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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 20, 2017 19:36:39 GMT
I thought I would crowd-source some suggestions from a group of people who are incredibly well-versed in all things theatrical!
I am curating a series of play-readings next year to raise the profile of female playwrights on the Oxford theatre scene. I did a bit of analysis recently and female authors make up only about 5% of the theatrical offerings in the city in recent decades. Whilst I appreciate that there is a big disparity in world drama between male and female writers, I think we should be doing better to bring a wider range of voices to audiences. So, I am going to put together some informal play-reading sessions to encourage directors to look beyond the expected.
There are obvious big titles/names to put on the list of possibles:
The Rover - Aphra Behn
Top Girls - Caryl Churchill
Enron - Lucy Prebble
But it would be great to get suggestions of things to consider from as wide a time period as possible. I would love to showcase writing from as many periods as possible.
So please chip in with ideas!
Thanks
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Post by Tibidabo on Nov 20, 2017 19:51:26 GMT
Stuff from my bookshelf that I may or may not have been in: Humble Boy - Charlotte Jones The Liver Birds - Carla Lane (and John Chapman) Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah - Victoria Wood (this is a collection of sketches rather than plays.) Good luck with it oxfordsimon . It sounds great! Edit to add: The Shell Seekers - Charlotte Bingham (and Terence Brady) |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 19:58:33 GMT
Pam Gems. Piaf. And others.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 19:59:21 GMT
Blasted- Sarah Kane
The Children- Lucy Kirkwoods
Oil- Ella Hickson
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 20, 2017 20:00:24 GMT
The list is large, but my favourite are:
Eurydice - Sarah Ruhl (all her plays are great)
Body Awareness - Annie Baker (same as above)
Venus - Suzan-Lori Parks
A Raisin in the Sun- Lorraine Hansberry
The Heidi Chronicles- Wendy Wasserstein
Indecent - Paula Vogel
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim was writing appreciated religious plays in the 10th Century, you might want to check her out
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Post by Jan on Nov 20, 2017 20:09:22 GMT
Not many suggestions from the classical repertoire there - how about “The Enchantment” by Victoria Benedictsson, produced at the Cottesloe some years ago before they banned plays by dead authors.
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Post by Jon on Nov 20, 2017 20:16:19 GMT
Posh - Laura Wade
Jumpy - April De Angelis
The Village Bike - Penelope Skinner
Di and Viv and Rose - Amelia Bulmore
That Face - Polly Stetham
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Post by Jan on Nov 20, 2017 20:20:42 GMT
Githa Sowerby “Rutherford and Son”, also seen at the Cottesloe in the good old days.
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Post by profquatermass on Nov 20, 2017 20:50:49 GMT
Dodie Smith, Anita Loos, Jane Cowl, Rachel Crothers, Lilian Hellman, Sophie Treadwell, Lorraine Hansbery, Timerlake Wertenbaker, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Mae West - loads to choose from.
And of course Agatha Christie currently has two plays running in London
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 20, 2017 20:52:50 GMT
Thanks everyone for their positive response so far. I know a good number of those titles - but many are new to me.
Keep 'em coming pleasethankyouverymuch
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Post by hulmeman on Nov 20, 2017 21:15:52 GMT
Handbagged - Moira Buffini. It examines the relationship between H.M Queen and Thatcher.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 21:29:11 GMT
I loved Sue Townsend’s The Queen and I at the Royal Court quite some years ago now. She wrote quite a few others too...
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 20, 2017 21:38:10 GMT
2 plays I thought would get a second shot, but never did:
Tribes - Nina Raine
The Effect - Lucy Prebble
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 21:48:37 GMT
Excellent young writer Alice Birch and Anatomy of a Suicide recently at the Royal Court, seconded for Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal, which is an excellent example of theatre expressionism. The Churchill I would go for is Far Away, a dystopian miniature masterpiece. Something by Jessica Swale as another contemporary alternative? Susanna Centlivre to show that Aphra Behn wasn’t alone?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 0:32:28 GMT
AnneJellicoe - "The Knack" or "The Sport of my Mad Mother"
Sharman MacDonald "When I was a Girl I used to Scream and Shout"
Claire McIntyre - "Low Level Panic" and "My Heart's a Suitcase."
