Jean Anouilh’s play The Orchestra tells the story of a third-rate orchestra in France just after the Second World War and it is a play that made a big impression on director Kristine Landon-Smith.
Pinter & misogyny post #MeToo: Was the playwright ahead of the curve or playing for laughs?
Pinter Six of the Pinter at the Pinter season is the first that I can say I quite enjoyed but it didn’t stop a nagging question I’ve had for a while: Was Pinter a misogynist? I’m not alone as it was the first question in the post-show Q&A with director Jamie Lloyd and cast members Celia Imrie, Ron Cook and Abraham Popoola.
Can we move beyond gender-swapping roles on stage & write better characters for women?
A theatre announces that a classic male role will be played by a woman and gets a plethora of headlines as a result. While giving a woman a meaty, lead role is something to be applauded, it exposes the shortcomings in onstage equality in theatreland. Gender swapping characters isn’t fresh, new and exciting, it’s starting to feel overused, calculated and like lip-service.