| Conference: Women in Theatre (part 2) |
Theatre Event |
| Rep 100 Weekender , Birmingham Old Rep , March 26, 2013 |
A conference may come to conclusions and resolutions, but their real value is as a seam of enlivening information and knowledge en route. There is a spontaneity in dialogue in a way that makes the conference indispensable. Janet Suzman recalls the circumstances that surrounded the making of “Othello” in South Africa with John Kani in the lead. She also disputes vigorously the issue of the accuracy of Shakespearean scholarship. Lorna Laidlaw recalls some of the many roles she has played. Rita being educated is no surprise but she has also done Macduff in her time. Kate Horton, now the National Theatre's Deputy Executive Producer, is candid on apparently daunting challenges, like of getting “Jerusalem” onto Broadway. Her recently ended tenure at the Royal Court has been a much-praised period, whose accomplishments included a string of new generation women playwrights. Rachel De-lahay, author of “the West Bridge” and now under commission for Film 4, Radio 4 and a string of others, recalls her time with the Royal Court's development programme. The most important dramaturgical aspect, she says, was the end date and the expectation that a full-length play would be delivered. She is frank on her first work's quality, particularly consistency, but doing it is what matters. Scenelets and one-acters do not make a writer. Television gets its odd mention or two. Meera Syal says that a work like “My Sister Wife” of 1994 simply would not be made now. No ifs or buts, that time has gone. Press overkill is not particularly good for anyone, nor for theatre as a whole. “So much fuss about the first play” says Gupreet Bhatti “What about the fifth, or the sixth?” A sharp humour is prevalent. Of a director at the very peak of his career a voice dryly adds “Ah, yes, is that the Nick who has yet to direct a play by a woman?” Elizabeth Freestone, now Pentabus Artistic Director and director of Tim Price's “For Once”, has done some intriguing numbers. Fifteen percent of Shakespeare is written for women, but a good proportion of the parts- doctors, advisers and the rest- is not gender-dependent for the drama to work. Count in those parts that could be boldly cast for women and the percentage rises to forty-four percent. The panellists cover decades, four or five, in age and experience. Bryony Lavery is author of one of the Rep's most searing commissions of recent times. After “Frozen” came the utterly different “Kursk”. Her account of that production's genesis is fascinating. Approached to fill the rarely titled role of “external stimulus” for the company Sound and Fury, the production started with a week's exploration at John Osborne's former home The Hurst. Elements included the marking out of a submarine's interior with the use of string. As testament to what it takes to create something new the making of “Kursk” took over two years. The writers are asked how and where it all started and, of course, every story is its own. Bryony Lavery: “I write about what terrifies me. It's better to see things worked out on stage rather than in my head.” For others a parent who is obsessed with education can turn out to be no bad thing, a teacher who inspires helps, even if parting words to a young Bryony Lavery were “you'd better go into theatre because you're hopeless at real life.” |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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