Discussing the success, challenges and future for women in Irish theatre.
The 8th of March marks International Women's Day and Glasshouse Productions will celebrate the role of women in theatre.
Ahead of International Women's Day, Katy Hayes talks about her involvement with Glasshouse Productions a women's drama group. The company are holding a series of events called 'Women Centre Stage'. A founder and director of Glasshouse Productions, Katy Hayes explains that the group plans to celebrate the achievements of Irish women in theatre and raise questions about their future.
A women oriented theatre company
Glasshouse Productions, in association with The City Centre, are putting on a packed day of events starting with a reading from a new play called 'Hold The Vinegar' by Claire Dowling. There is also a free lunchtime concert and a selection of readings from contemporary Irish women's work. Prominent theatre personalities will also take part in a panel discussion about their work and its relationship to gender. Panellists include director Rebecca Roper and actor Ruth McCabe.
While theatre productions have been largely male dominated, some progress has been been made with more women taking up roles as theatre directors. The current Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre is a woman and there are women emerging in key roles such as Lynne Parker as Director of Rough Magic.
Although there has been a lot achieved, there is still is a far way to go.
In the last Dublin Theatre Festival, out of eleven new scripts, only two were written by women.
Katy Hayes and her sister Trudy have both worked to promote women in theatre. Katy Hayes says she felt liberated when she discovered feminism and realised that the possibilities of what she could achieve were endless.
When I became interested in feminism, I found that I could depend on myself to do things that I really wanted to do irrespective of my gender.
She thinks that a lot of people are hostile to feminism as a political ideology. However, people appreciate the work of Glasshouse Productions and their audience is growing all the time. Each show receives better critical acclaim and a bigger audience. Katy Hayes is hopeful that Glasshouse Productions will continue to be a force on the fringe theatre scene. While the group is not anti-men, they believe that women's stories are not being told through theatre and want to address this.
We're absolutely not anti-men... We're into human beings.
This episode of 'Jo-Maxi' was broadcast on 6 March 1992. The presenter is Margaret O'Donoghue.
'Jo Maxi' was a youth lifestyle programme targeted at 10 to 14 year olds. The programme contained features on a broad range of topics including animals, fashion, music, books and profiles of young people voicing their views on various subjects. The original presenters on the show were Ray D'Aarcy, Geri Lalor, Clíona Ní Bhuachalla and Antoinette Dawson.
