Phelim called this session on Monday morning.
These notes are excited but poor!
Sorry no names except Jack!
I called this session after experiencing the five D&D’s and others elsewhere. A big and amazing part of the events is the relationships around eldership.
An obvious example is younger artists seeking the wisdom and experience of older artists. I gave the example of seeing Betty Bourne support Michael Twaits a couple of years ago as a young gay artist. It was also remarkable to hear Betty tell stories of his you activism and performance. These stories are an important legacy.
I saw that D&D has the possibility to nurture and facilitate these relationships. I also have a strong desire to continue this as it is an important part of our community which can be neglected. Particularly in theatre performance older people can become isolated and we are losing the places in which this exchange can happen. Also OS supports this to happen in a subtle way not just as an information exchange but in a context which is enjoyable for both and has a genuine quality to with integrity.
The relationship is also a two way one the elder learns from the “pupil” and vice versa.
Someone (forgive forgot to get names please let us know) Talked about their festival “Bealtaine“ which celebrates creativity in older age. www.bealtaine.com.
They had learned a lot about eldership through the passing on of traditional irish music and in how it was considered learning together. It was an exchange relationship.
They had ambassadors who were older people.
He said they had a certain definition of what Age was:
It was someone 10 years older than yourself so it was a fluid thing in relation to oneself
someone with experience.
and elder was:
1 You might start at any time
2 Significantly affected by loss
3 Something that you’ve always done.
Condsiderations in the project were
opportunities for older people to create.
Older people challenged to make new work
If we were thinking of the future and Elders at the D&D event access was a consideration. Security and Hearing and warmth!
This was an opportunity to look at art through a different lens.
it was a horizontal landscape
So not a hierarchical one and could happen in lots of different places.
We said this was about supporting and facilitation wise conversation not about ”getting a job“ from someone.
We said that Open Space helps but is difficult to describe if you haven’t experienced it.
Mandela’s Elders were talked about : Global elders a project supported by Peter Gabriel and By Branson
The sharing of wisdom and of Practice.
I talked about wanting to Honour the Elders.
it was part of D&D but I had a dream of a project/performance ritual which did this.
It was perhaps especially for those who were maverick and then potentially isolated. Who could get forgotten.
I wanted to honour them so they didnt just feel crazy or undervalued. I also recognised that i wanted to honour that elder in myself. This was a role that could move between us. Young people could be an elder too.
My selfish motive was that I did not want to end up bitter myself as an Elder!
If this was a Rite of passage what would this rite be.
Practical Things:
Jack talked about wanting to work with Vivian Pickles and he had to approach her around the agency a he was told she wasn’t working now. He did and she was amazing.
James talked about being mentored by me I’d forgotten!) and at first he expected answers and asked about how to get Impro to be reliable and always work.. and I said well I don’t know. Actually saying I didn’t know (How to make sure an improvised show worked) was useful. Because he realised it wasn’t about getting THE answer.
What was useful was an honest relationship.
We talked about practical ways to bring the Elders to D&D The invitation was important but also that they would know it wouldn’t be an off putting event.
Other thing that was important was the space..
Warmth
Hearing
Security
Matilda suggested that there was a great oppprtunity in older people being directed by younger people.
If we invite them how do we find them?
Who are they?
Could everyone think of two or three people who should come? Make a commitment to getting them along.
Should we have another open space about this.. yes but we shouldn’t create a ghetto.. this would be to continue the energy of this conversation.
A separate one would feed back in.
Elders being present is yet another diversity issue for this group and its potential creativity.
Is this event only for people who arent working. We showed hands for who has been working for six months or more or not.
It was half and half.
we had another discussion re diversity and dance and does the word theatre put dance people off.
We talked about the Archetype of the Elder
In South Africa with Mandela
The Elders helped create peace.
In our culture we celebrate the wise silent guru type elder but not necessarily the crazy fool. with crazy wisdom
David Bailey: I don’t know everything.. but i know the 400 mistakes you can make.
Matilda talked of Rosemary Lee’s intergenerational work. non verbal channels support this work and cross boundaries between the ages.. dancing together..
this event has a bias twards youth..
Equity meetings are 80% older people..
Lets create a culture where it is communicated that it’s attractive to be old counter to the celebration of youth youth
youth.
THE FIRE. The circle of theElders
I talked about my idea for a project that was inspired by Somerset house OS we did that could be an Eldership project. prompted by the light wells and the coal shutes.. The bringing of coal to building a fire or hearth that the Elders would sit at.
The fire could be made.. the younger people would come and and ask questions or give thanks or honour to the circle of elders. We talked about how we were in a circle and doing this in the moment ourselves. Someone suggested that those who came could bring a piece of coal for the fire.
There were some other defenitions of Guru..
S/he who reminds..
Jack talked about Philip Tobias who was able to radically change his life view and belief about his anthropological ideas in his SEVENTIES! because of a discovery he made.
Elder :
One who is detached and welcomes all the voices.
One who continues
One who starts.
Someone said that this aspect of elders and theatre was studied academically in The US but not here. Theatre and Aging.Is it studied?
Someone mentioned the Silver Festival.
The university of the third age was mentioned.
Someone from the arts council had heard about D&D through their academic connections not their work connections.
We talked about the improbable mentoring fete.
Getting mentoring relationships past the age of 30 was difficult as then you were seen as in the profession and were peers or competition.
It is possible to become a beginner at 60. We are always a beginner. There are repercussions of the Harriet Harmon age equality bill.
What do elders need ..
before they die a sense of recognotion. living on in people talking.. a legacy
People who are older say ”We are invisible“
The Elder’s relationship to Death and mortality is important. Reconciling to death is important.
What is the legacy? It is a big mysthic story.
Reading of a deceased on a plaque or a gravestone their presence is still felt..
they dead are still present as active elders. We must not forget them. THE ANCESTORS are elders who are now dead.
Mark Rylance’s ceremeny at the Globe to welcome the ancestors to the new globe was powerful.
WE ourselves were already present in the thoughts of our ancestors before we were born.
I was very excited about getting our relatives/elders to the next D&D.
I made a personal commitment to move forward on the Eldership project as a performance ritual for the Improbable company soon.
ACTION POINTS:
Tell people they wont have to do weird shit or too physical theatre exercises if they dont want!
Lets look after the tenor of the environment..
look after the silent ones.
Could I would I bring my Grandmother here?
Lets include the Older people in our lives.
lets have a monthly D&D about this?
Email people who we want to come.
Think of a simple way to honour the elders in our everyday life this week and do it!
Someone talked about a plaque they walked past on their way to work and it says”
“ROY BYFORD ACTOR” and this made him feel proud to be an act
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Friday, 5 February 2010
103 Am I too Old?
Convener: Mary O’Connor
Participants: Gary Horsman,Simon Pittmon, Rod Dixon, Joe Austin, Louise Jeffreys,Alison Goldie, Sally Rose, Adam Brace,Tim Taylor,Dee evans, Clare Fischer, Daniel Copeland,Lee Simpson, Adrian Gillott, David Lff, Barry Wilson, Robin Geffry
(apologies if I spelt your name wrong)
Am I too old?
A question that is hanging around the air (I’m 45) . “I’m not bitter” was an addendum to the title because this session was not to be about complaining about not being young.
Stories are old
Are we obsessed about new and young?... what does that mean?
(young audience etc, theatre for youth.) Many audience promo ideas are youth focused. How and why ? before they go off the rails?
Though in the music industry it is largely performed by youth, the audiences now are diverse and allowed. Young Vic in ’98 ran a programme to get anyone in to watch theatre regardless of age. London wide cheap tickets No assumptions made and it was successful.
Programmes run in Yorkshire 18+ and older people do apply. some young people don’t believe they will live beyond 30.pressures and sense of responsibility for a world that was dying anyway a darkness in the future. limit a long-term-view.
Young people can take on unpaid work. They can afford to. Younger audiences will come they just need to be asked.
New audiences are not necessarily young. New in theatre is not necessarily created by /from young people./ new generations.
We came to the conclusion that there was a handicap around trying to get to a place in your artistic career by a certain age; that it could be limiting.
Experience of one woman director; she felt discrimination, felt too old.
We talked about NOW how that is important, nobody is too old /young just get on with it.. being older means “we hold ourselves back” “they’re going to think I’m too old/ not accepted” “I’m measured by what I have directed” we need to get over this view. Get on with NOW. Another woman director went to drama school in mid ‘40’s. “when you are older you have background, I came out with a toolbox. No-one said I was too old” RSC didn’t turn her down when she applied to be an assistant director. ‘though the Haymarket does limit access to older directors.
Someone’s experience , big questions: Am I too old to return to theatre? How? I was born into it, I went to Drama Centre. is it too late for me to find a mentor?
