A new collection of gender equality policies for theatres around Ireland, which will see some theatres adopt gender-blind casting, was launched in Trinity today by Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan.
The policies, announced jointly at the Lir Theatre by 10 theatres, festivals and drama companies, have each been tailored to suit the specific theatre organisation involved.
The Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre and the Everyman in Cork are among the theatres to have adopted measures to combat gender inequality, which will include bias-training for staff, a commitment to gender parity at board level and increased consideration of works by female playwrights that have previously been overlooked in the commissioning process.
Dublin Theatre Festival and the Cork Midsummer Festival have also announced new gender equality policies. In many cases, the aim is to achieve total gender parity within the next five years.
Theatre companies such as The Corn Exchange and Rough Magic, along with the Lir Academy, have committed to gender-blind casting, which will see traditionally male roles played by women, and preference given to female actors in cases where parts are gender-neutral.
Gender-blind casting has become more popular in Irish theatre in recent years, with productions such as the Gate’s upcoming version of Hamlet starring Ruth Negga in the title role and the Gaiety’s 2016 reworking of Chekhov’s The Seagull drawing praise for placing women at the centre of traditionally male-dominated plays.
The policies have been launched as a result of the Waking the Feminists campaign, a grassroots movement launched in late 2015 in response to the lack of female representation in the Abbey Theatre’s 2016 theatre programme.
Research commissioned by Waking the Feminists recently found that women were underrepresented in every role in the 10 main theatres in Ireland, except in costume design.
Lian Bell, the campaign director of Waking the Feminists, acted as a freelance artist representative in the policy formation process, which saw the ten theatres and companies meet regularly from the end of 2016 to discuss ways to encourage gender parity in the Irish theatre landscape.
Established in 2011, the Lir Academy provides practical training for those wishing to work in the arts. It is part of Trinity and officially affiliated with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
