A dozen of shows seen. Out of those, one had racial diversity in its cast. One had a female as the main role. And too many to count were majority white males. With the recent Stanford rape case and Hillary Clinton winning the nomination, I am more aware of the presence of women on stage, or lack there of.
Shows like Richard III, The Robbers, Small Town Boy, Beware of Pity and Spanish Fly all had few women in ratio to the rest of the cast. Then tonight, Three Penny Opera, I noticed how there was two main women. That's when the wheels started turning.
After having conversations with others from the group, I decided there needs to be more research done on this show. What was the concept? Was it intentional to have the male costumes more complex and designed than the women? Why were the women acting childish, and dim-witted. Was there any maturing throughout the show that I couldn't grasp because of the language barrier?
Nonetheless, as we grow older, we see the issues in our lives. And feminism and the role of women is a glaring topic that needs improvement.
There is a point here, and a very important one, but you've got to actually go back and look at the shows — so as to not weaken the point by generalizations and misinformation.
ReplyDeleteYou say one show had racial diversity. I'm assuming you mean THE SITUATION. Though not to the same extent, true, but go back and refresh your memory on FEAR and SMALL TOWN BOY just for starters. And I'm not sure that some of the racial make up of the ensembles may just be more complex than appearance alone allows.
What is your definition of diversity? Are we comparing it to diversity in the US? Germany has a different racial demographic.
That ranged of faces we see on the streets are not reflected as much on the stages here (Gorki is the exception) is true. But we must be careful to judge based on our own terms alone.
You say there was one play with a female lead or in main role. Are you referring here to GOOD PERSON? What about THE LITTLE FOXES? What about Orit in THE SITUATION? Was it the nature of Amalia's reactive function in THE ROBBERS puts her out of the running?
The dearth of women's roles in "classical" works (THE ROBBERS, WALLENSTEIN, RICHARD III, etc.) has a historical and cultural context that we ignore at our peril.
We know that Brecht had a complex relationship with women. He was known to be a sexist (all generational excuses aside). He was said to have "changed women like his shirt." There is an equal concern (and should be) about his portrayal of women.
And you are absolutely right that some things of significance were missed due to language. The function and power of Jenny in THREE PENNY was indeed lost. For reasons even beyond language.
And I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the gender fluidity of the portrayal and design of MacHeath. The corset, the bared shoulder, the elbow glove, the subtle hour-glass silhouette, the heels, etc.?
All this is to say, don't muddy up your valuable point. You have one.