Then his experiences of being a young “arrogant” 20 year old at drama school excluding a 40+ student in his year group, marginalised them . This sowed the seeds for his current self-limiting.Prejudices that are created in our youth and we carry as we mature without realising it to prejudice ourselves. Self fulfilling prophecy.
We can choose weather we collude with the prejudices (even we hold against our own aging) or not. Noticing that .Older people put themselves into and are put into roles.
Being Bitter
We noticed that old and bitter was negative.
young and bitter was a healthy angst
What do we do/ how can we not be bitter? Answers found in Buddhism/meditation/reflection.
“I’m not bitter now but I have been “
Owning up and facing what has to be done. Bitterness exists in young people in theatre not only older people.
Peer Mentoring
We talked around this . We are different.don’t worry about the differences. There are differences between being 60 or 20.find a point of contact. Don’t want to wait to enforce/prescribe interaction. Find a point of contact.Mutual learning where in the right environment and context age is ignored.common will and purpose can cross boundaries of age. Don’t patronize. Don’t step into a role that isn’t asked for (ie offering advice-being patronizing)
Death of amateur theatre due to lack of space, we talked about finding space squatting in spaces to rehearse.
What is the role of arts centre, for everyone?
.we can Be vigilant, look after ourselves and look after older people in our families and community.
Making mistakes is ok, learning from beginning to end.
091 Political correctness: can there be too much?
Convener: Sandra Yee
Participants: Lisa Hammond, Deepa Shastri, Chris, Meenakshi, Anouk, Sheena, Honour, Sarah, Jonny, Charlie F., Gerard, Chris W., Cherylee, Jenny Moule
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Casting Issue:
Should it be colour-blind / not sexuality-specific / disability-blind / etc…?
When specifying requirements for a role, are these specifications of visual appearance (or otherwise) real and true or are these specifications superficial and approximate, or based on perception.
Eg. If a white male is required, does a nearly white male get the job?
If the part calls for a disability, does an able-bodied actor get the part?
(As in ‘My Left Foot’ with Daniel Day Lewis)
Therefore how do we define merit/suitability for a role?
Obviously, we can only work with the people that are accessible. This leads to regional tendencies and decisions. Is this acceptable?
Does text-based theatre, devised theatre or other theatre have their own tendencies with casting decisions?
Responsibility for ‘political correctness’ and learning about it lies on BOTH SIDES: with the potential discriminatee and the decision-maker.
Example: If a South Asian performer gets the part that was open to anyone, how does that performer feel confident that they did not get the part purely for the theatre company to tick its boxes (by cultural diversity) and not by their own merit?
The motives can be ambiguous, not only for the theatre company but also for the audience who may think that that performer got the part BECAUSE they were South Asian.
Obviously, clarity is needed if there is ambiguity. In Employment Contract, Director’s Note, in conversation.
When ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ was performed with an all-black cast, is there not a Novelty aspect to hook the punter?
Aim for Political Correctness to be non-existent and not an issue.
Also, Taboo subjects and their treatment in Comedy.
Isn’t Political Correctness just an extension of plain Good Manners? To avoid hurting another person’s feelings.
We may inherit our use of our LANGUAGE, the spoken word, from our parents without knowing the true meanings of certain terms, phrases or WORDS.
We remembered the LANGUAGE used by certain Stand-up Comedians of the past that was definitely not P.C.
Are JOKES aimed at yourself OK or Not OK, if you are a minority, eg. Disabled and/or Chinese? Does it not just reinforce the Stereotypes? Should you take responsibility and avoid making those jokes?
“We are all different, yet all the same”
For the Future:
Good to have Post-Show discussions/Q & A sessions to air these topics/issues/matters.
Avoid Tokenism
Maybe have sessions called “Don’t Worry – You Can Get It Wrong” where we can speak out loud all the non-PC terms without return (cathartic?)
Need to allow space to Learn what is P.C. or Not P.C.
Sometimes we need permission to laugh. A group can give or not give permission to be non-P.C.
And to laugh at Non-PC jokes, is that a real or false laugh, a laugh at the people who are laughing, or a laugh at the people who are laughing at the people who are laughing, or.……..etc? And can we tell the difference.
‘Political Correctness’ brings up so much F-E-A-R…
IT’s not easy!
Respect each other.
Need to Test P.C. boundaries to find out where they are.
Learn from mistakes.
P.C. gaffes might be done –innocently – and with a Good Heart.
It is all too easy and natural to Stop Speaking/Conversing – to avoid showing ignorance. Eg. “asian” can be too general. Also can be too specific!
Issue of Authenticity.
“England People Very Nice” by Richard Bean at National Theatre. A controversial play relevant to topic.
“P.C.”, the term, has been HIJACKED
“P.C” ???? Or “Why can’t I be racist anymore?” ????
Why are these Discussions / Chats usually with people that are probably Already Converted ? (Chris mentioned ‘white middle-class males’ were mos
Participants: Lisa Hammond, Deepa Shastri, Chris, Meenakshi, Anouk, Sheena, Honour, Sarah, Jonny, Charlie F., Gerard, Chris W., Cherylee, Jenny Moule
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Casting Issue:
Should it be colour-blind / not sexuality-specific / disability-blind / etc…?
When specifying requirements for a role, are these specifications of visual appearance (or otherwise) real and true or are these specifications superficial and approximate, or based on perception.
Eg. If a white male is required, does a nearly white male get the job?
If the part calls for a disability, does an able-bodied actor get the part?
(As in ‘My Left Foot’ with Daniel Day Lewis)
Therefore how do we define merit/suitability for a role?
Obviously, we can only work with the people that are accessible. This leads to regional tendencies and decisions. Is this acceptable?
Does text-based theatre, devised theatre or other theatre have their own tendencies with casting decisions?
Responsibility for ‘political correctness’ and learning about it lies on BOTH SIDES: with the potential discriminatee and the decision-maker.
Example: If a South Asian performer gets the part that was open to anyone, how does that performer feel confident that they did not get the part purely for the theatre company to tick its boxes (by cultural diversity) and not by their own merit?
The motives can be ambiguous, not only for the theatre company but also for the audience who may think that that performer got the part BECAUSE they were South Asian.
Obviously, clarity is needed if there is ambiguity. In Employment Contract, Director’s Note, in conversation.
When ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ was performed with an all-black cast, is there not a Novelty aspect to hook the punter?
Aim for Political Correctness to be non-existent and not an issue.
Also, Taboo subjects and their treatment in Comedy.
Isn’t Political Correctness just an extension of plain Good Manners? To avoid hurting another person’s feelings.
We may inherit our use of our LANGUAGE, the spoken word, from our parents without knowing the true meanings of certain terms, phrases or WORDS.
We remembered the LANGUAGE used by certain Stand-up Comedians of the past that was definitely not P.C.
Are JOKES aimed at yourself OK or Not OK, if you are a minority, eg. Disabled and/or Chinese? Does it not just reinforce the Stereotypes? Should you take responsibility and avoid making those jokes?
“We are all different, yet all the same”
For the Future:
Good to have Post-Show discussions/Q & A sessions to air these topics/issues/matters.
Avoid Tokenism
Maybe have sessions called “Don’t Worry – You Can Get It Wrong” where we can speak out loud all the non-PC terms without return (cathartic?)
Need to allow space to Learn what is P.C. or Not P.C.
Sometimes we need permission to laugh. A group can give or not give permission to be non-P.C.
And to laugh at Non-PC jokes, is that a real or false laugh, a laugh at the people who are laughing, or a laugh at the people who are laughing at the people who are laughing, or.……..etc? And can we tell the difference.
‘Political Correctness’ brings up so much F-E-A-R…
IT’s not easy!
Respect each other.
Need to Test P.C. boundaries to find out where they are.
Learn from mistakes.
P.C. gaffes might be done –innocently – and with a Good Heart.
It is all too easy and natural to Stop Speaking/Conversing – to avoid showing ignorance. Eg. “asian” can be too general. Also can be too specific!
Issue of Authenticity.
“England People Very Nice” by Richard Bean at National Theatre. A controversial play relevant to topic.
“P.C.”, the term, has been HIJACKED
“P.C” ???? Or “Why can’t I be racist anymore?” ????
Why are these Discussions / Chats usually with people that are probably Already Converted ? (Chris mentioned ‘white middle-class males’ were mos
090 Open Space A good way to engage Writers to create chararcters with disabilities?
Participants:
Lisa Hammond, Cherylee Houston, Angela Clerkin, Jean St Clare
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• As a writer I would love to write a play in the future with a disabled character
• But I need a dialogue with disabled people to find out about the content
• Has found interest in people’s (disabled) difficulties but MORE interested in what we have in common
• More interested in what’s going on in the mind
• What about dis/abled bodied people are the same trials / tribulations/ thoughts
• Would an Open Space for writers on this subject interest you as a writer
• YES
• Open Space to explore the language
• To explore disabled people’s opinions / lives
• Challenged by the concept
• Never written a disabled character
• What would that challenge be?
