Killing Dead White Men
Dr. Mark Eckersley
Village & Personal Project Leader, Santa Maria College, Northcote, Australia
(Workshop and Paper delivered at 2019
Drama Victoria State Conference
‘Unity: Exploring diversity and
inclusion in drama education’
Graduate School of Education,
University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, December 2019)
Tanderrum - Acknowledgement of Country
I would
like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people and the peoples of the Kulin Nation
who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land. I would also like to pay
respect to the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation and extend that
respect to other Indigenous Australians peoples present.
In the
spirit of diversity and unity under which this conference is titled, I would
like to acknowledge the individual groups who are and were caretakers to this land on
which we stand. When Europeans first colonised this land we stand on, it was
occupied and cared for by five language groups often known as the Kulin
(Koolin) nation of peoples these are:
·
Woiwurrung (Woy-wur-rung) - The Wurundjeri
People
·
Boonerwrung (Bun-er-rong) - The Boonerwrung
People
·
Wathaurong (Wath-er-rong) - The Wathaurong
People
·
Taungerong (Tung-ger-rong) - The Taungerong
People
·
Dja Dja Wrung (Jar-Jar wrung) - The Jaara People
In the spirit of the 'Uluru Statement of the Heart', I hope I can in this workshop give ‘Voice’ to those who have been silenced, reveal ‘Truth’ where it has been concealed and endorse ‘Treaty’ as we move forward to understanding and justice.
What is wrong with the picture?
Women make
up approximately 49.6% of the world’s population (Ritchie & Roser 2019). 5%
of the world’s population is Indigenous (World Bank 2019)
What's the picture and the truth in Theatre and Drama
Worldwide –
Female Directors 17%, Female Playwrights 21%, Actresses 40%, Female
Managers/Producers/Artistic Director 5%, Female Audience 56% estimated
Indigenous Combined 1% (European Theatre Convention 2015 & Lock 2018)
England –
Female Artistic Directors 13% (2018), Playwrights 35%, Actresses 38%, Female
Audiences 68%, Indigenous figures not available (Pascal 2018 & Freestone
2012)
Australia
2012 –
Female Directors 16%, Female Playwrights 14% (Lally 2012)
A program was undertaken by state governments and federal government bodies in Australia to address this inequality in Australia. By 2019, the picture had changed significantly.
A program was undertaken by state governments and federal government bodies in Australia to address this inequality in Australia. By 2019, the picture had changed significantly.
2019 – Female
Directors 58%, Female Playwrights 47%, Female Actors 52%, Female Managers/Producers
12%, Female Audiences - 52% Victoria – Overall Cultural market & Indigenous
Australian Combined 5% (Howard 2019 & Arts Victoria 2014)
Within education, we think of ourselves as progressive but often we reinforce gender inequality and stereotypes. Here are some Australian statistics from Victoria on examination level programs.
Within education, we think of ourselves as progressive but often we reinforce gender inequality and stereotypes. Here are some Australian statistics from Victoria on examination level programs.
VCE Theatre
Studies & Drama Lists and productions -2001-2019 (VCAA 2019)
184 plays
and productions – Female Directors, 29%, Female Playwrights 30% av., Indigenous
4%
Conclusion - Women are disproportionately underrepresented and Indigenous peoples are culturally underrepresented in theatre and educational theatre endeavours both in Australia and overseas. One way to address this is for us as educators to monitor and use self-imposed quotas to consciously address these gender and cultural inequities.
Voice &
Treaty
u Dramaturgy seemed motherless for
quite some time: born into a family, the theatre, in which women initially had
no role except as narrowly drawn characters performed by men, for
men, in plays written by men, expressing male values before an audience that
was not exclusively male. Yet drama has always has a
mother, it just has chosen to forget its family and its mother.
u Yankunytjatjara
and Pitjantjatjara peoples use Awelye – body painting of symbols in
preparation for storytelling, ritual and performance. Below is the symbol for
‘Women’:
u Create
a circle. Sand and stones are used to create the space for exploration &
performance
Know my Name, Say my
Name
As an exercise 10 pictures or photographs of male and female
playwrights and performance makers were shown to the participants made up of
drama teachers and lecturers in drama. Of the five males shown a recognition rate
of 85% was evident. Of the females shown, the recognition rate was 5%. The
issue of how to value and recognize females in theatre was discussed.
