Attending the Women Centre Stage: Power Play Festival late last year, it was amusing to hear Sphinx Theatre’s Sue Parrish’s favourite anecdotes about the first ever report on the status of women in theatre that she commissioned in 1983. It found that out of 1024 productions surveyed across the country, only 11% were written by women and the majority of those were by Agatha Christie alone.
It got me thinking that I hadn’t continued the gender audit of my own theatregoing which I started in 2014 – the results of which can be read here – and whilst nothing comprehensive can be drawn from the 300 or so plays that I saw in 2016, I think it is interesting to break down the figures and see how they look. I think I do try and see a good mix, questioning why this production is all-male or that one has no diversity, but at the same time I do like to see a lot of gay theatre which inevitably skews male, it’s hard to keep everything balanced…
In lieu of the Bechdel Test, I opted to measure the number of plays I saw with at least 50% women in their cast and it was pleasing to see that I’ve managed to keep that proportion going up over the last couple of years. Obviously these statistics don’t record the quality of the roles being played, but in all honesty it is too hard to work out that level of detail in advance of seeing the number of shows we’re talking about here.
|
Shows
|
With 50% or more women
|
% |
2016
|
332
|
164
|
49%
|
2015
|
313
|
147
|
47%
|
2014
|
383
|
164
|
43%
|
Similarly, the raw numbers of women I saw onstage this year show show a steadily increasing proportion, which again feels in line with the general thrust of my decision-making.
|
Total Cast
|
Women
|
%
|
2016
|
3232
|
1500
|
46%
|
2015
|
3477
|
1534
|
44%
|
2014
|
3813
|
1636
|
43%
|
Looking at the creative side though, I found myself surprised on two fronts. Design has always been an area where women are well represented but it is interesting to see the proportion of both lighting and sound starting to pick up. Obviously we can’t draw anything conclusive but hopefully the upward tick is indicative of general improvement.
|
Writer
|
Director
|
Designer
|
Lighting
|
Sound
|
2016
|
31%
|
30%
|
49%
|
25%
|
20%
|
2015
|
37%
|
33%
|
40%
|
19%
|
17%
|
2014
|
31%
|
35%
|
39%
|
14%
|
16%
|