• Is it casting not writing?
• Might not be the thing that you want to focus on as a writer
• But aware that it could be fear – getting it wrong
• Don’t want to get it wrong
• Realise that it’s a challenge that interests me
• Need to know that I’m included as an able-bodied person to come along
• As an able-bodied writer I’d have to be prepared to get it wrong – safe place needed to do so.
• I need my awareness and responsibilities to make other writer’s aware of theirs.
• There could be many strands to this idea of using Open Space to explore this – directors / producers
• Is it the writer’s responsibility to concentrate on that strand? Pass the buck back to the casting director – they then in turn pass the buck back to the writer. The disabled actor doesn’t get seen.
• Write normal scripts, but make one of the characters have a disability in the blurb of the character
• Writer’s can get feedback of showing too much of a breakdown of actual community
Two Solutions
• Cast disabled people in roles non disability specific
• The specific. The disability not being the central storyline, but access info / specifics in the script needed if the character has got a disability.
• If I write a disabled / Deaf character and that story is not played out, then I will be asked why they are there.
• Casting like before disability and after – different casting needs
• Disabled people represented not played out “their real disabled life” the difficulty of it
• Scripts that aren’t focused on disability
• If people don’t have the experience then how are they expected to get it right?
• Lack of information for people who don’t have experience of disability
• Information source
• Speaking to people to get their individual stories and taking credit for it
• Interested in a collaboration
• The first “story” isn’t the best “story”
• TV, film and theatre
• It will be a gift to come to an Open Space on this
• Contact Writer’s Guild, word of mouth, ongoing thing…
• Not only disabled actors some “normal” disabled people with stories and lives
• Could I call a session and ask about people’s first dates?
• Getting it wrong
• What is the question
• Challenging subject
• Different ways of working and approaching and are allowed to get it wrong
• Venue – Jerwood – posher venue attract all
• Be in touch about a “Name” for the Open Space
• Learning from “the old days”
Lisa Hammond, Cherylee Houston, Angela Clerkin, Jean St Clare
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• As a writer I would love to write a play in the future with a disabled character
• But I need a dialogue with disabled people to find out about the content
• Has found interest in people’s (disabled) difficulties but MORE interested in what we have in common
• More interested in what’s going on in the mind
• What about dis/abled bodied people are the same trials / tribulations/ thoughts
• Would an Open Space for writers on this subject interest you as a writer
• YES
• Open Space to explore the language
• To explore disabled people’s opinions / lives
• Challenged by the concept
• Never written a disabled character
• What would that challenge be?
• Is it casting not writing?
• Might not be the thing that you want to focus on as a writer
• But aware that it could be fear – getting it wrong
• Don’t want to get it wrong
• Realise that it’s a challenge that interests me
• Need to know that I’m included as an able-bodied person to come along
• As an able-bodied writer I’d have to be prepared to get it wrong – safe place needed to do so.
• I need my awareness and responsibilities to make other writer’s aware of theirs.
• There could be many strands to this idea of using Open Space to explore this – directors / producers
• Is it the writer’s responsibility to concentrate on that strand? Pass the buck back to the casting director – they then in turn pass the buck back to the writer. The disabled actor doesn’t get seen.
• Write normal scripts, but make one of the characters have a disability in the blurb of the character
• Writer’s can get feedback of showing too much of a breakdown of actual community
Two Solutions
• Cast disabled people in roles non disability specific
• The specific. The disability not being the central storyline, but access info / specifics in the script needed if the character has got a disability.
• If I write a disabled / Deaf character and that story is not played out, then I will be asked why they are there.
• Casting like before disability and after – different casting needs
• Disabled people represented not played out “their real disabled life” the difficulty of it
• Scripts that aren’t focused on disability
• If people don’t have the experience then how are they expected to get it right?
• Lack of information for people who don’t have experience of disability
• Information source
• Speaking to people to get their individual stories and taking credit for it
• Interested in a collaboration
• The first “story” isn’t the best “story”
• TV, film and theatre
• It will be a gift to come to an Open Space on this
• Contact Writer’s Guild, word of mouth, ongoing thing…
• Not only disabled actors some “normal” disabled people with stories and lives
• Could I call a session and ask about people’s first dates?
• Getting it wrong
• What is the question
• Challenging subject
• Different ways of working and approaching and are allowed to get it wrong
• Venue – Jerwood – posher venue attract all
• Be in touch about a “Name” for the Open Space
• Learning from “the old days”
089 What types of women are we not seeing on stage?
Convener: Mandy Fenton
Participants: Lots…
Some facts, figures, info on survey findings - followed by the summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
1. Gender Equality Duty: -
2. Equality Bill published 2009, expected to come into force autumn 2010 containing significant clauses outlawing gender and age discrimination
3. Some European Commission/FIA findings in survey 2008 - Research on age, gender and performer employment conducted by Dr Deborah Dean of the Warwick Business School:
4. Equity Petition Feb 2009:
5. Sphinx Theatre - Vamps, Vixens and Feminists Conference 2009 - Summary Factsheet 2006 findings:
a. Theatre: 2006: Women in Theatre Survey. 16-29 Jan 2006 inclusive.
Theatre – Writing
b. Screen and Broadcast: Writer’s Guild TV Committee, 1 month of Radio Times issues
c. UK Film Council Report – Women writing for film
Summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
In light of shocking and depressing statistics relating to women in the industry in 2009 the question ‘What types of women are we not seeing on stage?” seems a significant and good start point for convening this discussion...
There were both male and female participants in this discussion, many of the women participating did not feel adequately represented on stage, particularly around stereo-typing and age considerations.
• Some suggestions of types of women we’re not seeing were made by participants before the discussion broadened out to wider issues, with awareness there are many, many more to be made:
• Why aren’t we seeing them, what is the source of the problem?
• Suggestions/considerations/reflections from participants around the current situation concerning representation of women
• Actions suggested/ to be taken following this D&D discussion
Participants: Lots…
Some facts, figures, info on survey findings - followed by the summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
1. Gender Equality Duty: -
“The gender equality duty comes into force in April 2007 and is the biggest change in sex equality legislation in thirty years, since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act itself. It has been introduced in recognition of the need for a radical new approach to equality – one which places more responsibility with service providers to think strategically about gender equality, rather than leaving it to individuals to challenge poor practice. “(Equal Opportunities Commission Chair Jenny Watson Nov 2006)
2. Equality Bill published 2009, expected to come into force autumn 2010 containing significant clauses outlawing gender and age discrimination
3. Some European Commission/FIA findings in survey 2008 - Research on age, gender and performer employment conducted by Dr Deborah Dean of the Warwick Business School:
• 57% of women felt that their gender restricted employment opportunities (6% of men felt the same).
• The number of women active in the industry declines sharply from the age of 50 – only 17.8% of women were in the older age group, 30% of men were over 50.
• 50% of men believed that getting older was an advantage in relation to pay, 70% of women said it was a disadvantage
• 33% of men earned more than £20,000 per year, 19.7% of women earned at the same levels.
• 2009 Euro/FIA Project : “Engendering Change: Strategies to Combat Gender Stereotypes and Promote Equal Opportunities for Performers in Theatre, Film and Television in Europe” – To move research into action
4. Equity Petition Feb 2009:
“Over half the viewing public is female, yet in TV drama for every female character, there are two male characters - (35.3% female roles to 63.5% male roles). Whilst leading parts are frequently played by male actors over 45, women in this age group start to disappear from our screens. The message this sends to viewers is distorted and distorting. We call on all the major UK television channels to take action to correct this imbalance”.
5. Sphinx Theatre - Vamps, Vixens and Feminists Conference 2009 - Summary Factsheet 2006 findings:
a. Theatre: 2006: Women in Theatre Survey. 16-29 Jan 2006 inclusive.
