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| 'As an actress you get really good at crying': Australian women tackle the 'boys club' of theatre and film | 'As an actress you get really good at crying': Australian women tackle the 'boys club' of theatre and film |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| When you’re a female actor, there’s one question you are asked far more than any other, particularly by kids: “How do you cry?” | When you’re a female actor, there’s one question you are asked far more than any other, particularly by kids: “How do you cry?” |
| When it was posed yet again to Matilda Ridgway at a Q&A in Canberra, where she was starring in Bell Shakespeare’s Hamlet last year, she remembers the moment as pivotal. | When it was posed yet again to Matilda Ridgway at a Q&A in Canberra, where she was starring in Bell Shakespeare’s Hamlet last year, she remembers the moment as pivotal. |
| “It was a matinee show and I was feeling particularly cranky about the state of the industry,” she says. “So I answered: ‘Well, as a female actress you get really good at crying and taking your clothes off – sort of like how the male actors get really good at sword fighting and having all the dialogue.’” | “It was a matinee show and I was feeling particularly cranky about the state of the industry,” she says. “So I answered: ‘Well, as a female actress you get really good at crying and taking your clothes off – sort of like how the male actors get really good at sword fighting and having all the dialogue.’” |
| Related: A room of one's own: why women need to have their artistic voice heard | Related: A room of one's own: why women need to have their artistic voice heard |
| There were around 300 high school kids in the crowd and they erupted into laughter and applause. A young boy yelled out: “You go girl!” | There were around 300 high school kids in the crowd and they erupted into laughter and applause. A young boy yelled out: “You go girl!” |
| “I thought, ‘oh, yeah!’ There is a whole generation out there that has a more fluid concept of sexuality and gender ... and wants to see that diversity represented on stage,” Ridgway says. “Even if we’re still living in the parochial concept of the well-made play – going back to that canon of Ibsens and Cowards and Shakespeares – there is a whole generation out there who are really keen to find your next Nakkiah Lui, or your next Donna Abela. | “I thought, ‘oh, yeah!’ There is a whole generation out there that has a more fluid concept of sexuality and gender ... and wants to see that diversity represented on stage,” Ridgway says. “Even if we’re still living in the parochial concept of the well-made play – going back to that canon of Ibsens and Cowards and Shakespeares – there is a whole generation out there who are really keen to find your next Nakkiah Lui, or your next Donna Abela. |
| “The ecology of the industry isn’t going to survive if you cut out 53% of your demographic.” | “The ecology of the industry isn’t going to survive if you cut out 53% of your demographic.” |
| Ridgway, who starred in Belvoir St theatre’s Jasper Jones last month, is now a spokeswoman for Women on Theatre and Screen (WITS), a collective set up in Sydney last year to lobby for more equitable representation of women in the industry. On Monday night, the eve of International Women’s Day, the collective launched WITS on AustralianPlays.org, an Australian-first searchable database that collects all Australian plays written by women and highlights those that feature parity of casting, gender themes and significant female characters. | Ridgway, who starred in Belvoir St theatre’s Jasper Jones last month, is now a spokeswoman for Women on Theatre and Screen (WITS), a collective set up in Sydney last year to lobby for more equitable representation of women in the industry. On Monday night, the eve of International Women’s Day, the collective launched WITS on AustralianPlays.org, an Australian-first searchable database that collects all Australian plays written by women and highlights those that feature parity of casting, gender themes and significant female characters. |
| The organisation hopes the database will be finished by the end of the year and has enlisted more than 50 volunteers to help read and classify AustralianPlays.org’s existing collection of more than 2,000 plays. The criteria, Ridgway concedes, is a “tricky thing to assess”, particularly when it pertains to complex roles for women: they need to be multi-dimensional characters who don’t exist simply for the male story to function; ideally, they’ll pass the Bechdel test too. | The organisation hopes the database will be finished by the end of the year and has enlisted more than 50 volunteers to help read and classify AustralianPlays.org’s existing collection of more than 2,000 plays. The criteria, Ridgway concedes, is a “tricky thing to assess”, particularly when it pertains to complex roles for women: they need to be multi-dimensional characters who don’t exist simply for the male story to function; ideally, they’ll pass the Bechdel test too. |
| In 2012, the Australia Council released its Women in Theatre report. They found that, in 2011, only 17% of Australian theatre productions were written by women – the poorest year for female writers since 2003. They also found that, in terms of women in creative leadership roles within the major performing arts and theatre companies, almost no progress had been made since 2001. | In 2012, the Australia Council released its Women in Theatre report. They found that, in 2011, only 17% of Australian theatre productions were written by women – the poorest year for female writers since 2003. They also found that, in terms of women in creative leadership roles within the major performing arts and theatre companies, almost no progress had been made since 2001. |
| “According to new data from the Australian Writers’ Guild, we’re now looking at 39% [of plays written by women], which is so much better – but it’s still a downswing from 43% last year,” Ridgway says. “So while we’re in a much better place than we were five years ago, we still have to keep up the fight. It’s about making sure that all of those theatre companies know that it’s really important”. | “According to new data from the Australian Writers’ Guild, we’re now looking at 39% [of plays written by women], which is so much better – but it’s still a downswing from 43% last year,” Ridgway says. “So while we’re in a much better place than we were five years ago, we still have to keep up the fight. It’s about making sure that all of those theatre companies know that it’s really important”. |
