tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post8615030327754022364..comments2023-03-25T14:09:08.045+00:00Comments on Professionally Resting: Everything But The GirlsMiss Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02939362519591444568noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-22484143798342846892012-07-16T15:33:09.053+01:002012-07-16T15:33:09.053+01:00They did it this year at the John Lyon theatre in ...They did it this year at the John Lyon theatre in city lit, the 3 witches were male and all others were female. It was set in Haiti. There is too much to review, too many levels, good and bad (not sure Macbeth her self pulled it off against Lady M) but overall I think it was a startling production, for the better. Robyn Moore's Macduff was the first to bring a drop to the eyeball. I'd see some more of that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-33927125235519591302012-07-15T08:16:22.732+01:002012-07-15T08:16:22.732+01:00Sounds weird but I want there to be a MacBeth with...Sounds weird but I want there to be a MacBeth with the gender's reversed. Lady Macbeth, the 3 Witches and Lady Macduff as men, everyone else as women. I think it just might work...Doug R Dunnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285073160871107891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-77449008002546393182012-07-11T15:19:56.033+01:002012-07-11T15:19:56.033+01:00I don't know if you caught the recent document...I don't know if you caught the recent documentary on The Tempest but part of it explores Helen Mirren's portrayal of Prospero (under a female director if memory serve me well) and it showed that a female in the role brought a new side/dynamic to the role. <br /><br />Of course Shakespeare used mainly male characters, he only had male actors in a patriarchal society. Times have changed and the theatre needs to reflect that, stop trying to slavishly recreate the original and try something different to connect with a new audience. If the bard write today he'd surely create some great female roles. Why can't we mess around with the gender of Shakespeare's characters? He's not a freakin deity!Eve RMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-84575016763543270482012-07-11T15:12:55.942+01:002012-07-11T15:12:55.942+01:00I recently was in a production of Julius Caesar wh...I recently was in a production of Julius Caesar where the cast was roughly a 50/50 split. Caesar, Cassius, Decius, Octavius were all women and Calpurnica was a guy. All parts were played true to the gender of the actor so no guys pretending to be women and vice versa. It worked really well and as you've said it did bring up a hell of a lot of different issues. I have no problem with cross gender castings as long as it works. Equally another play I've done recently there was a worshop casting for it and certain roles were open to both genders.<br /><br />Having said all that, there is another major issue here. A director I know complained that when she puts out a breakdown she'll receive maybe 5-10 applications per male role and around 100 per female role. All of the guys will be really good and it comes down to particular direction she wants to take with the role. In contrast, a lot of the women she sees are apparently appaling, don't look like their headshots at all and are totally inappropriate for the part.<br /><br />Theatre is massively imbalanced at the moment. Part of this is due to the huge amount of shakespeare etc on the fringe which are totally skewed towards guys. Gender switches only work some of the time and really shouldn't be done just for the sake of it. These productions are far more damaging to getting more actresses on stage than them not happening. People remember that certain switches didn't work and are then unwilling to try other ones.<br /><br />Not really sure where I'm going with this - it's more of a stream of conciousness - so I'm going to leave that there!<br /><br />ps Love the blog. Highlights the ridiculousness of our prefession perfectly.Liamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04646679245079854388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-84693268477067077192012-07-11T14:39:34.004+01:002012-07-11T14:39:34.004+01:00I couldn't agree more. Would be great to see t...I couldn't agree more. Would be great to see this kind of casting that yes, isn't played for laughs. I think it would be very interesting to see some plays where the roles are reversed (and not just done for the sake of gender equality) as I'm sure it'd bring up different themes within the play that may have not previously been spotted.Miss Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02939362519591444568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372081736393587830.post-27439810521230592772012-07-11T14:32:18.279+01:002012-07-11T14:32:18.279+01:00Haha. Your posts are like a freaky stream of my ow...Haha. Your posts are like a freaky stream of my own thoughts. I still really want to put on a Shakespeare with women playing all the male roles and men playing all the female roles, but not for laughs like so often is done - take it completely seriously.<br /><br />I had an actor "friend" who always complained about gender blind casting, saying that it would only be women taking male roles. I just didn't even know where to start with him. When I made my suggestion of switching them all equally he just scoffed and made some rather insulting comments about actresses which I will NOT repeat here. Needless to say I avoid him like the plague now.<br /><br />I have also contemplated adapting some Shakespeare play (or other out-of-copyright play with a decent universal story) to investigate how it works with a female character instead of a male rather than an actress pretending to be man, if you know what I mean.Rosey Tylerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14007399805654299794noreply@blogger.com