Theatre – Writing
• In 1983, only 20 out of 620 (3.2%) of plays were written by women, excluding Agatha Christie. In 2006, out of 140 productions sampled only 13 written by women (9%), with 22 collaborations (16%)
• Out of 48 new writing productions, only 8 were written by women (17%) with 10 collaborations (21%)
• Out of 9 new adaptations/translations, 5 were by men, 0 by women, with 4 collaborations
• In 1983, 7% of playwrights were women, whilst in 2006, 17% of playwrights are women
Theatre – Roles
• In 1983, only approx 12% of directors were women. In 2006, out of 140 productions sampled only 32 were directed by women (23%), with 6 collaborations (4%) and 5 unknown (4%)
• On stage, Sphinx’s survey found that 38% of roles were for women
• On television, Equity has found that 35.5% of roles are for women
b. Screen and Broadcast: Writer’s Guild TV Committee, 1 month of Radio Times issues
• Out of 179 television programmes, only 50 were written by women (28%)
• Out of 49 radio programmes, only 12 were written by women (24%)
c. UK Film Council Report – Women writing for film
• Only 26% of women writers write for film
• Women screenwriters are credited on less that 15% of films between 1999 – 2003
• Films written by women screenwriters are as likely to gain a release as those written by men
• The Box Office return for British films with a female screenwriter is $1.25 per £1 budget, compared with $1.16 for films with all-male writers.
Summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
In light of shocking and depressing statistics relating to women in the industry in 2009 the question ‘What types of women are we not seeing on stage?” seems a significant and good start point for convening this discussion...
There were both male and female participants in this discussion, many of the women participating did not feel adequately represented on stage, particularly around stereo-typing and age considerations.
• Some suggestions of types of women we’re not seeing were made by participants before the discussion broadened out to wider issues, with awareness there are many, many more to be made:
- 15% of single women are happier in their 50’s. Planning life in 50’s. Women in positions of responsibility with angst about time spent with children, court systems and women – women being separated from children through divorce of if child is in trouble with the law. Menopause and sex being great after menopause as less worries, older women giving advice, Family law, UK is bottom of welfare league in Europe for child welfare - ability to be a good mum in a system that doesn’t support them.
• Why aren’t we seeing them, what is the source of the problem?
- Women directors who have kids get wiped out. Exceptions: Thea Sharrock and Marianne Elliot. This can also occur for women in all areas of work where attendance hours are long.
- Writer told us she has been asked to put more men in the script/women under 30
- Commercial compromises i.e. Kidron’s first script was about Greenham Common whereas she recently directed a Bridget Jones film
- Historically women have been on stage a shorter time so there are a large amount of existing plays for predominantly male casts
- What kind of plays do producers/audiences want? i.e. participant remarks on a perceptible difference between Germany and UK and finds comparatively that here producers are predominantly thinking about selling tickets and star system
- Many literary managers are female but are they supporting the women in these networks? One participant mentioned a news article about a recent experiment done where plays were presented to female literary agents with some of those written by women attributed to male writers and vice versa – findings here were that when the plays were attributed to a female writer they were consistently marked lower.
- Confidence, self-restriction, self-editing
• Suggestions/considerations/reflections from participants around the current situation concerning representation of women
- One participant discussed the development of the strong female character in her forthcoming solo show and voiced her fears about buying into stereo-types of ‘mad hysterical woman’ . The character is quite enticing and she is worried about picking up outside, received ideas/stereotypes of women. Discussion on this perhaps being a tendency for writers and a strong point raised for writers to reflect on when writing female character
- Write more female protagonists, set out to write more female parts, put women in roles where you would ‘expect’ to see men
- Many stories are ‘guy’s stories’ – reverse the male gaze. Theatre de Soleil given as an example in this approach
- ‘It’s Complicated’ – Meryl Streep’s new film
- Point raised about too many women being on stage talking about relationships, not enough about ambition / competitiveness / creativity / movers within the world politically
- Concern voiced that there has been awareness around this issue for years - i.e. memories of university essays written years ago etc – and that this situation still has not been adequately addressed despite women being 52% of the population. The need for men, as much as women, in taking responsibility to address this issue
- Don’t wait for other people to do it. Women work in ways they want to work now, keep doing what you do – challenge commissioning editors/producers. Need to stop thinking of what other people are going to buy. Make relationships happen and get them to see something they might not see
- Reverse casting – need to think about this when casting – sometimes have to question the reflex which may first think of a man in a role
- If writing a ballsy character, not to just see this in terms of a division between male and female behaviour
- How to write about the lived existence of a strong woman, ‘f**k’ the setting and tell the story. Would it be pushed aside because of this? Is there danger in saying women’s stuff has to be outside of these structure?
- Now there many women are coming through in genuine positions of earned power and still negotiating their identities within this.
- Is there any impact in the structures of the new playwriting going on?
- Hard to get female gay relationships on stage – One participant writer said she had been asked to take the female gay relationship out of her script - male gay relationships more acceptable. Sarah Walters writes these relationships in a historical context - if its detached in this way then it seems it can be accepted more readily?
- There is a branding issue for the big theatres – that they work with writers they want to write with. There was the positive suggestion that now perhaps they will want to work with more women writers and theatre makers as this issue could almost become ‘trendy’ ...
- Resources such as The Bush Theatre’s Bush Green online facility for playwrights, 17percent network for women writers http://17percent.wordpress.com and http://17percent.co.uk/index.php , Clean Break, Unfinished Histories, Magdalena Project - Jill Greenhalgh Aberystwyth University etc
• Actions suggested/ to be taken following this D&D discussion
-Several participants expressed the wish for a continuing forum or conference. Proposal that one of D&D monthly session be themed around this issue, to deepen this discussion, exploration of subsequent insights/thoughts and suggestions of possible actions arising from this.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
080 Ethnic Theatre
Convener: Amy Ip
Participants: Anouk Mishti, Bindy Asolanki, Amanda, Angela Clerkin
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
The session was called by Amy who is a Chinese actress and has found the terminology and execution of ethnic or culturally specific theatre to be confusing. It was posed that if we are aiming for a culturally diverse theatre, why are ethnic specific theatres still around? It was acknowledged that they may be a “necessary evil” as some people feel that they need to explore this aspect of their lives. However, is this type of theatre and mentality only serving to further “ghetto-ise” people’s thinking into believing that they are so different from the majority?
Anouk observed that due to the Art’s Council remit about serving different ethnic groups, it can sometimes be easy just to “tick boxes” regarding the ethnic criteria in order to secure funding to get a project off the ground. However, this was seen as potentially harmful as then you are just perhaps perpetuating cultural stereotypes according to what the ACE deigns to be a positive cultural representation.
Amy noted that maybe her view on ethnic theatre may well be prejudiced in itself as she had not really experienced marginalised behaviour to herself in cross-cultural casting. She has not found it necessary to solely aim for theatre that discusses her own ethnicity as has never found it a barrier in casting, particularly in theatre. Other people she knows has found this to be the case and have therefore opted to go for more ethnic specific work.
Amanda also noted that some ethnic theatre groups can over-emphasise issues as being culturally specific when in fact they are universal themes. A case in point was a Talawa production which focused on domestic violence which though is an issue suffered by many people across the world, she found that the play really seemed to imply that it was predominantly a South Asian female problem.
It was discussed that maybe though the point of ethnic theatre groups is to increase diversity in the theatre sector and does give certain people a voice, it can also make the theatre world more divisive rather than diverse.
Participants: Anouk Mishti, Bindy Asolanki, Amanda, Angela Clerkin
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
The session was called by Amy who is a Chinese actress and has found the terminology and execution of ethnic or culturally specific theatre to be confusing. It was posed that if we are aiming for a culturally diverse theatre, why are ethnic specific theatres still around? It was acknowledged that they may be a “necessary evil” as some people feel that they need to explore this aspect of their lives. However, is this type of theatre and mentality only serving to further “ghetto-ise” people’s thinking into believing that they are so different from the majority?
Anouk observed that due to the Art’s Council remit about serving different ethnic groups, it can sometimes be easy just to “tick boxes” regarding the ethnic criteria in order to secure funding to get a project off the ground. However, this was seen as potentially harmful as then you are just perhaps perpetuating cultural stereotypes according to what the ACE deigns to be a positive cultural representation.
Amy noted that maybe her view on ethnic theatre may well be prejudiced in itself as she had not really experienced marginalised behaviour to herself in cross-cultural casting. She has not found it necessary to solely aim for theatre that discusses her own ethnicity as has never found it a barrier in casting, particularly in theatre. Other people she knows has found this to be the case and have therefore opted to go for more ethnic specific work.
Amanda also noted that some ethnic theatre groups can over-emphasise issues as being culturally specific when in fact they are universal themes. A case in point was a Talawa production which focused on domestic violence which though is an issue suffered by many people across the world, she found that the play really seemed to imply that it was predominantly a South Asian female problem.
It was discussed that maybe though the point of ethnic theatre groups is to increase diversity in the theatre sector and does give certain people a voice, it can also make the theatre world more divisive rather than diverse.