| One of those companies is responsible for WITS’ existence in the first place. Actor and singer Maryann Wright co-founded the collective in retaliation to Darlinghurst theatre company, whose 2016 program – comprised of six plays – featured no women directors, two all-male casts and not a single image of a woman in the season brochure at all. Seven years on from the “boy’s club” controversy of Neil Armfield’s final season at Belvoir, Darlinghurst theatre was the worst offender in what was still an industry-wide oversight. | One of those companies is responsible for WITS’ existence in the first place. Actor and singer Maryann Wright co-founded the collective in retaliation to Darlinghurst theatre company, whose 2016 program – comprised of six plays – featured no women directors, two all-male casts and not a single image of a woman in the season brochure at all. Seven years on from the “boy’s club” controversy of Neil Armfield’s final season at Belvoir, Darlinghurst theatre was the worst offender in what was still an industry-wide oversight. |
| Wright has surveyed 10 programs of the biggest theatre companies in Australia and found only three will reach gender parity in 2016. Meanwhile, she says, there’s anywhere between 15-30% of women directing, writing and appearing on screen. “We thought, ‘this cannot keep happening in the 21st century’.” | Wright has surveyed 10 programs of the biggest theatre companies in Australia and found only three will reach gender parity in 2016. Meanwhile, she says, there’s anywhere between 15-30% of women directing, writing and appearing on screen. “We thought, ‘this cannot keep happening in the 21st century’.” |
| Related: Looking for Grace director Sue Brooks on gender diversity in Australian film: 'They just don't get it' | Related: Looking for Grace director Sue Brooks on gender diversity in Australian film: 'They just don't get it' |
| WITS was born as a small group to “sit around and drink wine and talk about [gender in] theatre and screen” but so many RSVP’d to their first meeting last October that they had to upgrade from a 60-seater venue to the much larger Seymour Centre. They have since held two think tanks, the second of which was attended by an audience of 350 at Carriageworks last month. | WITS was born as a small group to “sit around and drink wine and talk about [gender in] theatre and screen” but so many RSVP’d to their first meeting last October that they had to upgrade from a 60-seater venue to the much larger Seymour Centre. They have since held two think tanks, the second of which was attended by an audience of 350 at Carriageworks last month. |
| The panel featured representatives from almost every stage of the production process – casting, programming, directing, writing, acting – who brainstormed changes that could be made at their level to open the field up to more women. | The panel featured representatives from almost every stage of the production process – casting, programming, directing, writing, acting – who brainstormed changes that could be made at their level to open the field up to more women. |
| Miranda Tapsell, of The Sapphires and Love Child, was on the panel that evening and spoke about her experience as an Indigenous actor in Australia. “From where I sit, as an Indigenous woman, I know that I’ve been ridiculously lucky. And now that I’ve had a taste of that, I want more,” she said to applause. | Miranda Tapsell, of The Sapphires and Love Child, was on the panel that evening and spoke about her experience as an Indigenous actor in Australia. “From where I sit, as an Indigenous woman, I know that I’ve been ridiculously lucky. And now that I’ve had a taste of that, I want more,” she said to applause. |
| Tapsell revealed she has just been cast in an upcoming production as a journalist in the Canberra press gallery. “How many people believe that an Aboriginal woman can educate herself and get herself in the press gallery in Parliament House? It makes sense to me – I know plenty of educated Aboriginal women. But that’s just not shown enough on TV.” | Tapsell revealed she has just been cast in an upcoming production as a journalist in the Canberra press gallery. “How many people believe that an Aboriginal woman can educate herself and get herself in the press gallery in Parliament House? It makes sense to me – I know plenty of educated Aboriginal women. But that’s just not shown enough on TV.” |
| On the same panel, the actor and writer Kate Mulvany talked about growing up around strong, interesting women with fascinating and diverse stories – and seeing none of them reflected in the casting calls she gets. “Imagine my surprise, all these years later, when I get called in for auditions – I wrote down some: there’s the sexy office worker, the barmaid, the giggly neighbour, lots of mums, lots of mums, lots of cardigans and ex-hooker – that’s the big one for me: ex-hooker,” she said. “That really bothers me, because they’re not the stories I grew up around.” | On the same panel, the actor and writer Kate Mulvany talked about growing up around strong, interesting women with fascinating and diverse stories – and seeing none of them reflected in the casting calls she gets. “Imagine my surprise, all these years later, when I get called in for auditions – I wrote down some: there’s the sexy office worker, the barmaid, the giggly neighbour, lots of mums, lots of mums, lots of cardigans and ex-hooker – that’s the big one for me: ex-hooker,” she said. “That really bothers me, because they’re not the stories I grew up around.” |
| Related: Has Belvoir St theatre turned around its infamous 'boys club'? | Related: Has Belvoir St theatre turned around its infamous 'boys club'? |
| Still, there is a positive shift happening in Australia, which you can measure in many ways. There’s Screen Australia’s Gender Matters initiative, a $5m plan to address gender inequality in the screen industry; there’s the Queensland Theatre Company’s new national artistic team, which features 60% women and 30% Indigenous artists; there are new programs by Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse which attempt to address gender inequity; and there’s been a palpable turnaround at Belvoir where, between 2010 and 2014, women directed at least half of the company’s shows. | |
| And Darlinghurst Theatre Company have come to the party too, offering to host WITS’ upcoming Festival Fatale, a crowdfunded two-day showcase of plays by women. | And Darlinghurst Theatre Company have come to the party too, offering to host WITS’ upcoming Festival Fatale, a crowdfunded two-day showcase of plays by women. |
| “It shows the power of leaders to address a problem and take action,” Wright says. “Darlinghurst were brave and strong to say, ‘This is a problem, and we are part of the problem – but we’re going to be part of the solution’.” | “It shows the power of leaders to address a problem and take action,” Wright says. “Darlinghurst were brave and strong to say, ‘This is a problem, and we are part of the problem – but we’re going to be part of the solution’.” |