent. On the down side, all the resident directors - Simon Phillips, Aidan Fennessy and Peter Evans - are men. 100 per cent.
...forgot to add, figures elide more complex questions, of course. And I don't think anyone wants a return to the simplicities of identity politics or quotas.
I think mentors are a key instrument in rectifying this problem.
Just off the top of my head, if I was to think about women directors out and about, working, in foyers and walking the walk, only Kate Gaul and Marion Potts are the ones that come to mind.
Lee Lewis, I think is only just establishing herself, and will prove to be a good role-model.
Anyone else visible for aspiring young women in Sydney??
I am a classic case of what Alison is talking about - and it's compounded by living in Perth. Self promotion is such a fraught business, I find. I've been directing (shall I say it, do I dare?) excellent and memorable productions over here for nearly twenty years. Who'd know? I'm fully cognisant of the irony in "letting my work do the talking" for all these years when I live in Perth and work in theatre. I regret my lack of aggression. When I thought I'd 'earned my stripes' I sent a package of introduction around to all the ADs in the country asking for a conversation about possible guest positions, and received silence in reply. No wait, Simon Phillips sent a courteous 'sorry not at the moment' seven months later. It's disheartening, but I don't blame them - what need have they of me? And yet I know that if they had the chance to see my work, things would be very different for me. It's the tyranny of being a female perthling. Guess my work will just have to shout louder.
SAJ - good point about mentorship. Yes, Marion and Kate (Kate Gaul for Company B?)are artistically consistent and always "available" to connect with people, have a chat (anyone ever "chatted" to Neil?)
Another thing - maybe these moribund theatre companies referred to on this page don't attract the talents of our best and brightest women.
Jenny Kemp (wish she'd do more...), Kate Champoin, Lucy Guerin, Karen Therese, Alicia Talbot (another list grows...) all create work that simply wouldn't find room in the company models we are referring to. Their practice occurs elsewhere.
Mainstream doesn't mean sucessful - and of course, there's no reason why we can't all have a bite of it (but, Marcell- do you REALLY want to go there???.
Women in Australia have found other ways of being heard.
Yep, it's not perfect and YES we do need and want more women's voices heard across all sectors (moribund mainstream included.
That's somewhat true and refers to my first point about the health of women involvement at Performance Space.
Is it posible that the one great tragedy of the arts in Sydney - that text-based theatre and performance artists don't collaborate - be a cause for the lack of women in traditional establishments???
Could the one big gripe I have with theatre in this city be the answer to some other problems??
As a side-note Kate Champion is working with Neil Armfield on the Opera Australia production of Bliss next year.
I've opened up the comments section so you no longer need an ID - but I would encourage people to put their names to their comments - it's so much healthier.
And snide anon comments will be deleted immediately.
Sorry about that miscount earlier.
It would be interesting to look at the amount of commissions male/female writers get from these major companies - I'd like to see how the numbers compare.
Thanks for the great post. I'd like to make a couple of comments.
I blogged on this issue a few weeks ago, looking at the 2009 figures across the country in mainstage theatres for female writers and directors. You can read the post with the figures and the comments here: http://www.ourbrisbane.com/blogs/performing-arts/2009-09-07-gender-equity-theatre
Also, with regard to whether women writers are submitting as much work as men, I went to PlayWriting Australia and accessed their figures. 52% of the plays they receive come from male playwrights, 48% from female playwrights. So, the split is fairly even and the lack of female writers being presented on stage is not due to a lack of plays being written by women.
Welcome Katherine - we were actually talking about your blog above;
http://artsjournalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-are-women.html#comment-7053664040808397030
Hiya,
Katharine L-W contacted us at PlayWriting Australia a couple of weeks back and we forwarded as many stats as seemed useful about the gender split to her based on our research. We also included some information about our programmes in which we have supported equal numbers of male and female writers - and when one includes directors and dramaturgs in the mix the bias inclines towards women.
For some basic facts:
http://www.pwa.org.au/Info/Playography
FYI: Nick - in 2008 at the National Play Festival's industry programme we ran two sessions on building bridges between across the perceived divide between text based and non-text based theatre - Narrative Alternatives and the Dramaturgy Intensive. The two key speakers at the first event were Fiona Winning (then at P Space) and Ruth Little (Lit Manager at the Royal Court). It remains an area of massive interest for us and we have supported both playwrights and theatremakers in our programmes. We should have a yak about it some time, if you're interested . . .
Cheers,
Chris
The Encouragement Award for Women Directors goes to Opera Australia. Big fanfares for Neil Armfield and Benedict Andrews doing new productions, but Julie Edwardson also has two productions, including a new one, and Rachel McDonald is directing a new Traviata for OperaOz.
Perhaps women are harder to ignore in opera because they are so LOUD! Both women directors here are former sopranos.
there are many more female designers working in industry than Alice B and Fiona C but they often get shunted into costume which is oft overlooked. It continues to be very hard for women designers to crack the Opera and STC - for years the main design roles have been predominatly given to men.
STC just launched Season 2010 - not exactly a bevy of women creatives there either.
I am taking the liberty of answering the original question on behalf of fellow 'young' female directors. We are not in admin and we are not looking for mentors. We are here, and we are working our guts out.
Yes the gender imbalance is digraceful, as it is in politics and other public arenas.
And there are many of our male counterparts who work very hard and absolutely deserve the recognition they receive.
