Female characters vs Male characters in Theatre

Yesterday I attended a playread at Monobox where we read Annie Bakers' play Aliens.

Here are some facts about the play:

The Aliens premiered Off-Broadway in 2010, 

The play premiered in London at the Bush Theatre in September 2010

The writer of an article in the Boston Globe noted: "At least one-third of her play 'The Aliens' should be silent, uncomfortably so, a note in the text says

Baker won the Obie Award for Best New American Play (with a check for $1,000), for The Aliens, jointly with Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation. The play also won the Obie Award for Directing (Sam Gold) and Performance (Dane DeHaan).

The Aliens was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for 2009-2010.

After the read we had a discussion and the subject came up; How would this play and especially the characters be perceived if they were female?

You see, the characters are two males in their 30s and one younger male who is 17 years old. The older ones are lost, have no direction and hang outside at the back of a place where the youngster works. 

Often, when women in their 30s are portrayed as being lost, there is often a cause of it that has to deal with men. They have been abused, abandoned, and as a result are lonely, desperate, and often alone hiding in their home or prostitutes.  

We started discussing why this could be. Someone brought up that a lot of women don't have the luxury of time to figure their lives out. That there is a lot more pressure for women to either be married, have children or have a successful career in their 30s. This results in that the women who do not feel like they have accomplished one or all of these things often are ashamed. They won't sit outside all day and 'show' that they have nowhere to go or nothing to do. 

In my opinion, it would be very interesting to see a production about 'lost' or 'unaccomplished' women (according to Western Society norms), being open and unapologetic about it. Where the cause of their wondering is not caused by men or being influenced by it. 

I would love to hear thoughts on this. Do you know a production where they show this or something similar? Or another one with men? 

Thoughts on Skype session 02/02/2019 research as mapping to build understanding

Very useful Skype discussion today with Adesola, below are some ideas and things that got mentioned that really stuck with me:

Avoid trying to want to change something or convince someone/something

About inquiry:

• Don't assume you know your topic
• Practise based inquiry is by nature something you haven't looked into yet
• What different people have written/done research about your inquiry? Parents, age, genders etc?

About mapping:

• By mapping we mean understanding the context of the field I'm interested in 
• Know the context of what you're researching
• What are the main theories, ethical considerations, discourses around the inquiry, different conversations people have around it. Then look at the side roads of different theories, talking to people in the field about that topic, getting more specific. You're able to after this tell someone about it. 

About research:

• How do people in your practise do research? the thing that only you can do within your professional practice, it's different than others.
• Focus on different research methods - how do you really observe? can you draw, write poetry, taking part, how do you document that?
• Push boundaries of what you think research is, esp. practise based, more than just writing

Can you imagine?

Another thing that was mentioned at the Womens Centrestage Symposium was:

Can you imagine a world without misogyny?
Is your imagination strong enough to believe patriarchy can end?
What will that look like?

I would love to explore this 'utopia'. And go on a journey of imagination, how would I deal with the internal misogyny? As we are a product of our environment, and I have been living for 28 years in patriarchy and a society that benefits from women feeling the need to do something to be enough. (simple example is women have 8 products to shower with and men have 4 in 1 shampoo) It would be very interesting to explore what blocks I walk against myself in a society where there wasn't any sexism, racism, homophobia. How would I deal when my privilege has disappeared? (When the bus won't stop for me when I'm running after it in my heels?) How would others react on me? How would the world take shape? This is a big wonder but I would love to find a little wonder within this and go on a Alice In Wonderland type of adventure and explore this new world. Perhaps a one-woman-play can come out of it at the end of my studies?

Let the imagination roll free, can I? Can you?

The portrayal of women in storytelling

Something that really stuck with me at the Womens Centre Stage Symposium was something Timberlake Wertenbaker brought up. She said that people get really uncomfortable when actresses play powerful women who are not nice, who are not obeying.

This is because we are not used to seeing these characters. We are used to men in such positions, for example Richard III, but most female leads are missing a tragic flaw. Either they are 'nice' or they are a 'witch', a character with only flaws and fundamentally evil.

I will watch the following films and research the following characters from which I heard they (the main characters) are 'not nice', I am very curious to see how 'flawed' they are, how complex and detailed their characterisation is.

Monster - Charlize Theron
Destroyer - Nicole Kidman
Medea - Greek Mythology
Mary Stuart - Almeida Theatre

From Medea I know she is so full of pain because of a man. I am curious if the explanation for the others' flaw also lies with a man or have another explanation, if they even have one. I wonder if many 'flawed' male characters 'owe' their flaw to the pain from a women..

Womens Centre Stage Symposium

Having just come from the Womens Centrestage Symposium in Hampstead theatre, I am very enthusiastic and motivated to order my thoughts. Hopefully it will bring more clarity as to what I want to focus on the rest of my study.