Creating a New
Dreamtime – recognizing the people in our lives
Activity - The New Dreamtime – Giving Voice
u Look at all the people in the circle
slowly. Think that they have stories and backgrounds which are rich and you
don't know about. Now turn your attention inward.
u Think of a woman who was important
to making who your are.
u Give a special label to mythologize
them. Mythologize this woman.
u Now think of a way you could tell
the story of this woman to the group.
u Example: "Mother, the Spirit
Weaver. She was a magician. She gathered a group of young people and gathered
their energy and spirits and had them dance and move and tell their stories and
then she threw their dreams into a space and the images, stories and dreams
would come to life. My Mother, the Spirit Weaver."
Workshopping the Work
of Women
The workshop then comprised exploring and workshopping
speeches and scenes from different female writers whose work was performed over
many years and many continents. Here are some of the writers covered:
Enheduanna (Sumerian) 2285 BC – 2250 BC (Ritual Theatre):
“Beloved of Enlil - You made it (the storm) blow over the
land,
You carried out the instructions of An.
My Queen, the foreign lands cower at Your cry,
In dread (and) fear of the South Wind…”
Sappho (Greek) Sa-ppho
630 BC – 570 BC Lyrical Theatre:
“Stars near the lovely moon
cover their own bright faces
when she is roundest
when she is roundest
and lights earth with her silver.”
Okuni (Japan) O-kuni
1572 – 1613 AD Mother of Kabuki Theatre:
The movements of kabuki are lively, energetic and vertical
movements, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Get in groups of two or three
Using either an extract from Okuni’ plays or the haikus of
the female poet Chiyo-ni, create a performance where either you all do a line
each or one person or two speak the words and one or two people do actions
using a fan. Remember to punctuate each line or image with a mie (a
dramatic pose).
u Text
1 – Okuni
“She prays for her daughter’s repose in the other world.
She keeps back her tears.
The toll of the evening bell comes from within.”
u Text
2 - Chiyo-ni (Female Haiku poet)
Moonflowers
The beauty
Of hidden things
Aphra Behn (English)
1640-1689 – Restoration Theatre:
Extracts from her play The
Rover (1677)
Valeria: Am I put into the number of lovers?
Helena: You? Why coz, I know thou’rt too good natured to
leave us in design…And if you are not a lover, it is an art soon learnt.
Florinda: I wonder how you learnt to love so easily… Thou
art too rash to give a heart at first sight.
Helena: Hang your considering lover… I shall have my beauty
praised, my wit admired – though little or none – and have the vanity and power
to know I am desirable.
Discussion Questions
What are the stylistic elements evident in Aphra Behn’s
text?
Elizabeth Robins (USA) 1862-1952 - Naturalism,
Expressionism, Epic Theatre styles
Votes for Women (1907)
Ms E. B.: Bills or resolutions have been before the House
for the last 36 years. That, roughly is our history. We found ourselves before
the close of year 1905 with no assurance that if we went on in the same way, that
any girl born into the world in this generation would live to exercise the
rights of citizenship, though she lived to be a hundred.
Discussion Questions
What elements of didactic drama are evident in Elizabeth
Robins’ work?
Jane Harrison
(Australian Indigenous) b. 1960 – Realism & Documentary Drama
ACTIVITY-
Abuse in Foster Homes Read the following text on Page 8. Have the group read the Children as a group
character. Have one student play Ruby.
CHILDREN:
What did he give to ya?
RUBY: Gave
me a doll.
CHILDREN:
(They clap) He gave her a doll. What else did ya do? (They stop clapping).
RUBY: I
promised not to tell. JIMMY: Oh, Ruby!
- Write a passage on the internal
conflict going on within Ruby in this scene.
- Write and share how you would
stage this section of the play to highlight Ruby’s tumultuous inner life.
- Write a page discussing the
importance of this play to a contemporary audience.
