Thursday, 17 January 2019

'I worry a lot of female writers still have imposter syndrome': GEMA's Georgia Frost on Too Many Men

Georgia Frost co-founded GEMA
When A Monster Calls star Georgia Frost met LAMDA-trained Emily Carewe at the semi-final of an acting competition, she knew something was awry. ‘We looked around the room, and there was only about 25 per cent women. That’s not a real indication of talent: it’s not a three-to-one talent ratio, men to women,’ says Georgia, 26.

Having already set up a feminist discussion group, Nasty Women, with fellow Bristol Old Vic drama student Laura Waldren following the start of #MeToo and the Time’s Up movement, she was familiar with this imbalance. ‘Women often felt they couldn’t speak up in class, and when meeting agents, they didn’t feel like they had a place in the room. We are raised to not be as confident as we have the potential to be,’ she says. 

The three women vowed to combat this, and Gender Equality Movement For Actors (GEMA) was born. First came a podcast, edited by 28-year-old producer Emily, with the collective speaking to women who had already experienced the industry. Notable guests included Dame Harriet Walter. ‘She had an interesting perspective on addressing the imbalance. She takes the approach of not screaming and shouting, and instead talking on a level with people, trying to get them to understand. She said feminism, at some points, has just got people’s backs up. But when people are angry, then people are angry. We should let women be angry.’

This anger was the fuel for GEMA’s latest venture, Too Many Men – a bi-monthly scratch night dedicated to showcasing work by female artists and encouraging networking. ‘Although we’re seeing a lot more women on stage, we’re still not seeing as many female writers. One writer said that supposedly at the National they are seeing a lot of female scripts, but those that are commissioned are still heavily male,’ says Georgia. 

‘I worry that a lot of female writers still have imposter syndrome. I can imagine it’s a lot harder, as a female writer or director, to be able to finish a play and feel completely confident in it, because it comes under so much scrutiny as it’s not done as much – whereas you have trusted male writers, established for years, that I think at the moment are producing substandard work. I’m sick of hearing the word “female” put in front of something, too. If you’re a playwright, you’re a playwright. I am almost tempted to encourage every writer to just go back to initialling their name – E. Hickson, say.’

If we’re aiming to not distinguish between female and male talent, might we also move towards genderless awards categories? ‘I’ve been guilty of often remembering the male winner from awards ceremonies but not the female one,’ says Georgia. ‘I would love for different gender categories to be abolished, but I worry that we’d just end up with only men winning. But I saw the What’s On Stage categories recently and I do wonder, with supporting actor and supporting actress, why do you need to segregate those?’

The inaugural Too Many Men event takes place tonight, at the Actors Centre’s John Thaw Studio in London. Notably, the bios of many involved bear the words ‘actor/writer’. Jessica Temple, who recently starred in The Madness of King George III at Nottingham Playhouse, is introducing her first written venture, The Good Type. Mandi Chivasa has a role in her own co-written piece, Heroic. Actor Eva Scott, who is also part of the BBC Writersroom, presents her work Dawn. Another, Centre, was written by GEMA’s own Laura, 25, who will be seen in Salaam at Vault Festival later this month. 

Of this phenomenon, Georgia says: ‘In our podcast with her, Helen Monks [star of Channel 4’s Raised By Wolves and the BBC’s Upstart Crow] said amongst actors there is a pressure to write when you can’t find the work yourself – but you should try to elevate the female writers next to you. Work with each other. That encouraged us to do Too Many Men. We were thrilled with the amount of submissions we had.’

Despite the name, there are male actors and directors involved. ‘We’re not trying to get rid of men, we’re just trying to empower women,’ Georgia asserts. 'We can’t say: “They weren’t confident enough”, or “They didn’t produce the right thing straight away, so we’re going to dismiss them”. We need to give women the time and the belief. We’ve got a podcast coming out with Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, who wrote Emilia. [Globe artistic director] Michelle Terry’s belief in her was what created that masterpiece. Michelle helped her, and it was paid – it wasn’t just writing draft after draft into thin air. 

Kwame Kwei-Armah has 
championed women and POC
Picture: Amplified2010
‘The people at the top – roles held mostly by white men for years – need to be asking the people at the bottom what they want. You have an obligation to seek out diversity and not just go: “Oh, all the writers that applied for this are white, that’s fine”’ – I note GEMA’s targeted call for women of colour to apply for Too Many Men. ‘We each see through the lens of our own privilege, so quite often people might not see the imbalance.’