I am going to bring up questions that were asked with my own ideas as answers and answers from some of the speakers that were there today, but mostly just question after question after question,  who knows what it will result in?

What is the most useful thing I can do?
There is nothing more powerful than the story --> What do we tell ourselves and others? Stories have the power to produce shame of the right kind.

Do I have enough imagination to believe that it will be different? Can I imagine the end of patriarchy?

Jude Kelly (Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre for 12 years, created WOW, Women of the World Festival, theatre and opera director and recipient of two Olivier awards and has founded METAL):
-How do I deal with internal misogyny (dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women)
--> Learn from the stories around us, from other women
-How do I deal with the things that are so ingrained that I don't even realise it's there?
On storytelling:
-Women are often not a protagonist but a decorative extra
On collaboration:
-You're not speaking about what you are in order to not get suspicion of a double agenda.
(For example; don't appear to feminine if you're speaking about women's issues, if you're more 'one of the boys' they take it on easier, how do you deal with and become aware of this?

Toni Racklin (Head of Theatre and Dance at the Barbican Centre since 2010, launched BITE, the yearly programme of dance, drama and music theatre from around the world. In 2018 the Barbican presented the Art of Change season exploring how artists respond to, reflect and can potentially effect change int he social and political landscape):
-If people believe and trust in you, you rise to that challenge
-Smaller theatre of The Barbican used to support New Voices.

Winsome Pinnock (award winning playwright; Leave Taking, The Wind of Change, Picture Palace):
-The world is going to change, so you better be prepared. You, we will be leading it so know what you're doing.
- Theatre is about change
- Reference Womens Playhouse Trust Jules Wright (1948 - 2015)
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/explore/theatre/womens-playhouse-trust-archive/




Recommended reading: 50 shades of feminism

Wonders

Big Wonders, little wonders, isn't all life a wonder?
I find it very difficult to choose what my wonder will be for Module 2. Therefore I am just going to list all the possibilities and perhaps slowly eliminate them to come to the one that is suitable for me in this moment.

Big Wonders:
Film making
Feminism
Theatre
Writing

Little Wonders:
Typecasting
Feminist Storytelling
Accents in acting
Writing one woman show
Writing short film
Producing short film
Performing (acting/dancing)
Combining acting+dancing
Filmlandscape  (current)
Theatre landschape (current)
Independent Cinema

I would love to hear how others choose and what factors they take in consideration to make their choice!

Ethics - BAFTA new diversity requirements film awards

I went over the handbook section of ethics again this morning and I couldn't get the new BAFTA guidelines out of my head.

Here is the article I am talking about:
http://www.bafta.org/media-centre/press-releases/new-diversity-requirement-film-awards

In short, taken from the article:
From 2019, entries for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer will be accepted if they can demonstrate their film has addressed and improved inclusion and representation in at least two of these areas.
The areas of under-representation the Standards address are all the protected characteristics from the Equality Act 2010, as they pertain to the act. These are gender, gender identity, age, carers (including working parents), pregnancy/maternity, disability, race/ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation and marriage/civil partnerships. The Standards also seek to address under-representation of people from lower socio-economic groups and ensure wide regional participation.

At first I was absolutely delighted with this announcement. It is a big step, as far as I know BAFTA has not taken diversity as a requirement for any of their entries.

After I went to BFI London Film Festival and saw a film together with an upcoming filmmaker we talked about how well the film was made but it raised many questions for us. I found it very odd that an indie film that was very realistic in many areas did only have white people in it. If you look at the ethnicity landscape of the city in which the story took place this is highly unlikely. It raised questions of the filmmakers choices, of her own experiences, the climate she grew up in and how she was 'taught' or conditioned how to tell stories. The film did address a foreigner living in the UK, she was white- European. As a European myself I loved seeing this character represented in an UK film, as most British films do not recognise all the European emigrants living and working in the UK and take that as a given, rather than making that the focus or 'problem' of the film.

So this film in which I, as a white, European, emigrant living in the U.K. I found myself being represented a bit in this one character. On the other hand, she had a completely different experience in the U.K in terms of diverse landscape as the people in my life are a lot from under-represented areas. And that aspect made the film leave a bitter taste. I mentioned the new requirements for BAFTA to my colleague and she said that the rules only were enforced for the upcoming season, and that this film could still qualify. I went over the article again and more questions came up: Why does this only apply to two categories? Why only two out of the four areas? (these are the areas: A: On-screen representation, themes & narratives
B: Project leadership & creative practitioners
C: Industry access & opportunities
D: Opportunities for diversity in audience development) 
It was a reminder for me as a filmmaker that awareness for all under-represented people is important. I am focusing myself a lot on sexism and racism in my film making journey but why not look at disability and gender identity?

It would be great to hear your thoughts on representation in art and on the new submission requirements for BAFTA.