Mary Zimmerman (USA) – b. 1960 – Classical, Eclectic style
Arabian Nights (1994)
The group enacts two group scenes for the lines below. Group
tableaux can be used to create the scenes. Dance or movement with freezing done
in a musical chairs style can be used to create the scenes. The dialogue can
happen when the action is frozen.
Scheherazade: My father, why do you look so sad? Know
father that as the poet says, “You who are sad, oh be comforted, for nothing
endures, and just as every joy vanishes, so also vanishes every sorrow.”
AND Near the end of the play
Scheherazade: I know the hour is late, O auspicious king,
but I have one more story, just one more very subtle tale to tell. Let it be
one thousand nights and one night, before you grow weary of me.
Conclusion
u The
first step to privileging Feminist and Indigenous drama is to know and use
female writers, directors, theorists, theatre companies and the Indigenous
writers, directors, theorists, theatre companies
u One
way for teachers to address the gender and cultural imbalance is to educate
themselves on the diversity out there
u Another
way is for teachers to self-impose quotas – i.e. 50% of the plays I read, do
and see with students should be by females, 10% of the plays I read, do and see
with students should be by Indigenous writers and groups
u Teachers
should educate themselves on the theories, practitioners and styles developed
by female and indigenous individuals and groups (I have included some texts and
websites in the bibliography to start with.
A final word or two: “You make beauty and it disappears, I love that.” Caryl Churchill (Far
Away)
Bibliography
Arts Victoria. April 2014. Audience Atlas Victoria. Arts
Victoria, State Government of Victoria: Melbourne. Retrieved from
European Theatre Convention. 2015. Audiences for European
Theatre. Imprint Publications: London. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/europeantheatreconvention/docs/etc_study_european_theatre_audience
Eckersley, M. 2019. Killing Dead White Men – The History
of female Theatre and Theatre Makers. [Blog] Retrieved from https://markeckersleywomenstheatre.blogspot.com/2019/09/killing-dead-white-men-female.html
Eckersley, M. 2014. Australian Indigenous Drama. [Book &
Blog] Retrieved from https://australianindigenousdrama.blogspot.com/2014/03/australian-indigenous-drama-introduction.html
Freestone, E. Dec. 10 2012. ‘Women in Theatre’. The
Guardian. The Guardian: London. Retrieved from
Howard, J. April 13, 2019. How Australian Theatre Fixed
its Gender Imbalance in a Decade. Retrieved from
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-13/australian-theatre-fixed-its-gender-imbalance-in-a-decade/10942452
Keyssar, H. 1990. Feminist Theatre. Palgrave
Macmillan: London.
Lally, E. 2012. Women
in Theatre – A Research Report and Action Plan for the Australia Council for
the Arts. Australia Council: Surry Hills, NSW. April 2012. Retrieved from https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/research/women-in-theatre-april-2012-54325827577ea.pdf
Lionheart Theatre. January 28, 2016. Five Female Playwrights to Remember. Retrieved from https://lionhearttheatre.org/5-female-playwrights-to-remember__trashed/
Lock, S. August 27, 2015. Theater and Broadway in the U.S. – Statistics and Facts. Statista: New York. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1299/theatre-and-broadway/
Lock, S. August 27, 2015. Theater and Broadway in the U.S. – Statistics and Facts. Statista: New York. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1299/theatre-and-broadway/
Nolan, Y. 2015. Medicine Shows – Indigenous Performance
Culture. Playwrights Canada Press: Toronto.
Pascal, J. April 24, 2018. ‘Woman are being excluded from
the Stage: Its Time for Quotas’. The Guardian. The Guardian: London.
Retrieved from
Ritchie, H. & Roser, M. 2019. Gender Ratio. Our World in Data: Oxford, UK. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/gender-ratio
VCAA. 2019. VCE Drama Examination Past Papers. VCAA:
Melbourne. Retrieved from https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Pages/Drama.aspx
VCAA. 2019. VCE Theatre Studies Past Papers. VCAA:
Melbourne. Retrieved from https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Pages/Theatre-Studies.aspx
World Bank. 2019. Indigenous
Peoples. World Bank. Retrieved from
Women’s Museum of California. (2017). Get Thee to a Stage
– A Brief History of Women in the Theater. Women’s Museum of California:
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