Unit 11 Essay
“Is
theatre as effective when performed by only one gender?”
In order to
understand the effectiveness of single gender plays, we must first look back at
the history of theatre itself.
Theatre
originated in Greece which started around 532 BC with a main focus on the theme
tragedy. Plays would be exclusively
performed by men, this is because the Greek culture believed that women were in
an inferior position to men, so women’s' role in society was very restricted in
many ways. Women were not allowed to be on the stage because it was considered
"dangerous." This meant that men played both male and female
characters.
The Greeks believed that allowing women to perform publicly would be too dangerous and that having men portray them neutralised the danger. In addition, women did not participate in plays because drama was part of a festival only for men involved with the worship of Dionysus. But women had their own festivals and during these they may have played the role of a goddess or such to show their belief. On the other hand, in other parts of Greece such as Athens, festivals for the god included women which created uniqueness in the dramas that were produced there. The question of whether women participated in drama and what was her part is the subject of great debate. Most information has women excluded from the theatres in Classical times.
The Greeks believed that allowing women to perform publicly would be too dangerous and that having men portray them neutralised the danger. In addition, women did not participate in plays because drama was part of a festival only for men involved with the worship of Dionysus. But women had their own festivals and during these they may have played the role of a goddess or such to show their belief. On the other hand, in other parts of Greece such as Athens, festivals for the god included women which created uniqueness in the dramas that were produced there. The question of whether women participated in drama and what was her part is the subject of great debate. Most information has women excluded from the theatres in Classical times.
This went on for many years;
most noticeably in Shakespearean times where still only men were majorly
featured or allowed to act and therefore were made to play both parts. In order
to portray the role of a female, directors would’ve often hired young boys due
to their more adolescent look, unfortunately the make-up that they were
required to wear in order to look the part, was lead based and highly
poisonous, this meant that the young actors were often unhealthy, had cases of
facial skin diseases and often died. The question of whether or not to use
women began to rise but also then created newer conflicts. Regardless of acting
skill or how well you could perform, lower class women were not allowed to act
on the Elizabethan stage as it would be considered ‘lewd’ or ‘highly immoral’.
Under certain circumstances though some women were able to perform and made the
shows much more enjoyable and realistic, this was done through masques to hide
identity. The first example of this is when women of high class society began
taking apart in plays they enjoyed and such, the most noticeable person from
this time would’ve been Ann Boleyn performing in the Tudor court at a masque on
March 1st 1522. This is when things began to change for single
gender theatre as people began to see the effectiveness of having a female play
a female role and a male with a male role. It helped to promote a further sense
of realism and storytelling.
It took many years
for women to be ‘allowed’ to act and real change only came in the early 1660s, after the Restoration of
King Charles II. He made a decision in 1662 to
issue a royal warrant declaring that all female roles should be played only by actresses.
Most women were not as interested or intrigued by the concept of acting as the
profession demanded the ability to read and memorise lines and to sing and
dance. In order to fit these requirements, the first women came from varied
social backgrounds, this was helped by the fact that as time went on directors
and such cared less about which social class you were in and instead began to
see you as what part you could play in order to make the production to work to
its best ability, an example of the first recorded female actor in England was
Margaret Hughes, who played Desdemona in Thomas Killigrew's production of Othello,
it was recorded that once more women began
appearing professionally on the stage in the early 1660s, they won quick
acceptance
Many
years later women are closely regarded as being just as good as men in the
theatre industry, the first woman to have performed on the main stage at
the National was Rebecca Lenkiewicz with Her Naked Skin in 2008 which was only ten years ago which
had an impact on the theatre industry.
Today there are plays that exclusively feature women such as
the Donmar Warehouses production of Julius Caesar starting on July 12th.
After watching the play I felt as if there would’ve been a bigger impact if
they had included both genders, I felt as if the lack of diversity detracted
away from what the play could’ve been. Certain scenes I felt lacked substance
and were played off the audience for a more comedic tone an example of this is Brutus's
physical humiliation of Cassius by stuffing a doughnut in his mouth.
In Paul
Edmondson’s review of the production he says “The company seemed driven by a
need to tell the story, to make us accept an all-female company that sought to
break new-ground in mainstream theatre” This makes me feel as if you are forced
to either like or accept that it’s an all-female cast and there’s not much room
for an in-between. Further supporting this, Michael Billington wrote that he doesn't think we should get carried
away and start arguing that single-sex Shakespeare is the only way forward but
there are certain aspects that he feels were good but some that could’ve been
better, like the doughnut scene that I spoke about previously.
On the other hand I felt Chesapeake Theatre’s take on the
scene was much more powerful and effective, the scene is much more aggressive
and focuses more on the demonstration of power rather than the potential comedy
of the scene. This picture shows by Brutus grabbing Casssius by the face,
invading his personal space and making him feel belittled. I felt as if the
acting was much better and the overall design of the show was more appealing.
Furthermore I felt as if the choice to have males actors play males and female
actors play females was the correct one and it definitely paid off, overall I
enjoyed the production much more than the version the Donmar Warehouse had
shown.
Overall I feel that
single gender plays are not as effective when compared to having both genders
in the play. Greek theatre was effective with male actors as it was the
beginning and was used more in festivals for the god Dionysus, but when women
were allowed the chance to act in Athens it gave people the chance to see how
effective and how much better the plays could be with women ion them. The story
is also the same in Shakespearean theatre when women got involved in masques
and made the plays enjoyable and more realistic, once again having a positive
effect on the change in the theater industry. Therefore throughout history
there have been times when female actors have been able to show off their
skills and demonstrate their capabilities which in turn resulted in the outcome
of them having the same opportunities as male actors. After all of the history
behind the industry we are now in a time where I believe theatre is at its best
because of both genders being in the majority of the plays.
Ref:
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