038 Babies in Theatre
Convener: Morven Macbeth
Participants: lots of very generous, honest people to whom I’m grateful
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Opened with where I’m coming from on this Issue – which has over recent months become a massive issue for me – in all sorts of respects, the prospects of having a baby in this world ie the world of work / theatre all the way through to coming out of a screening of The Age of Stupid and thinking well there’s no way on earth I’m even going to consider having a baby and everything in between. It can be really really difficult to talk honestly and openly about this ‘issue’ – obviously it’s a very emotive subject and very easy to hit a nerve – so I hoped the Open Space would engender a free and genuine discussion about some or all of the above. Thoughts and descriptions of times in lives:
- a designer, had her baby at 24 and soon after became a single parent, spoke about not knowing any other designers with small children then, work is do-able in theatre rather than in film/tv, that her daughter will now happily sit through a tech
- what sorts of mums do we see on stage?
- ‘the death of creativity is a buggy in the hallway’
- the difference if there is a supportive partner with you and there is a share of childcare
- one is do-able – two is a different thing entirely…
- don’t worry about it – do it – no point in worrying about the consequences
- losing focus on getting work because something else if far more important to you
- oogly boogly – how babies come into our work, become part of it
- it all comes down to how determined and how courageous you are
- it goes SO fast – your 6 month old is 17 before you know it
- a one woman show made by a woman whose partner left her when she was 7 months pregnant, she made a show about it within a year of giving birth, had her second child 17 years later
- having a baby is like having another full time job
- freelancing being possible once one of the group had had her son, taking tax credits etc into account
- not being able to see as much live theatre – not the time to – a place where ‘digital theatre’ comes into it’s own
- you end up talking to people you’d never have spoken to before
- example given of the Unicorn Theatre – attitude, changing the way you think, the way you physically bring up your children, the environment you create is up to you and the people around you
- involving children in rehearsal process – playing
- example given of a meeting with an agent being effectively ‘over’ having gone well when the question of age, being in a long term relationship came up because all that added up to having babies and therefore being ‘no use’ to him. Point made that a co-operative would be genuinely unlikely to take that attitude, as would many agents
- hearing a lot about people’s skills developing after they’ve had children, if you acknowledge that you may not want to perform for a year, 18 months, 3 years or whatever having had a baby then what else can you do, what other areas do your current skills lead you towards?
- having children focuses you
- it’s like open space – whatever happens happens, whenever it starts is the right time for it to start
- how do you tour with a 13 month old? Using a local child-minder? What if something goes wrong, the minder can’t get there and you can’t get to the theatre? It’s not like an office where you can call in to tell them you can’t make it in today. ACTION – encouraging theatres to have local childcare lists and child friendly digs lists available
- experience of regional theatres particularly being very positive and flexible over the arrangements that need to be made with actors who have children
- Equity are good in terms of offering advice in certain areas eg benefits available to you
- rep theatres used to have crèches in the olden days and apparently there used to be ‘homes’ for the children of touring actors, a bit like temporary foster care
- in terms of the ‘moral’ question point made that there’s the responsibility to ‘breed the good people’. That it falls under the remit of ‘if you don’t leave the house today you won’t get hit by a bus’ – you just can’t think like that
- parenting is a whole other ball game, a whole other session
Participants: lots of very generous, honest people to whom I’m grateful
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Opened with where I’m coming from on this Issue – which has over recent months become a massive issue for me – in all sorts of respects, the prospects of having a baby in this world ie the world of work / theatre all the way through to coming out of a screening of The Age of Stupid and thinking well there’s no way on earth I’m even going to consider having a baby and everything in between. It can be really really difficult to talk honestly and openly about this ‘issue’ – obviously it’s a very emotive subject and very easy to hit a nerve – so I hoped the Open Space would engender a free and genuine discussion about some or all of the above. Thoughts and descriptions of times in lives:
- a designer, had her baby at 24 and soon after became a single parent, spoke about not knowing any other designers with small children then, work is do-able in theatre rather than in film/tv, that her daughter will now happily sit through a tech
- what sorts of mums do we see on stage?
- ‘the death of creativity is a buggy in the hallway’
- the difference if there is a supportive partner with you and there is a share of childcare
- one is do-able – two is a different thing entirely…
- don’t worry about it – do it – no point in worrying about the consequences
- losing focus on getting work because something else if far more important to you
- oogly boogly – how babies come into our work, become part of it
- it all comes down to how determined and how courageous you are
- it goes SO fast – your 6 month old is 17 before you know it
- a one woman show made by a woman whose partner left her when she was 7 months pregnant, she made a show about it within a year of giving birth, had her second child 17 years later
- having a baby is like having another full time job
- freelancing being possible once one of the group had had her son, taking tax credits etc into account
- not being able to see as much live theatre – not the time to – a place where ‘digital theatre’ comes into it’s own
- you end up talking to people you’d never have spoken to before
- example given of the Unicorn Theatre – attitude, changing the way you think, the way you physically bring up your children, the environment you create is up to you and the people around you
- involving children in rehearsal process – playing
- example given of a meeting with an agent being effectively ‘over’ having gone well when the question of age, being in a long term relationship came up because all that added up to having babies and therefore being ‘no use’ to him. Point made that a co-operative would be genuinely unlikely to take that attitude, as would many agents
- hearing a lot about people’s skills developing after they’ve had children, if you acknowledge that you may not want to perform for a year, 18 months, 3 years or whatever having had a baby then what else can you do, what other areas do your current skills lead you towards?
- having children focuses you
- it’s like open space – whatever happens happens, whenever it starts is the right time for it to start
- how do you tour with a 13 month old? Using a local child-minder? What if something goes wrong, the minder can’t get there and you can’t get to the theatre? It’s not like an office where you can call in to tell them you can’t make it in today. ACTION – encouraging theatres to have local childcare lists and child friendly digs lists available
- experience of regional theatres particularly being very positive and flexible over the arrangements that need to be made with actors who have children
- Equity are good in terms of offering advice in certain areas eg benefits available to you
- rep theatres used to have crèches in the olden days and apparently there used to be ‘homes’ for the children of touring actors, a bit like temporary foster care
- in terms of the ‘moral’ question point made that there’s the responsibility to ‘breed the good people’. That it falls under the remit of ‘if you don’t leave the house today you won’t get hit by a bus’ – you just can’t think like that
- parenting is a whole other ball game, a whole other session
035 Queer Theatre
Convener: David Green
Participants: Martin, Mark Trezona, Brian Lobel, Liam O’Driscoll and others.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Asked a number of questions:
What is queer theatre?
How does it differ from gay theatre?
What good and bad queer theatre have you seen?
What queer / gay theatre interests you / would you like to see?
Does queer / gay theatre have to be inclusive?
Are there problems of queer performers being pigeonholed / ghettoized?
What opportunities are there for queer writers and performers?
Discussion / comments:
The term demands ‘visibility’.
The ‘love that dare not speak its name’ has become the ‘love that need not speak its name’. Do we need to give voice to our desires? Or do we avoid stating them explicitly? If so, what is the motivation behind this?
What is the point of queer theatre? Do we need to hear our own stories? Is there still a lot of work to do politically? Is putting our stories in a public space a political act? If our stories become part of the mainstream, do we become invisible by assimilation? Do we need to keep pushing boundaries?
Queer theatre is not necessary about sexual identity, but about perception and one’s relationship with the ‘normal’ world.
Are we as accepted as we think we are? Are we well-represented? Are gay characters in theatre 3-dimensional and realistic? Do they need to be? Do we want gay characters to be in classical theatre, which may be viewed as a heterosexual art form, or do we explore other queerer artistic forms?
Participants: Martin, Mark Trezona, Brian Lobel, Liam O’Driscoll and others.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Asked a number of questions:
What is queer theatre?
How does it differ from gay theatre?
What good and bad queer theatre have you seen?
What queer / gay theatre interests you / would you like to see?
Does queer / gay theatre have to be inclusive?
Are there problems of queer performers being pigeonholed / ghettoized?
What opportunities are there for queer writers and performers?
Discussion / comments:
The term demands ‘visibility’.
The ‘love that dare not speak its name’ has become the ‘love that need not speak its name’. Do we need to give voice to our desires? Or do we avoid stating them explicitly? If so, what is the motivation behind this?
What is the point of queer theatre? Do we need to hear our own stories? Is there still a lot of work to do politically? Is putting our stories in a public space a political act? If our stories become part of the mainstream, do we become invisible by assimilation? Do we need to keep pushing boundaries?
Queer theatre is not necessary about sexual identity, but about perception and one’s relationship with the ‘normal’ world.
Are we as accepted as we think we are? Are we well-represented? Are gay characters in theatre 3-dimensional and realistic? Do they need to be? Do we want gay characters to be in classical theatre, which may be viewed as a heterosexual art form, or do we explore other queerer artistic forms?