Timberlake Wertenbaker - "Our Country's Good"
Olwen Wymark - "Find Me"
E V Crowe "The Sewing Group"
Anna Washburn - "Mr Burns" or "The Internationalist" (She makes up a whole new language for the second play)
Jenifer Haley "The Nether"
Abi Morgan "The Mistress Contract"
Tanika Gupta "Lions and Tigers"
Sarah Daniels "Masterpieces"
Elfriede Jelinek "What happened when Nora Left her Husband"
Debbie Tucker Green "Random"
Ntozake Shange "For Coloured Girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf"
Heidi Thomas "Some Singing Blood"
Charlotte Keatley "My Mother Said I never Should"
Deborah Levy "Pax'
Nell Dun "Steaming"
Debbie Tucker Green "Random"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 8:58:58 GMT
In addition to those ladies listed so far:
Suzan-Lori Parks (Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Penelope Skinner (Linda)
Amanda Whittington (Ladies Day)
Cordelia Lynn (Lela and Co)
Cush Jumbo (Josephine and I)
Vivienne Franzmann (Mogadishu)
Molly Davies (God Bless the Child)
Helen Edmundson (Queen Anne)
Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues)
Zoe Cooper (Jess and Joe Forever)
Lolita Chakrabarti (Red Velvet)
Amelia Bullmore (Di and Viv and Rose)
Sophie Wu (Ramona Tells Jim)
Bola Agbaje (Belong)
Shelagh Stephenson (The Memory of Water)
Jennifer Farmer (Bulletproof Soul)
Anya Reiss (The Acid Test)
Bettine Manktelow (Curtain Up on Murder)
Cynthia Heimel (A Girl's Guide to Chaos)
Pam Valentine (Day of Reckoning)
Catherine-Anne Toupin (Right Now)
Yazmina Reza (God of Carnage)
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Post by profquatermass on Nov 21, 2017 9:05:24 GMT
Looking at these lists makes the paucity of female playwrights performed at the NT completely shocking. Wouldn't it be great if they tried to have even one year with a 50:50 gender balance?
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Post by TallPaul on Nov 21, 2017 9:23:28 GMT
An August Bank Holiday Lark by Deborah McAndrew.
Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 9:28:26 GMT
Bernadine Evaristo “Chiaroscuro”
Winsome Pinnock “Mules” and “Leave Taking”
Marina Carr “Portia Coughlan”
Sylvia Plath “Three Women”
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Post by kathryn on Nov 21, 2017 9:53:00 GMT
I swear I saw a thing on twitter recently, that was an open spreadsheet that female play writes were encouraged to list their work on. I can't for the life of me find it now, though.
@emicardiff did you see it go around?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 9:56:23 GMT
I swear I saw a thing on twitter recently, that was an open spreadsheet that female play writes were encouraged to list their work on. I can't for the life of me find it now, though. @emicardiff did you see it go around? Oh I did...I'll go have a dig....(I may be some time pretty sure @baemax would have seen it too if I fail in my hunt) ETA: I have a few of my own to add...will do so when I get home from work tonight and have my full 'library' to hand! |
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Post by Jan on Nov 21, 2017 10:34:31 GMT
Looking at these lists makes the paucity of female playwrights performed at the NT completely shocking. Wouldn't it be great if they tried to have even one year with a 50:50 gender balance? They are committed to doing exactly that by 2021 and from then on so why keep moaning ? The fact they currently don’t must mean the plays submitted to them by female writers are even worse than those by male authors they’ve been inflicting on their audience - barely seems possible I know. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 10:46:53 GMT
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Post by TallPaul on Nov 21, 2017 10:49:00 GMT
Wonderland by Beth Steel.
Kindertransport by Diane Samuels.
A Passionate Woman by Kay Mellor.
Beryl by Maxine Peake.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 11:14:29 GMT
More than a few of these have been presented professionally in Oxford. The opening claim of 5% seems likely to be an alternative fact.
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