下のエッセイの中身を後で要約しよう。女性劇団や女性劇作家や女優のありようが周辺化されていくことが論じられている。注目を浴び続けられる創作・イマージネーションのありようがまた問われる。女の芸術集団、大衆演劇の集団の持つ独自性や個性がどう持続されえるか、世界の感性はどのあたりにあるのだろうか？女優は一般にその女性性ゆえにこの社会総体の中で女神のように娼婦のように、母として大きな位置づけがされる。女が男を演じる劇空間、シェイクスピアでもよく出てくるリアリティは少年が女を演じてその女が男装する不思議な位相もある。続く。深夜にでもー。
女性だけの劇団が啓発され自らを強化させることができるか、それとも周辺化されるのか？
Women in theatre: beyond the glass ceiling and the ghetto
Are female-only companies empowering or marginalising? Eleanor Turney speaks to the women – and men – involved
There can be no doubt that women are under-represented in theatre. Research by Sphinx (a theatre company which "places women centre stage") suggests that in 2010 only 17% of the plays performed across the UK were by female playwrights, and only 35% of actors and 23% of directors were women.イギリスで上演される劇の１７％が女性劇作家の作品で３５％の俳優、２３％の演出家が女性である。
Add to that a dearth of roles for older women, a lack of women in the top jobs and a tendency for funders to concentrate on other under-represented groups, and we have a problem.
Yes, men have been writing plays longer than women. Yes, we need to support ethnic minorities and disabled people to make work – and it is right that arts councils across the UK should support this. However, as Sue Parrish, artistic director of Sphinx, says: "Osmosis and natural selection will not work without intervention and support."
支持や関与なくして自然淘汰や普及はうまくいかない。
Director Thomas Hescott points out "how many high powered women there are in commercial theatre. Kim Poster and Nica Burns (who owns half of Shaftesbury Avenue), Sonia Friedman, Rosemary Squire and Sally Greene... the commercial sector seems to be dominated by women at the top."
商業演劇における女優たちは力強い。
However, in contrast, young director Tess Seddon makes an interesting point about perceptions: "When I turned up to work in a dress, I didn't get asked to do anything, but as soon as I turned up in jeans, trainers, no make-up, I was given interesting, challenging things to do. My rule now is that I'll never direct in a skirt."
ここは面白い。若い演出家の発言だが、「スカートをつけては仕事のオファーがなかった」
Women are increasingly forming their own companies and getting on with the business of making theatre. But are female-only companies empowering, or do they risk ghettoising women? Do they create opportunities, or are they being used as a get-out clause for other theatres and companies to ignore a problem?
女性の力を誇示しえるのか。それても女性のゲットー化を促進しているのか？女性だけの劇団は問題を無視するために他の劇団や劇場への脱出の契機なのだろうか？
"I think setting up an all-female company can be empowering," says Parrish. "But I don't think it is a long term answer. The arts establishment assumes and believes that women's underrepresentation in the arts has been addressed."
女性だけの劇団は女性の能力を増長するが長期にみた場合、答えになるか、わからない。芸術の体制（権威者たち）は女性たちの芸術分野での価値は低いと評価している。
Lucy Perman, executive director of Clean Break, a theatre company that works with women affected by the criminal justice system, is frank: "The fact that we're still talking about it means that there's still a problem. There is a place for all-women companies. There are no glass ceilings in all-women theatre companies, and when women move into the main theatre world they have more chance of competing with men."
New company Agent160 wants to move away from this idea of competition, and is dedicated to putting on work by female playwrights. Although it is led by women, it also employs Dan Baker, a man, as its producer. Baker has no doubt there is a problem but hopes that his company can contribute to solving it.
"Women seem to be low down the equality agenda," he says. "We talk to lots of people who perceive that there is an issue, but there is not much debate about how we actually address it. Women should not be a marginal group."
Morrison agrees, of course, and emphasises that "the onus has to be on men as well as women – if you're not holding the power, it is difficult to affect that change. Women are working together to create that change, but it needs active and strong dialogue with men and others who hold power. It's a collective responsibility, and women-led theatre companies are only part of the picture."
Daisy Orton, co-director of Accidental Collective, says women "still have to shout louder to be heard". Her company works in a very collaborative way, meaning that although she is interested in work which is about women and their concerns, she questions whether it has to be, or should be, made by female-only companies: "That would feel an old-fashioned way of making theatre to me."
Is there a danger that all-female companies become a way for directors, literary managers, funders and the like to assume the underrepresentation of women is no longer their problem? Baker agrees that there's a risk.
"For Agent160 it's about the quality of work more than anything else," he says. "We don't want to be 'that company that puts on plays about women's issues' and get pigeonholed into that identity. We want people to say it's good work, not 'it's work by female writers – what does that mean to me?' It's about letting the writers write about what they want to. The best thing is for women to make good work, and for it to be respected as good work, without them having to bang the drum for other women in the arts."
Concerns have also been raised that all-female companies can become a self-inflicted form of marginalisation, where the work is always viewed on political rather than artistic terms. Rachel Barnett, co-artistic director of Peut-être theatre company, says: "My worry is about working within my ghetto – I would hate to be thought of as a 'female playwright', I'm a person! It's the same thing as being judged by race: I would hate to work in a Jewish theatre company just because I'm Jewish, or in a female-led company just because I'm a woman, but if one of them wanted to put on my play then that'd be great."
On self-marginalisation, Baker says: "There is a sense of marginalising further by becoming political about things. The work needs to speak for itself. There's a danger that companies and individuals, female artists and female-led companies, will inadvertently fall into a trap of trying to become representative of a whole group, or a whole gender. Take Josie Rourke at Donmar, for example; her work is differently examined because she's a woman."
Baker is clear that there is a problem with ongoing support and development. "In the past 20 years, there have been a number of female writers who have emerged and then not continued to create work and be supported. There are a lot of writers who have exploded onto the scene and then not been seen any more. I'm delving into generalisations, but perception is a big challenge. Agent160 wants to challenge the perception that female writers won't be seen as much and will be supported less."
Eleanor Turney is a freelance writer, editor and proofreader currently working for The Poetry Society and Edinburgh's C venues – follow her on Twitter @eleanorturney
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