019 Why are only 17% of plays produced in the UK by women?
Convener: Sam Hall, founder 17percent
Maddy, Dee, Jo Faith, Leila Crerar, Angela Clerkin, Gehane Stehler, Helen Pringle, Sarah Grochala
17percent is a new organization to promote and support female playwrights. This discussion was a pre-launch discussion to see what people felt.
What are the issues?:
Although it was felt that there is a change in the air as of the last year, the situation still merits discussion and will do until as many plays are produced by women as by men.
It was felt the National, Royal Court and RSC are committed to commissioning women – but the commissions do not translate into productions for whatever reason. There has been a slight shift recently with the Lucy Prebbles and Polly Stenhams BUT – they are still the exceptions, and how long will it last?
- Is it because women’s writing is not considered to have enough commerciality?
- Is it because there is a misconception that women will only write about ‘women’s issues’ (equally domesticity) and they do not have a mass audience? Some work to shift this misconception needs to be done. (Eg: There are plenty of popular male and female writers writing about every day life on TV – so why is it a problem in theatre?)
- Good writing is good writing no matter who has written it.
Historically over the years, there have been less women writing plays than men – but the number of women on writing courses has shot up in the last 5 or so years. Anecdotally, women make up the larger percentage (around 80%) of those on courses, yet are not represented in the plays being staged now.
Females at the top of the writing tree are somehow in a ‘non-space’:
Caryl Churchill – is somehow ‘outside’ the writing canon – why is she not our most respected living playwright?
Is it quality or discrimination? There was a feeling in the group that there was a kind of unspoken discrimination occurring.
And whilst the younger playwrights are getting work on – what happened to all the women in the 1980s and 1990s who may have given up, or not got plays on? There was a feeling from one regional theatre producer in the session that there may be a whole generation of lost women playwrights out there.
- Actually how alienated by ‘female issues’ are males?
- And are issues ‘male and ‘female’? Surely it’s in the way it is told and it shouldn’t matter who the writer is. A play about abortion was given as an example – just as big as issue for both people involved.
- What sort of plays are theatres looking for – 17percent will talk to the producers and theatres to see if we can open the dialogue.
- And within the plays women write – where are the roles for women? Why are there more male roles? And where are the roles for older women?
- One bone of contention – no male participants! Come on fellas! As playwright Emma Adams said this morning ‘we’ve got to stop viewing things as competitions and start viewing things as conversations’. We’d like a dialogue with the audience - male and female.
17percent is a new organisation to promote and support female playwrights. http://17percent.co.uk/index.php
Follow us on Twitter @17percent
Facebook: 17percent
Launch event: 11 and 12 March 2010, The Red Hedgehog – see website for details
016 Is it a problem that, recently, I feel that I do not want to work with, perform for, or even talk to straight people? If yes, are there solutions
Convener: Brian Lobel
Participants: Many queer people, a handful of straight people, and a few people unidentified.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
I’D LOVE PEOPLE TO CONTINUE WRITING ON THIS – ESPECIALLY THOSE STRAIGHT PEOPLE. I DIDN’T LEARN YOUR NAMES. BUT THIS WAS NOT BECAUSE I HATE STRAIGHT PEOPLE.
First and foremost, the question was meant to be a provocation. I do not hate straight people, do not refuse to work with straight people, nor do I find straight people untalented or oppressive. I even have some straight friends.
There was quite a lot of hurt in the group, people hurt because they felt like they were being called oppressors, while others hurt that there is still inequality and choose to deal with this inequality in different, passionate ways. Some people (like the amazing Stella Duffy) felt the need to constantly engage with the greater community (including gays/straights etc), and many more agreed with her – Chris Goode talking about the limited perspective that might derive from only interacting with and responding to a queer audience.
Chris asked me (Brian) what questions I thought could be asked, emotionally/artistically/etc which could not be asked in a straight space (which I defined as not statedly queer or queer-friendly). In response to this, I gave some bad answer. Chris is smarter and sharper than me.
Stella talked about the nuisance of having to continually ‘come out’ over and over and over again as necessity of being a queer performer/writer/theatre maker. She still felt the need to fight and to keep up confidence, noting that even though gay liberation happened years ago, the movement is still far away from being through. My only response to Stella was to question whether perseverance (constantly interacting with a ‘straight’ audience/viewership) was the only path towards eventually integrated spaces, where all felt safe.
Chris Goode wondered if the issue, the feeling, was particular to solo performance, and if a solo performance demands comfort/safety from an audience in a different way from those in ensembles who have others on stage to look to for comfort/safety. This is an excellent point.
We discussed the perspective that could come from having non-queer people in a space with queer people. The example was given about The Jerk, the play about the gay serial killer, and how it was a richer experience as an audience member because there were all sorts of people watching the show. It was also discussed that the main ‘problems’ with the show’s reception was from gay critics, who thought that the work was not ‘good’ for gay people. This started an interesting conversation about the fear of ‘not getting it right’ and non-queer people writing or engaging with queer subjects/subjectivity. We talked for a while about the fear of engaging with and offending lesbians/gay men etc. Stella encouraged writers of all persuasions to write lesbian characters – why? Because there are not enough representations. Even if they get it wrong, she said, it might be worth the effort.
We talked about the impetus to write and to create. There was a nice moment when Lucy said that of course you want to be comfortable/safe in a performance context, not just as a queer, but as a performer who has successfully performed to an audience. The right audience. The receptive audience. I personally think this was a sharp point.
We talked about ways in which queer people might oppress straights. I don’t believe this is possible or a major concern. Someone can challenge on this if they dare.
There was so much here… it was a pretty dramatic session and I’m having trouble writing it up perfectly. I encourage all people to add to this… Basically, much of this boils down to the effectiveness of performance, if we think we should preach to the unconverted to the congregation. People come to church to be reinspired, re-engaged, spoken to and riled up – this is the first thing I like to do. If people can be converted, that’s awesome too, but not tnecessarily the main thing… I am leaving this here, but beg people to please add to the work. (thanks to Mary for her copious notes).
x.o.x.o. Brian
Participants: Many queer people, a handful of straight people, and a few people unidentified.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
I’D LOVE PEOPLE TO CONTINUE WRITING ON THIS – ESPECIALLY THOSE STRAIGHT PEOPLE. I DIDN’T LEARN YOUR NAMES. BUT THIS WAS NOT BECAUSE I HATE STRAIGHT PEOPLE.
First and foremost, the question was meant to be a provocation. I do not hate straight people, do not refuse to work with straight people, nor do I find straight people untalented or oppressive. I even have some straight friends.
There was quite a lot of hurt in the group, people hurt because they felt like they were being called oppressors, while others hurt that there is still inequality and choose to deal with this inequality in different, passionate ways. Some people (like the amazing Stella Duffy) felt the need to constantly engage with the greater community (including gays/straights etc), and many more agreed with her – Chris Goode talking about the limited perspective that might derive from only interacting with and responding to a queer audience.
Chris asked me (Brian) what questions I thought could be asked, emotionally/artistically/etc which could not be asked in a straight space (which I defined as not statedly queer or queer-friendly). In response to this, I gave some bad answer. Chris is smarter and sharper than me.
Stella talked about the nuisance of having to continually ‘come out’ over and over and over again as necessity of being a queer performer/writer/theatre maker. She still felt the need to fight and to keep up confidence, noting that even though gay liberation happened years ago, the movement is still far away from being through. My only response to Stella was to question whether perseverance (constantly interacting with a ‘straight’ audience/viewership) was the only path towards eventually integrated spaces, where all felt safe.
Chris Goode wondered if the issue, the feeling, was particular to solo performance, and if a solo performance demands comfort/safety from an audience in a different way from those in ensembles who have others on stage to look to for comfort/safety. This is an excellent point.
We discussed the perspective that could come from having non-queer people in a space with queer people. The example was given about The Jerk, the play about the gay serial killer, and how it was a richer experience as an audience member because there were all sorts of people watching the show. It was also discussed that the main ‘problems’ with the show’s reception was from gay critics, who thought that the work was not ‘good’ for gay people. This started an interesting conversation about the fear of ‘not getting it right’ and non-queer people writing or engaging with queer subjects/subjectivity. We talked for a while about the fear of engaging with and offending lesbians/gay men etc. Stella encouraged writers of all persuasions to write lesbian characters – why? Because there are not enough representations. Even if they get it wrong, she said, it might be worth the effort.
We talked about the impetus to write and to create. There was a nice moment when Lucy said that of course you want to be comfortable/safe in a performance context, not just as a queer, but as a performer who has successfully performed to an audience. The right audience. The receptive audience. I personally think this was a sharp point.
We talked about ways in which queer people might oppress straights. I don’t believe this is possible or a major concern. Someone can challenge on this if they dare.
