Female Representation in the Performing Arts

The issue of female representation in the performing arts has been spotlighted by several media sources in the last year – The Stage (the world’s longest running theatre publication) has, in the last few months, published articles which investigate the lack of female directors in Musical Theatre and the strategies being used to redress the balance.

One report highlights information released by the Musicians Union which showed that there were no female musical directors leading pit orchestras in the West End (previous reports also showed that 90% of musicians in the orchestras were men).

The library has a subscription to The Stage and you can find the latest issue in the Print Journal section.

The Guardian have been looking at the under-representation of female composers in concert line-ups. Figures that were compiled by the Donne – Women in Music project and Drama Musica show that 95% of concerts worldwide have music composed solely by men. These figures were taken from the 2018-19 programmes of 15 large orchestras across the world. Campaigners are arguing against those who claim that a male-dominated canon is inescapable.

Classic FM have also written about the absence of female composers in last year’s best score category at the Oscars - even in the shortlist of 141 scores, only five were by female composers.

Is anything changing?

In this short video from 2017, BBC Stories document the careers of Ruth Brill and Arielle Smith, two female choreographers who have paved the way for women to take leading roles in the performing arts.

The Stage have featured more positive reports of women playwrights who have recently received increased exposure in the West End. They have also credited the Royal Court for an increasingly diverse programme which has featured many more female writers and directors. In November, the RCS staged Troilus and Cressida, their first full-length Shakespeare play with a gender-balanced cast – music by Evelyn Glennie explored and challenged gender conventions within the play.

As a reaction to the current climate of empowerment and equality for women, Glasgow Citizens Theatre has announced a season of work for 2019 showcasing female writers and women working across Scotland. The productions will be directed by women and outreach work will also focus on women in the arts. More information about what is included in the season can be found here: https://www.citz.co.uk/

Within the library we have many female playwrights including Frances Poet, Cora Bissett, Liz Lochhead and also collections such as Contemporary Women Playwrights Into the 21st Century.

The soprano Gabriella Di Laccio has created a website called the Donne project as a space dedicated to female composers both historical and contemporary. The Strad has also reported that the BBC Proms are among more than 100 international festivals that have signed up to the PRS Foundation’s ‘Keychange’ pledge to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022. They have also reported on other initiatives aimed redressing the balance.

You can read issues of The Strad in the library in the Print Journals section. The library also has books which critique the music canon such as De-canonizing music history and Gender and the musical canon.