Interview

I expect you’re aware of the uproar surrounding the board’s decision at the G

Sue Parrish, director of Women Centre Stage Festival, playwright Winsome Pinnock and actress Maggie Steed, come together discuss the importance of creating great roles for women.

'Wild' women have been feared since earliest times. From the legend of Lilith to the Grecian Bacchae, women who deviate from the submissive 'norm' have been treated with suspicion and contempt. Theatre company About Wolves have crafted a interesting tale, based on real life historical figure Cynthia Ann Parker.

A few days  ago, the world was reeling with the news of Donald Trump elected as the President of the United States. Coupled with the Brexit result in the summer, the global lurch to the Right with its jingoistic rhetoric about 'migrants', things look as bleak as can be. With this in mind I went to a show at Battersea Arts Centre, where various people who have moved to London tell their life story. Some arrived quite recently, others 50+ years ago – but all have an interesting tale to tell.

Those who made their name in the late 19th century set the tone for the evolution of drama the following century. While many of Henrik Ibsen's plays focused on women in all their complexity, fellow Scandinavian Strindberg focused on the psychological battle of the sexes. Currently running at Jermyn Street Theatre are two of Strindberg's lesser known works, running as a double bill. The first (The Stronger) is notable for having two female characters, one of whom doesn't get around to speaking throughout. Much like Dolly, the talkative friend in Brief Encounter who doesn't let Laura get a word in edgeways, Sara Griffths as Madame X dominates the conversation. Mademoiselle Y (Abbiegale Duncan) instead uses non-verbal communication to register her what she's thinking or feeling.

Written and directed by Lisa Sillaway, Unanchored is an astute play that subliminally comments on the world today through its historical setting. Set during the American War of Independence, the action takes place on a prison ship off the East Coast. Under the watchful eye of 'the Captain' (Dave Mattless), Katherine Rodden as Emma 'the Leper' is kept prisoner in isolation. A suspected spy for the Loyalist/British forces, duress and kindness are used to try to persuade her to divulge what she knows and switch sides...

Experiencing misunderstanding and disrespect regarding her ethnicity and sexuality for most of her adult life, Ariane Barnes has a lot of experiences to draw from. Born of parents from British-Mauritian parents descent, Barnes is hard to pigeon-hole. Not that anyone should, of course, but actors in general get labelled and put in boxes – especially when they have to use ubiquitous sites like Spotlight to reach every possible demographic.

After a fantastic debut at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe with packed houses and 5 star reviews, critically acclaimed comedy actress and character comedian Alice Marshall presents a collection of weird and wonderful characters in the London transfer of her show.

Women Centre Stage develops and commissions new work of artistic excellence which uniquely brings together a diverse array of women characters far from the margins into centre stage.

Why is the exploration of gender in Shakespeare such an important triumph and talking point? It could be the fact that Shakespeare never wrote his roles for women in the mind that they would one day be played by a female actor rather than boys in dresses. He simply did not live in a time where that would be possible. It could also be the fact that out of 981 characters that Shakespeare wrote, only 155 are women, which accounts for 16% of all roles.

Harriet Walter’s new book, Brutus and Other Heroines, explores the idea (and some would argue, FACT) that the women in Shakespeare’s plays unfortunately “only matter in as much as they relate to the men.”