Unit 11: Research Project
Is it important to assign gender roles within theatre
In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome and the medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief continued right up until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were generally played by men or boys. It was said that in 1660 the prohibition of drama was lifted after the English Restoration, women began to appear on stage in England. A well known woman of the time named Margaret Hughes was credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage. This prohibition ended during the reign of Charles II in part due to the fact that he enjoyed watching actresses on stage.
Gender roles in society means how we are expected to act,dress,speak and conduct ourselves depending on what gender we were born into. Gender roles are centred on conceptions of masculinity and femininity, what people believe are the right characteristics for each gender has taken up a big part in theatre today. There are many perks to gender crossing not only for characters but for the audience aswell, as some gender crossing can be see as very comedic and is normally used in Shakespeare or pantomimes. At the Globe Theatre, Men always played women roles as women were not aloud to be in any plays what so ever. This seemed to give plays more humor as men acted on instinct on what women's characteristics were like, making it a normal thing people would come to watch.
It is shown that only a fifth of English theatres were led by women, this shown on theguardian.com. It became evident at the oliver awards when the prizes for best director and best new play went to men, if women did not have an equal representation in theatre then there is no way to have an equal chance of winning prizes. Till today female playwright are seen as atypical and gender-swapping is a partial solution to stop the up roar.
Gender has always created an uproar for an topic as if it were battle of the sexes but has anyone ever stopped to question the importance of Gender and the affect it creates. Within the Acting industry Gender has always been a key aspect of history.
When watching a performance or watching a movie you never really question the gender of an actor but behind the scenes it has always been questionable if changing a characters gender will impact the performance as a whole. Many societies forbid women from performing on stage. This was very common all over the world but mainly within Greek theatre, English Renaissance theatre and Japanese Kabuki theatre; Also within the Chinese theatre. All theatre and performances were performed by males, this was known as cross-dressing
When watching a performance or watching a movie you never really question the gender of an actor but behind the scenes it has always been questionable if changing a characters gender will impact the performance as a whole. Many societies forbid women from performing on stage. This was very common all over the world but mainly within Greek theatre, English Renaissance theatre and Japanese Kabuki theatre; Also within the Chinese theatre. All theatre and performances were performed by males, this was known as cross-dressing
In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome and the medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief continued right up until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were generally played by men or boys. It was said that in 1660 the prohibition of drama was lifted after the English Restoration, women began to appear on stage in England. A well known woman of the time named Margaret Hughes was credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage. This prohibition ended during the reign of Charles II in part due to the fact that he enjoyed watching actresses on stage.
Gender roles in society means how we are expected to act,dress,speak and conduct ourselves depending on what gender we were born into. Gender roles are centred on conceptions of masculinity and femininity, what people believe are the right characteristics for each gender has taken up a big part in theatre today. There are many perks to gender crossing not only for characters but for the audience aswell, as some gender crossing can be see as very comedic and is normally used in Shakespeare or pantomimes. At the Globe Theatre, Men always played women roles as women were not aloud to be in any plays what so ever. This seemed to give plays more humor as men acted on instinct on what women's characteristics were like, making it a normal thing people would come to watch.
It is shown that only a fifth of English theatres were led by women, this shown on theguardian.com. It became evident at the oliver awards when the prizes for best director and best new play went to men, if women did not have an equal representation in theatre then there is no way to have an equal chance of winning prizes. Till today female playwright are seen as atypical and gender-swapping is a partial solution to stop the up roar.
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