But I now issue a warning to any male who thinks that simply getting the job is enough: You may be dominating us in the numbers game for the time being, but you best not wander around the foyer. For we will kick your arses back to the stone age with the quality of work that we produce.
When we finish knitting of course.
Many thanks, Nick.
This is a really interesting thread and I'll make sure I re-do the figures for 2010 once more of the companies release their seasons.
You're right, Jessica - it could be depressing, but hopefully it makes more people angry than depressed and acts as a catalyst for work that can't be ignored or sidelined. Go kick some butt! I'll keep writing my fingers to the bone and hopefully there will be some equity soon.
Where are the women, Company B?
Where are the Australians, STC?!
Let's call a spade a spade: it's the men, stupid!
There's a power imbalance in Australian theatre quite similar to the broader gender problem in Australian society.
Quite simply, men, the incumbents, have fashioned conditions for themselves that favour those with similar interests, experiences ... and chromosomes.
There's a gender blindness here that is all too familiar to those who have ever been to a corporate AGM or a meeting of economic bureaucrats. I'll never forget helping Miriam Lyons of the Centre for Policy Development to present a speech by Lindsay Tanner at Melbourne Parliament last year. Of the roughly 70 people in the audience, there were three - 3! - women, in a sea of bald and white haired men in dark suits.
As long as we don't face up to the stark reality that "business as usual" and "selection on merit" actually equates to the systematic exclusion and disenfranchisement of women, and many other non-white, non-male, non-anglo people, then we will be unable to make inroads in the problem.
I find it especially sad as a man who is also proud to call myself a feminist, that this situation endures in the arts, where for so long we have been ahead of broader society in addressing the imblances of millennia of oppression.
Ben Eltham
"As long as we don't face up to the stark reality that "business as usual" and "selection on merit" actually equates to the systematic exclusion and disenfranchisement of women, and many other non-white, non-male, non-anglo people, then we will be unable to make inroads in the problem."
Well said, Ben!
Hi, Nicholas. Thanks so much for this. The Australian Women Directors Alliance blog may be of significant interest to you.
http://australianwomendirectorsalliance.blogspot.com/
Armfield has given a considered response to the Sydney Morning Herald's Clare Morgan who ran a story today;
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/armfield-denies-boys-club-accusation/2009/09/29/1253989912789.html
And now the issue travels down south to the Melbourne Theatre Company;
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/womens-theatre-group-slams-mtc-as-a-boys-club/2009/09/29/1253989911973.html
Interesting how blog comments have become news isn't it?
You think theatre is bad (OK! it is!) But try visual arts. Here's an example: Gallery 4A is currently showing a 9 artist show, ONE of whom is a woman. (Fiona Foley) She is the FIRST woman to be shown at that gallery since November 2008. And check out the lush retrospective of Kaldor Projects, opening at the AGNSW this week: 40 years of supporting male artists, pretty well exclusively.
Seeing as this thread started with lists, here's another one:
Women who SHOULD be regularly in the major companies' seasons - Writers: Beatrix Christian, Hilary Bell, Pam Leversha, Catherine Zimdahl, Alana Valentine, Angela Betzien; directors: Jenny Kemp (who does brilliant work on other people's texts), Ariette Taylor, Wendy Joseph (I will never forget The Empire Builders), Melanie Beddie, Kim Durban and definitely Marcelle Schmitz; designers: Zoe Atkinson, Anna Borghesi, Genevieve Blanchett, Michelle Fallon, plus many more - composers, lx designers, etc. Many of them work regularly but haven't had the recognition they deserve, some have drifted away, or found niches, or simply run out of energy to fight.
I think a lot of it is a failure of critical discourse to recognise qualities and approaches that don't fit the dominant mode. Here's a sweeping generalisation supported by the list of brilliant women who work predominantly outside the mainstream quoted by Kitballou; many women are looking for a mode of expression that isn't the histrionic psychological indulgence that is often seen by commentators as 'powerful drama' but is just as likely to be the theatrical equivalent of a buck's night (lots of confrontation, noise and posturing).
I have often found myself wondering whether the whole 'scene' might have been different if Ewa Czajor hadn't been killed in 1987. For those of you who haven't heard of her, she was an extraordinary director but even more an inspiring catalyst of work and collaborations who - I have no doubt - would now be running a major company (either here or overseas) and inducting a whole new generation of female artists.
Read all this quickly so I might have missed a mention but thought Gale Edwards deserves a mention! And Robyn Nevin (I think I saw her name) and Jennifer Flowers
and rosalba clemente
This is a complex issue. Agreed. But misleading comments from Belvoir Street do not help. Both Neil Armfield & Brenna Hobson have made public comments (in the Sydney Morning Herald and on Triple J respectively), that they approached three female directors for their 2010 season and that only one took them up. What both failed to mention is that all three females were offered the SAME GIG. They were all offered the play written by the female playwright. The first two turned them down. The statistic would have been the same, regardless.
Is this true? Can you ask them, Sydney Arts Journo? And if it is true, can you ask them to apologise?
Stop approaching this issue as a PR problem, Belvoir. We don't need you to be politicians. We need you to be visionaries. Engage in a way that suggests you have some interest in the health of your industry & the integrity of your art.
Alex
Newtown Theatre:
Gabrielle McIntosh Writer producer,
Heidi Lupprian Director,
Alison Lyssa Dramaturg
All the girls, it's good, go see it!
Anonymous - re "all three females were offered the SAME GIG" by Company B ... I've checked it out and that isn't true.
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