There has been a recent sea-change, however, with Lynette Linton’s appointment as the Bush Theatre’s artistic director the latest marker. ‘Luckily now we’re employing more women and people of colour as artistic directors, and the intersectionality seems to happen automatically,’ says Georgia. ‘Kwame Kwei-Armah at the Young Vic has managed to elevate people of colour but equally elevate women, as we’ve all had the same frustrations. We’ve already seen a huge improvement in female, people of colour and disability employment in theatre because of this.

‘Certain theatres are willing to take – not even risks, because I don’t think it is a risk to put more women or people of colour in your shows, I just think perhaps the people at the top see it as such. I was also impressed by The Bunker’s and Royal Court’s season announcements. 

‘It’s nice to see more queer work, too.’ She notes the upcoming And The Rest Of Me Floats, produced by queer theatre company Outbox, which opens at the Bush Theatre next month. ‘We’ve had The Inheritance, but that is a very middle-class, white, male perspective. Next season my other company Otherland is also producing a season of queer work from April to June, with the John Thaw Initiative at the Actors Centre.’

Danai Gurira's The Convert is 
on at the Young Vic
Picture: Tristan Loper
But 2019 can’t take all the glory. Last year boasted some impressive female-led shows, including Dance Nation by Clare Barron; Danai Gurira’s The Convert, still on at the Young Vic; Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night; and Rebecca Frecknall’s ‘beautiful’ production of Summer And Smoke. 

And with shows such as the aforementioned Emilia and Nine Night getting West End transfers, things seem to be looking up for female-driven commercial hits. But Georgia’s not so sure. ‘I’m still seeing incredibly white, male-heavy faces outside West End theatre windows,’ she says. 

‘Musical theatre is a different ball game, too. The resident composer of the Lyric Hammersmith, Kate Marlais, is doing a campaign on female musical theatre composers, because they are basically non-existent. Anais Mitchell is an anomaly, really – for her show Hadestown to be on at the National is wonderful.’

So how do we improve?

‘We need to encourage men to see themselves in women. Women have been watching male stories and finding something to relate to in those characters for years, yet it doesn’t seem to happen the other way around.’ The more interesting theatre comes from seeing ‘not just “the mother” or “the daughter” or “the sexual assault victim” or “the pregnant person” – something that’s somehow related to a man.’ 

This variety can only ever create brighter, more enriching shows, Georgia explains. ‘In Shakespeare, often women are the voice of reason. In Julius Caesar, Portia goes: “You’re going a bit crazy here.” I love that, but there are also women who make ridiculous decisions. When we see gender-blind casting and people go: “I just couldn’t see a woman like that,” I think, “Well, I could, actually!”

Gender-blind casting – with upcoming productions including the Globe’s Richard II, set to be performed entirely by women of colour, and The Crucible at The Yard, starring a female John Proctor – is itself a divisive issue. ‘Even some women think we shouldn’t do it, but as long as we keep doing Shakespeare every two minutes, we need to, in order to give people opportunities and make it more fruitful. However, we don’t need to keep going over classics and swapping genders,’ says Georgia. 

‘Likewise, quotas are necessary to enforce change, but people shouldn’t feel like a number or a token. For years people have relied on the women cast as that one female part feeling incredibly special: "Oh my God, I am Portia”, or “I am Lady Macbeth, I feel fantastic”. My old drama school used to only take on four women at one point, and how amazing would those four women have felt?

‘That attitude no longer flies. You’ve got to create the ripple from within. Drama schools can’t pull back on how many women they take on because there aren’t enough female parts on the outside – throw out more women and they’ll create more work.

‘We also need more female theatre critics. You might put on an entirely female production, but think: “All the reviewers are men, so is this going to be received in the right way?” – whereas Lyn Gardner, for example, has championed diversity for years.’

But the burden isn’t solely on those at the heart of the industry. Audiences have a responsibility, too. ‘They should question what they are seeing and why it is those stories being told. After seeing plays where I thought ‘This is a white-washed, male-heavy piece’, I should have written to the theatre and said as much. It’s the same as we do with Parliament – go to the source!’

Visit gemacollective.co.uk for GEMA's podcasts and details on future Too Many Men events.

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