There was so much here… it was a pretty dramatic session and I’m having trouble writing it up perfectly. I encourage all people to add to this… Basically, much of this boils down to the effectiveness of performance, if we think we should preach to the unconverted to the congregation. People come to church to be reinspired, re-engaged, spoken to and riled up – this is the first thing I like to do. If people can be converted, that’s awesome too, but not tnecessarily the main thing… I am leaving this here, but beg people to please add to the work. (thanks to Mary for her copious notes).
x.o.x.o. Brian
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
012 Why are so few creative jobs publicly advertised?
Convener: Ellan Parry
Participants: Kate Lane, Sarah Grange, Samal Blak, Chris Grady, Mark Price, Rosanne Peak Payne
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
If you think about how much theatre is produced in this country, probably something like 1 in 1000 creative jobs is publicly advertised. Labour laws exist to protect people from this in other industries, so why is it ignored in ours? Technical, backstage and admin jobs seem much more often to be publicly advertised, is this because unions such as BECTU are better at ensuring this, or is it because people don’t care enough about techies to be nepotistic?
Most of the people making the decisions in theatre, particularly at the highest levels, all seem to have gone to school or Oxbridge with each other.
Collaborative nature of theatre means that people form creative partnerships and ensembles, meaning that they’re more comfortable working with people they know and have worked with before. But good things can happen when people go outside their comfort zone and work with new people.
Theatre can feel like a closed club – fine if you’re a member, difficult if you’re not, and very hard to get into if you don’t know the right people.
The accepted route in theatre of starting out by working for free will tend to filter out the non-wealthy.
SOLUTIONS:
Go to Oxbridge. One of the group had a friend who was taking three years out of her career to do a BA at Cambridge mainly in order to meet ‘the right people’.
Don’t be afraid to approach people, seek them out to ask advice etc, build up relationships.
Let’s lobby Equity. Get them to force the National Theatre (as it’s supposed to be for the public, funded by public money) to publicly advertise not only technical posts but director, designer jobs etc. If not for all its shows then maybe just one per season? Let’s make this happen by next year! Start a petition.
Problem with publicly advertising jobs at major theatres – potentially swamped with unsuitable applicants. Solution: DEAL WITH IT. Employer’s responsibility to filter applications as in any other industry, also word advertisement so that level of skill and experience required is clear. The graphic design world has a better model – jobs are advertised, and there’s an accepted scale, so companies can advertise for a ‘mid-weight’ designer etc – could we not adopt this model?
Nepotism is ultimately bad for theatre as well as the people who work in it – leads to stagnant and samey work – let’s open the doors.
www.artsjobs.org.uk - there are loads of sites like this advertising work in smaller organizations – degree of immediate gratification/high job which isn’t the norm. Free sites are used to v. v. v. good effect but you have to scour.
Participants: Kate Lane, Sarah Grange, Samal Blak, Chris Grady, Mark Price, Rosanne Peak Payne
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
If you think about how much theatre is produced in this country, probably something like 1 in 1000 creative jobs is publicly advertised. Labour laws exist to protect people from this in other industries, so why is it ignored in ours? Technical, backstage and admin jobs seem much more often to be publicly advertised, is this because unions such as BECTU are better at ensuring this, or is it because people don’t care enough about techies to be nepotistic?
Most of the people making the decisions in theatre, particularly at the highest levels, all seem to have gone to school or Oxbridge with each other.
Collaborative nature of theatre means that people form creative partnerships and ensembles, meaning that they’re more comfortable working with people they know and have worked with before. But good things can happen when people go outside their comfort zone and work with new people.
Theatre can feel like a closed club – fine if you’re a member, difficult if you’re not, and very hard to get into if you don’t know the right people.
The accepted route in theatre of starting out by working for free will tend to filter out the non-wealthy.
SOLUTIONS:
Go to Oxbridge. One of the group had a friend who was taking three years out of her career to do a BA at Cambridge mainly in order to meet ‘the right people’.
Don’t be afraid to approach people, seek them out to ask advice etc, build up relationships.
Let’s lobby Equity. Get them to force the National Theatre (as it’s supposed to be for the public, funded by public money) to publicly advertise not only technical posts but director, designer jobs etc. If not for all its shows then maybe just one per season? Let’s make this happen by next year! Start a petition.
Problem with publicly advertising jobs at major theatres – potentially swamped with unsuitable applicants. Solution: DEAL WITH IT. Employer’s responsibility to filter applications as in any other industry, also word advertisement so that level of skill and experience required is clear. The graphic design world has a better model – jobs are advertised, and there’s an accepted scale, so companies can advertise for a ‘mid-weight’ designer etc – could we not adopt this model?
Nepotism is ultimately bad for theatre as well as the people who work in it – leads to stagnant and samey work – let’s open the doors.
www.artsjobs.org.uk - there are loads of sites like this advertising work in smaller organizations – degree of immediate gratification/high job which isn’t the norm. Free sites are used to v. v. v. good effect but you have to scour.
011 What is culturally diverse about Theatre?
Convener: Anouk Mishti
Participants: Including actors, writers, curators etc…
Annie Fitzmaurice(Coal Theatre Co); Anouk Mishti (Arts Intuition): Lynette Moran (Mouth to Mouth); Lee Simpson(Improbable; Bindiya Solanki; Jean StClair; Ilana Winterstein
No name changes as no responses received from those that attended below:
Emma (Shakyisles Theatre; Rebecca (Mercury Theatre; Meenakshi; Amy; Amanda; Alicia; Gege; Elinor; Gehane; Kate & Jan – surnames? =signers
Thanks to Bindiya for taking the draft notes of the session.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• Identity and culture; is colour diverse or is it the experience, the story, what the person brings to the role? Just because there is an Asian/Black/Chinese person on stage does not necessarily mean that the show is diverse. It is also the experience that the person brings with them that attributes to the diversity.
• The UK is quite ‘accent-ish’. If you speak with a RP accent, it denotes that you are better educated than someone with e.g. a ‘Bristol-ian’ accent.
• Is colour-blind casting is a joke? It’s better in theatre than TV/Film.
• Why do I get called up by casting directors who are looking a half Scottish/half Arabian girl, do a fantastic audition, and then hear that I don't look half Scottish/half Arabian enough?!
• There's not a lot of diversity in Ireland. It doesn't address the political climate. Programming is not very culturally diverse.
• Who cares about cultural diversity? Is it only people who are culturally diverse?
• “There are two separate things being said here, one is to do with being cast regardless of ones own ethnicity rather than specifically, and the other that someone said that it’s not enough to see non-white faces in a cast – but wanted to see culturally specific roles, so that’s two quite different issues....”
• It's important to be included to properly
• How do you bring cultural diversity into casting? Where are all the disabled people?
• Coronation St asked me to audition for a character that is deaf. So when I got the brief, I read it through and it said “Deaf women who can speak well." This I thought isn't being diverse!
• Graeae Theatre Co put on a production of Sarah Kane’s Blasted and it was amazing! The casting was very diverse, but it didn't matter as it was the story that came through i.e. you didn't notice that the character was in a wheelchair.
• Is there not enough writing out there for disabled people? Is that why we don't see many on stage?
• The RSC and the National do have quite diverse casting and they are mainstream theatre companies.
• The Arts Council are arbiters of what is culturally diverse; they decide what is ‘culturally diverse’. Cultural diversity, when trying to get funding, is all about ticking the right boxes. How do you encourage work that is about culture in mainstream theatre?
• Disabled performers fail to fall into the diverse box. For Arts Council, diversity is other cultures/nationalities, not the disabled. The Arts Council is very interested in ‘ethnic’ women’s theatre.
• Diversity is a fashion. Disabled people need to be in fashion to get funding!
• Is our culture/diversity invisible or visible?
• Theatre is more diverse than TV/film. What can we celebrate from/about cultural diversity?
• Is there cultural diversity in culturally specific projects?
• The cultural diversity in Ireland is now being represented in the new writing that's emerging. Not everyone in Ireland is now white, Irish and Catholic.
• Cultural diversity is a reflection of society.
• With theatre, it is possible to engage people on a deeper level. You can have a white sibling with a black sibling, without there being a story to connect their races. Theatre audiences will accept this as a convention. Theatre deals with reality in depth; it's out & out self-interest to embrace and enthusiastically follow this. When people watch theatre, they can engage more intensely.
• In drama school, is it a fact that it is more difficult to train someone who disabled therefore there are less disabled performers out there with the skills to take on professional productions?
