Women's Drama

It's better to appreciate art because art is a woman! 

What role does a woman play in the theatre? How does society perceive them?
Whether actresses are the object of mockery?
Do women have a power within the art? Why women less frequently allowed to art despite the ongoing fight for equality? Why are our country and in the world we lived in mostly men hired as actors, directors, etc?

One an upon a time...

In the history of theatre, woman have never had privileges. First, we should focus on  „East Theatre”. In ancient Greece, women couldn’t played one stage. Only men could play and possibilities of women being actresses were not taken into account at all. The same thing happened in the Oriental Theater there, women weren’t appreciated enough. At the beginning of the theatre's history, as in the European theatre, they could not play, and female roles were played by men. Masks or abundant make-up were used for this. Women even as spectators did not have rights, they were admitted to the theatre only from the first decade of the twentieth century and even then had to sit in a designated place for them.

In England, It was illegal for women to act on the English stage until 1660!
Yes that's right. The church forbade the appearance of women on the stage, although on the continent things were very different. It was only when King Charles II – a theatre-lover no less – granted a charter to Drury Lane and made it a requirement that all female parts should be played by women.

But everything changed in the 70s! Then it was made feminist theatre! This kind of theatre striving to tell women's stories and resist the marginalization of women, the feminist theatre also works to destabilize the male gaze. The male gaze is the idea that the world is seen from the perspective of men and that women are generally depicted as objects to be viewed or desired. In order to overthrow that male perspective, feminist theatre has challenged both the content and form of theatrical plays.

Serious social problem

Women are often underestimated in the theatre. Their role is trivialized. Although we already live in the 21 st century, many people continue to be guided by stereotypes in their assessment. Have you ever created a spectacle that would be entirely decided to a woman? Although women have been playing in performances for ages they always accompany their partner on stage. They complement the performance! They are toy's, lovers in the hands of man. They accompany the main character, lead him astray or lead him out of a crisis of life - may lead her into trouble. 

In addition, we should focus our attention to the perception of actresses by society. Very often, male actors are branded as the most sexy, ideal men despite the fact that they are far from ideal. Their exploits are often covered up in the media, hardly anyone pays attention to them. If, however, a well-known actress - causes a small scandal - the entire Internet is boiling with hate. 

Women's work in the theatre is often underestimated. Erotic scenes of rape are very difficult to play both physically and mentally. Nevertheless, viewers sometimes underestimate the effort and comment on everything. "Everything" - usually only a look! Why are the plays written by men predominant in theatres? Most people competently do not realize the right of the enormous amount of works written by women.  

The feminine history of Polish theatre has not yet been told - we do not know the actual participation of women in the creation of theatre life. We did not do our basic research in the field of women studies, which is hardly surprising, because for historical reasons we did not experience the social movement of the second wave feminism or the accompanying boisterous entry of feminism into the academy. Current research shows that many aspects of women's creativity have been erased from the history of theatre. There are hundreds of dramas written by women, which were very intensely formed at the time of the first wave of feminism in Poland and the fight for equality, but also in the interwar period and after the war. 

Women have different artistic sensitivity than men. Time to show it! Since men and women come to the theatre, let the theatre create more women! It's time to make the society aware that about the changes and social tendencies. 

The theatre is standing still. Well, maybe it wasn’t in the antique - because women there could not play but let's assume that it stopped in enlightenment! Let's change this together! 




Sources 

http://wiez.com.pl/2018/02/09/zeby-to-wytrzymac-pejzaze-mai-komorowskiej/

https://stary.pl/pl/repertuar/wesele-4/

https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/women-in-theatre-eight-facts_45974.html