FEMINIST THEATRE THEN & NOW book launch 16th May 2024 | My London Times

Feminist Theatre – Then & Now celebrates the achievements of women in theatre, from early pioneers to today’s rule breakers. Published by Supernova Books, the book launch takes place on Thursday 16 May 2024 as part of Feminist Book Fortnight, marking 50 years of Feminist Theatre and the creativity of women advocating for social justice.

The new book features 30+ interviews and essays by playwrights, directors, producers and actors in a wonderful selection of women’s creative practice both front and back stage including playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie), Mary McCusker (Monstrous Regiment), theatre impresario Dame Rosemary Squire, SuAndi (poet and cultural director of National Black Arts Alliance); and younger women making their names including Kelly Burke, actor and Equity committee member, and actor and writer Bibi Lucille – all of them telling their stories within feminist theatre – and the future of the art form.

Feminist Theatre – Then & Now hears the current challenges for the whole theatre industry, brought to its knees by the pandemic, with the loss of hundreds of freelancers to other jobs. It raises the burning question of how to rebuild a new kind of theatre with true cultural equity and a level playing field. The book brings to life the lived experience of generations of women working in theatre over the last 50 years and reveals the struggle to succeed in an industry where gender, race, sexuality, class and parenthood were, and still can be serious obstacles to success.

“The under-representation of women in theatre continues to exist and there is a danger that it is being dismissed as an issue that has already been resolved.” Jennifer Tuckett of The Women’s Theatre Labs shared.

“I first spoke about inequality in theatre whilst studying for my MA in Playwriting in the 1990s at a conference organised by the playwright David Edgar and Birmingham University’s Drama Department. Shockingly little has changed and women in theatre are still not getting a fair share of the cake. Still only 30% (the same statistic I cited over 30 years ago), of new theatre writing is by women. So I decided to accelerate progress by publishing Feminist Theatre – Then & Now to pay tribute to half a century of amazing work by women theatre-makers.” – Publisher Cheryl Robson shared.

Feminist Theatre – Then & Now. How much has changed in 50 years? Not enough…

Exclusive live discussion celebrating 50 years of Feminist Theatre – Then & Now at Books on the Rise (80 Hill Rise, Richmond, TW10 6UB) on Thursday 16 May at 7pm – part of Feminist Book Fortnight 2024. Tickets available HERE.

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