• Theatre and the arts are a small section of society. But we still need to be the advocates of cultural diversity…
• The idea of "Consensus reality" was highlighted in relation to theatre's ability to communicate on a deeper level of reality than film and television tend to, as cited above. For more info on this reference, please see Lee’s articulation that further illuminates the term:
D & D final notes (12.2.2010)
Anouk Mishti
Participants: Including actors, writers, curators etc…
Annie Fitzmaurice(Coal Theatre Co); Anouk Mishti (Arts Intuition): Lynette Moran (Mouth to Mouth); Lee Simpson(Improbable; Bindiya Solanki; Jean StClair; Ilana Winterstein
No name changes as no responses received from those that attended below:
Emma (Shakyisles Theatre; Rebecca (Mercury Theatre; Meenakshi; Amy; Amanda; Alicia; Gege; Elinor; Gehane; Kate & Jan – surnames? =signers
Thanks to Bindiya for taking the draft notes of the session.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• Identity and culture; is colour diverse or is it the experience, the story, what the person brings to the role? Just because there is an Asian/Black/Chinese person on stage does not necessarily mean that the show is diverse. It is also the experience that the person brings with them that attributes to the diversity.
• The UK is quite ‘accent-ish’. If you speak with a RP accent, it denotes that you are better educated than someone with e.g. a ‘Bristol-ian’ accent.
• Is colour-blind casting is a joke? It’s better in theatre than TV/Film.
• Why do I get called up by casting directors who are looking a half Scottish/half Arabian girl, do a fantastic audition, and then hear that I don't look half Scottish/half Arabian enough?!
• There's not a lot of diversity in Ireland. It doesn't address the political climate. Programming is not very culturally diverse.
• Who cares about cultural diversity? Is it only people who are culturally diverse?
• “There are two separate things being said here, one is to do with being cast regardless of ones own ethnicity rather than specifically, and the other that someone said that it’s not enough to see non-white faces in a cast – but wanted to see culturally specific roles, so that’s two quite different issues....”
• It's important to be included to properly
• How do you bring cultural diversity into casting? Where are all the disabled people?
• Coronation St asked me to audition for a character that is deaf. So when I got the brief, I read it through and it said “Deaf women who can speak well." This I thought isn't being diverse!
• Graeae Theatre Co put on a production of Sarah Kane’s Blasted and it was amazing! The casting was very diverse, but it didn't matter as it was the story that came through i.e. you didn't notice that the character was in a wheelchair.
• Is there not enough writing out there for disabled people? Is that why we don't see many on stage?
• The RSC and the National do have quite diverse casting and they are mainstream theatre companies.
• The Arts Council are arbiters of what is culturally diverse; they decide what is ‘culturally diverse’. Cultural diversity, when trying to get funding, is all about ticking the right boxes. How do you encourage work that is about culture in mainstream theatre?
• Disabled performers fail to fall into the diverse box. For Arts Council, diversity is other cultures/nationalities, not the disabled. The Arts Council is very interested in ‘ethnic’ women’s theatre.
• Diversity is a fashion. Disabled people need to be in fashion to get funding!
• Is our culture/diversity invisible or visible?
• Theatre is more diverse than TV/film. What can we celebrate from/about cultural diversity?
• Is there cultural diversity in culturally specific projects?
• The cultural diversity in Ireland is now being represented in the new writing that's emerging. Not everyone in Ireland is now white, Irish and Catholic.
• Cultural diversity is a reflection of society.
• With theatre, it is possible to engage people on a deeper level. You can have a white sibling with a black sibling, without there being a story to connect their races. Theatre audiences will accept this as a convention. Theatre deals with reality in depth; it's out & out self-interest to embrace and enthusiastically follow this. When people watch theatre, they can engage more intensely.
• In drama school, is it a fact that it is more difficult to train someone who disabled therefore there are less disabled performers out there with the skills to take on professional productions?
• Theatre and the arts are a small section of society. But we still need to be the advocates of cultural diversity…
• The idea of "Consensus reality" was highlighted in relation to theatre's ability to communicate on a deeper level of reality than film and television tend to, as cited above. For more info on this reference, please see Lee’s articulation that further illuminates the term:
Lee encountered the term "consensus reality" through Process Oriented Psychology - it simply means the things that we all generally accept as reality. The things we see with our eyes and hear with our ears and touch with our fingers that are real.
Underneath consensus reality are other levels; dreaming, imaginative, essence etc. Consensus reality is usually dominant but when we are in certain states these deeper levels of reality can seem more real, one of those occasions being in theatre (sometimes). Because of this, the consensus reality differences between two actors (colour of skin, body shape, means of moving around etc.) which might mean it is difficult to imagine them cast as relations or lovers or friends in a movie, can in theatre be superseded by their connection to each other and to the audience on a dreaming/imaginative level, thereby making it seem natural and right that they are in those roles. In this way theatre is not only showing examples of diversity or telling us that diversity is a good thing. It is itself modelling deep diversity by relating to people, and giving the audience the opportunity to relate to people on levels other than that of consensus reality; something which in life most of us rarely get the chance to do with people who are, on a consensus reality level, different from us.
D & D final notes (12.2.2010)
Anouk Mishti
007 How can men contribute to feminist theatre?
Convener: Paul Whitlock
Participants: Paul Whitlock, Zoe Cobb, Liza Stubbs, Robert Cook, Helen Pringle, Naomi O’Kelly, Laura Eades, Alan Ball, Josh Neicho, Rachel McGill, Neil Keating, Dan G., Stuart T., S. Simpson, Gerard Bell (unfortunately some names were not very legible), a few others who “bumblebeed” in and out.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
It is important for men to participate, but not dominate.
Nic Green’s “Trilogy” (recently performed at Battersea Arts Centre and the Barbican) was considered to be a particularly inspiring and ground-breaking piece of feminist dance-theatre.
On the other hand, the show “Calendar Girls” is not exactly challenging stereotypes of women’s bodies by casting an actress who has posed for lads’ magazines.
There is a basic image problem with feminism – the “F-word”. Does labelling or marketing a work as implicitly or explicitly “feminist” automatically limit the audience and alienate people? Or is it OK to nail your political colours to the mast?
Does feminist theatre have a particular process?
A lot of prominent women in theatre do not consider themselves feminists – is this a sign of their success?
Women are sometimes also guilty of making sexual generalisations and assumptions about their male colleagues in the arts.
One man said that on some occasions he feels able to challenge other men’s sexism when they express it and sometimes he does not. He wishes that he could do so every time.
Gay men may have different attitudes to women from traditional masculine viewpoints.
Feminism is often seen as a polarising force: women versus men. It should be about sharing values and enabling men and women to engage with each other to make a difference. However, it was acknowledged that some vulnerable women might need the security and support of an all-female group for a time before they felt strong enough to face the wider world.
How many men would actually identify themselves as feminists?
Could there be an all-male feminist theatre company?
Comment - The gender definitions applied here don’t describe my/their experience.
Note by Convener: The above comment about gender definitions was added anonymously to the printout of this report that was posted on the wall. It did not form part of the original discussion and does not represent my own views.
Participants: Paul Whitlock, Zoe Cobb, Liza Stubbs, Robert Cook, Helen Pringle, Naomi O’Kelly, Laura Eades, Alan Ball, Josh Neicho, Rachel McGill, Neil Keating, Dan G., Stuart T., S. Simpson, Gerard Bell (unfortunately some names were not very legible), a few others who “bumblebeed” in and out.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
It is important for men to participate, but not dominate.
Nic Green’s “Trilogy” (recently performed at Battersea Arts Centre and the Barbican) was considered to be a particularly inspiring and ground-breaking piece of feminist dance-theatre.
On the other hand, the show “Calendar Girls” is not exactly challenging stereotypes of women’s bodies by casting an actress who has posed for lads’ magazines.
There is a basic image problem with feminism – the “F-word”. Does labelling or marketing a work as implicitly or explicitly “feminist” automatically limit the audience and alienate people? Or is it OK to nail your political colours to the mast?
Does feminist theatre have a particular process?
A lot of prominent women in theatre do not consider themselves feminists – is this a sign of their success?
Women are sometimes also guilty of making sexual generalisations and assumptions about their male colleagues in the arts.
One man said that on some occasions he feels able to challenge other men’s sexism when they express it and sometimes he does not. He wishes that he could do so every time.
Gay men may have different attitudes to women from traditional masculine viewpoints.
Feminism is often seen as a polarising force: women versus men. It should be about sharing values and enabling men and women to engage with each other to make a difference. However, it was acknowledged that some vulnerable women might need the security and support of an all-female group for a time before they felt strong enough to face the wider world.
How many men would actually identify themselves as feminists?
Could there be an all-male feminist theatre company?
Comment - The gender definitions applied here don’t describe my/their experience.
Note by Convener: The above comment about gender definitions was added anonymously to the printout of this report that was posted on the wall. It did not form part of the original discussion and does not represent my own views.
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